Sunday Stroke Survival: The End is Nigh!

As y'all know, I'm a Christian minister. For the past forty or fifty years, I've heard...

"The end is nigh!"
"Biblical prophecies are coming true at a rapid rate."
"The Seals are breaking."
"The Rapture could be tomorrow!"

It's all true statement, and then again, it isn't. Remember one very important fact. God's time is God's time and it's His. I hear y'all asking what does all this have to do with stroke survival? Give me a minute and I'll explain.

Nobody can accurately predict what will happen and when. Sure you can read Nostradamus' predictions and correlate present day happenings to his predictions. The same is true about stroke recovery. But it's all relative. Have you ever been to a World Expo future exhibit? We should be flying instead of driving, or teleporting by now based on it exhibits in the past. I'm not poo-pahing Christian beliefs or the Bible. I'm just standing on the Word when it says be ready. I am to the best of my ability spiritually. This bride is ready for her groom. In reality,  can go either way at a drop of the hat-stay or go, do or not do. It's all an educated guess based on hindsight. I'm addressing predictions (prophecy), expectations, being prepared, and fulfillment in this blog.

Living post stroke, I am also prepared. I'm expecting to fall. I also expect me to pick myself back up again. I'm expecting to have yet another stroke. My grandmother had seven before the seventh one killed her. I expect to die. There's nothing I can do about that. We may be living longer than our predecessors, but we will all die. Any choice we make at a given time is either right or wrong in hindsight.

Take me for example. My cardiologist says I can have the rhizotomy procedure without having my aneurysms repaired first. I'm in no danger of them rupturing in the next year or so. That's his prediction. I'm bowing to his wisdom and expertise.  Whether the cardiology team at Emory are of the same opinion is unknown at this time. But even with this prediction, I'm prepared to go either way. It doesn't hurt to have a second opinion either. It's only my life hanging in the balance.

There's a saying, 'any day above ground is good one.' Any day above ground needs to be lived to the fullest even if there is no tomorrow. I fight for whatever life I have every day. I'm broken and can't be fixed right now. That doesn't mean I don't have hope for a better outcome in the future. It doesn't mean I won't go ahead with the rhizotomy even with the dangers and hard work needed afterwards. Even if the end is nigh, I still have to live through today. The Biblical Rapture hasn't happened yet and I still have to live until it does. Tomorrow may be a different story. But every morning I awaken and start each days anew. It isn't tomorrow yet.

The cartoon I pictured at the beginning of this blog says, "The end is near" and "Are we there yet?" What the usual answer to the last one, "No, not yet." Can I be excited by what's to come? You bet. But each day is a new chance to try something I haven't tried before or gain a small piece back of my ability BS (before stroke). Until someone says, "We're here!" I'm going to keep on keeping on.

Nothing is impossible.