Editor: I really enjoy
Gene’s writings. I have archived Gene’s
past Delta writings for all to see and would recommend them as a great read
at: http://pcn.homestead.com/Gene_Hall.html Gene has written a few posts that focus on
personal views and I passed on re-publishing, but here is one below that
updates his condition and poses some interesting questions that I believe most
would benefit from asking of themselves.
Caution: Christian message included below.
Date: 5/8/2012 3:19:35 PM
To: Gene Hall
Subject: Attitude Adjustment
Tuesday, May 08, 2012
For me, attitude adjustment once
was a not so secret code for I will meet you in the bar after a long hard
flight, or a stressful business meeting, etc. It started to take on a new
meaning for me when the neurosurgeon told me that my prognosis was not good. We
all know that our time here on earth will end some day, but most of us seem to
be in some form of denial for most of our lives. It’s always in the future, and
even those of us who know our eternal lives are secure don’t spend a lot of
time thinking about death, and what we will do with whatever time we have left
here. I am describing my condition, hopefully not yours. This prognosis was the
second time a physician had stood by my bed with the news that my condition was
terminal. The first was in early 1952 after I was diagnosed with acute
nephritis, (kidney infection) commonly known as Bright’s disease.
Fast forward to December 21,
1994, the 31st anniversary of my wedding to Joan. We had lunch with
one of our daughters, and we were in a festive mood. We had a glass of wine
with lunch, and we had dinner reservations in our favorite restaurant,
LaGrotta. My business partner picked me up after lunch for a quick trip to
check on one of our shopping centers in Columbus, Georgia. The interstate speed
limit was 65, but we had found that we could set the speed control on 72, and
not worry about tickets. The sky was clear, and the warmth of the sunshine along
with the nice lunch made sleeping conditions perfect for me. There was little
traffic on I-185, and I was sawing logs in the right front seat, not aware that
the driver had also drifted into dream land. We were on auto 72 MPH when we
plowed into the car that was parked on the side of the road. As we were being
placed in the ambulance for the rest of the trip to Columbus, the state
patrolmen, the firemen, and the EMT guys all agreed that they normally saw
fatalities in this kind of wreck. Our injuries were minor. I spent one night in
the hospital, and a few days in bed at home. Joan and I agreed that God must
have spared me for a reason. He must have something for me to do before he took
me home. She irritated me down through the years as she would occasionally ask
me if I had learned what He had for me to do, because I hadn’t and I hadn’t
really tried.
Joan spends thirty minutes
everyday in a televised Bible study with Kay Arthur. In recent months, I have
been watching with her. Kay is teaching Philippians now, and yesterday she
opened the study with a question. If you were in your doctor’s office and he
told you that you had only a year to live, would you live differently? That’s a
paraphrase, but I felt that she was speaking directly to me when she went on to
ask if my spiritual attitude would change, because after the neurosurgeon’s
prognosis, I started seeing lots of things more clearly – or at least
differently. I asked myself what my reception would be like in heaven. I am
going to stand face to face with Jesus. Would He say “well done, good and
faithful servant?” I think it would have been more like yes, you are on the
list, come on in.
During the last three years, I
have had time to read and reflect on lots of things. I’ve read dozens of
articles and books on the financial melt down of our economy. The reasons are
complex, but can be boiled down to one word. Greed. I’ve seen the mainline
church failing. I’ve heard the ordained say that all religions are just
different roads leading to the same destinations, that it’s arrogant to think
that Jesus is the only way. Preachers are building mega churches by tickling
ears with a feel good “soft” gospel. I was not surprised when I heard Joel
Osteen say that he “thinks” Mormons are Christian, because he draws huge crowds
making people feel good about themselves. I was surprised when Andy Stanley the
senior pastor of North Pointe Community Church, a mega church in Alpharetta,
Georgia with five campuses seemed to go soft on homosexuality.
From the May 8 issue of the Christian
Post:
‘….
in an April 15 sermon he told the story of a divorced couple who formerly
attended North Point together. They separated after the husband began a
same-sex relationship with another man, who was still married to a woman.
The
man and his partner wanted to serve as volunteers at the church, but Stanley
explained that the two men were committing adultery since one of them did not
finalize his divorce yet and thus could not serve as volunteers.’
I am seeing the greatest nation
in the history of the world being one election away from becoming a
totalitarian socialist state. The Supreme Court is under constant attack by the
Executive Branch, and the Congress is being bypassed with executive orders.
But I am also seeing some good
things. For example, last week the First Presbyterian Church of Ocean Springs,
Mississippi voted overwhelmingly to leave the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA)
to affiliate with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), and Atlanta’s
Church of the Apostles (COTA) will celebrate 25 years next Sunday. COTA is a
mega church, but the founding pastor, Michael Youssef will never, ever, ever,
compromise or stray from the gospel message.
Now about my attitude adjustment;
I am going to spend whatever time I have left on space ship earth positioning
myself – with God’s help – to hear “well done, good and faithful servant” when
I meet Him. As I have looked at my life, I have faced the fact that even though
I have had the blessing of leading some of my friends to Christ, there are others
who I care for deeply that I have never witnessed to. They all know where I
stand, but I am nolonger passing up opportunities to share the good news.
My wife frequently cuts right to
the bottom line. We will be in a social situation, and religion/church will
come up in the conversation, and she will beg the question; “If you died today,
would you go to heaven?” I am frequently amazed that even church going folks
often give answers like “I hope so,” or “I think so,” or “I’m not sure. I’m
doing my best”. The only right answer is “yes”……… What is your answer?
Since I started commenting about
politically incorrect subjects like faith and politics, my blogs are no longer
forwarded to the PCN e mail list. There are only a few hundred on my list, and
as always I will remove your address if asked.
Tomorrow’s full body PET scan and
brain MRI will determine if I will go back in the hospital next Monday for more
chemo treatment. I solicit and thank you for your prayers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The above post is not necessarily the opinion or shared view of the editor. Some posts may be excluded from the current issue because of too much content or deemed inappropriate. All PCN subscribers are welcome to post. PCN Home Page is located at: http://pcn.homestead.com/home01.html
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