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I gotta tell this, even if nobody believes me

Was lunch the end of it. If it was you luck dog.
But really you know she is right. Now take care of yourself.
 
About the time of the end, a body of men will be raised up who will turn their attention to the Prophecies, and insist on their literal interpretation,
in the midst of much clamor & opposition."

Sir Isaac Newton
 
Epilogue:
As I came down our little highway on the way back to the house and that zen moment set in, I didn't get it right away.
I was so in the moment, grinning like an idiot and just feeling everything in the car, that it didn't occur to me why that
was happening at that moment.
As I made my turn onto our little one lane road off the highway, I stopped a moment on the little bridge over the creek,
thinking about maybe turning around and continuing the drive.
Better judgement took over, though. I knew I was done - like the pizza is done, time to eat done. :)

I just sort of asked Him "ok, what was that all about now?"

Background:
Then it hit me - my original "deal"/request I had made with Him back when my health took another turn and the GTX
wasn't finished. I tried (because He doesn't DO deals, you know) to trade off ultimately my mangy carcass in exchange
for Him to allow me enough time above dirt to finish the car and get old medical bills paid off.
My deepest fear at the time was that I'd go before my work was done, leaving a mess for my wife to try and clean up.
I'd seen that scene play out many other times with folks and I didn't want to do that to her.

Back to today...
When I asked what that little euphoric drive was about today, I got an answer.
I was being shown that yes, I had been allowed to stick around long enough for the car to be essentially done, just like
I had prayed/bargained for some time back - and that He had held up His end of the bargain because I never gave up on it.
He saw my earnestness in finishing the task and allowed me time enough to do so.
That was awesome to "hear" today, really was.
Then it occurred to me....
utoh, does this now mean He was gonna take me up on my offer of my mangy carcass?
Real quickly, I blurted out "yeah, but it doesn't have a RADIO in it yet! NOT DONE YET!"

I swear, I heard Him chuckle again....:lol:
 
So today I decide it's time to get reacquainted with the ol' girl.
Now, nevermind the fact I'm under orders for "no physical activities" and "no lifting over 10 pounds"....
and nevermind the fact my wife has already ripped me a new one for sneaking out and doing light chores
around the place already.
No, it was time, ready or not.
I tell her I'll be going to town to run some light errands and I'll meet her for lunch at 1pm.

She assumes I'll be in my cushy Ram with a/c and power everything... :rolleyes:
After all, it's in the 90's and hot as hades. Surely I wouldn't be so stupid as to take out the GTX....

Yeah, well, step into my office:
View attachment 625177
Here goes nothing...

I get to all the joints I need to and by the time I get to her place, I'm a puddle of sweat and audibly wheezing.
Oops.
She comes around the front of her workplace and sees the GTX and about has a conniption in public. :thumbsup:
Good thing lunch was right next door.
Recovered in the a/c and belly full of the best little burger in town, I head back towards home.

Yeah, it was hot. Yeah, I pushed things a little. Yeah, not the sharpest tool in the shed sometimes.
But - it needed done. Imperative, even.
Added bonus: the car did great and I'm starting to trust her a little more.
Biggest bonus: I caught myself grinning like an idiot going down the little highway towards home.
Literally smiling to no one but myself - and to Him, of course. Even got a little emotional....

It was flucking GLORIOUS. :thumbsup:
You better put a little “lunch” in the GTX or you’ll be operating off the back of a tow truck. Lol - looks like you’re running her on empty.....
 
You better put a little “lunch” in the GTX or you’ll be operating off the back of a tow truck. Lol - looks like you’re running her on empty.....
Naw. Just another victim of the "can't find a good repro sending unit".
I've had two different new ones in there, both were/are crap.
 
Clarity about GOD's shenanigans is hard to come by. I find that it rarely comes in the moment but shows up at a later date. I suspect that it's his way of applying a litmus test to our faith. When you have to wait to understand why things happen the way they do, you have to have faith during that time, faith that the Lord has done the right thing. The Father is hard, but fair. He doesn't answer prayers, rather, he shows you the right things to pray for. Occasionally, rarely, he lets you know that he is indeed listening.
A short story to illustrate my point.

While in Iraq, fighting a war, my wife was battling Stage 3 Invasive Ductal Breast cancer, the removal of both breasts,after having survived thyroid cancer and having it removed. I walked into flight ops one night to finish the dance that lead to actions against the enemy and instead received a directive to seek out the commander. He subsequently told me that my family had contacted them to request my presence at home. My wife had developed liver cancer and was going for emergency surgery in a few days. My world came crashing down around me, there in that dark tent, out in the desert on the opposite side of the planet. The Colonel held me while I shook and cried. Simply too much stress and adrenaline 24/7.
Emergency leave from the combat theatre was given and I was on a chopper less than 45 minutes later, still in flight gear, heading back to a FOB to then climb in another chopper to get to a real base to fly out to Kuwait and thence to America.
The first chopper crashed. Killed two out of 9, but not me. The second chopper came under small arms fire enroute and we endured a combat flight profile while the pilots fought to find the shooters and position the door gunners to take them out. Everyone spewed up their guts. The chopper sustained crippling damage but the pilots managed to get us there and crash land the bird on the flight line, no casualties. I had to wait for 5 long hours at the airbase in Tallil, Iraq until nightfall when a C 130 would slide in after dark and make the run out against incoming fire on the way to Kuwait. I was sick the whole time and stressed beyond imagination. The plane finally arrived after midnight, out of the dark, no lights. It was on the ground for less than 10 minutes. When we took off I was expecting the usual combat flight path of corkscrewing up thru the sky and jinking around every which way in the attempt to make that huge bird less of a target. To my surprise it didn't happen. The flight was straight up and out like a civilian takeoff. I found out why later.
The flight from Kuwait was packed, 452 soldiers, no seats left. I volunteered to help load the luggage into the hold and was the very last person to board. The plane was mostly full of an infantry brigade going home. BIG cats, all muscle and sweat. Real ground pounders. I took the very last seat between two giants who overlapped their seats by a LOT. Remember that I was wearing a flight suit covered in dried puke and deep sweat, no sleep for days, coming off of combat flight rotation, little food, no personal hygiene. I was a physical and emotional and mental wreck. After an hour or so the Master sergeant who owned these giant's noticed me squashed in between them and directed another soldier in a window seat to get up and give me his seat. He also commanded two of his skinniest people to sit next to me so I would have room. He said, in a gravelly voice, " God knows our lives are hard enough over here doing what we do. It would appear that he has been extra tough on you sir. Relax, I will personally wake you when appropriate and I will ensure that nobody bothers you." I just gave him the thousand yard stare and nodded, it was all I had left.
He was true to his word and I arrived without further events.
I rented a car in Atlanta and drove nonstop to Columbia SC where my wife lay in a hospital bed about to go into surgery. I got there with 10 minutes to spare. The doctor came out as I was greeting my wife and murmuring encouragements into her ear. He took one look at me and pursed his lips, he said, " I don't know why, I really don't, but I suddenly have the urge to take one last PET scan to confirm the lesion on her liver before I go in and remove it." He stared at me, I at him. I just nodded yes and he did too. They wheeled her away.
They came back in about 30 minutes and then the doctor went to look at the scans.
He came out after another 10 minutes or so and said, " Well folks, I don't understand this. I cannot find the lesion that was there before. It's simply gone. I cannot explain it. All I can say is that it's a miracle, and GOD has answered our prayers. You can go home, there will be no surgery today."

When my commander gave me the news, out in the dark of night in a combat zone, out in the middle of hostile territory in a cold and forbidding desert, I wept, I fell apart, and then I went out into the desert and knelt in the cold sand and bowed my head. I prayed for him to take her pain away, and give it to me, to take her sickness away and put it in me, to take her anguish away and put it on my heart, to take her worry and put it in my head. He heard me. I crashed, I puked, I worried, and I hurried to her side. Only to find out that while I was praying for all of that, she was praying to ask him to love her family after she was gone, to love her warrior husband and keep him safe in his labors, to guard and protect her children once she was with him in heaven. You see, she asked NOTHING for herself, but everything for her loved ones. He answered both our prayers, and he went a step further and blessed us with a miracle. Our pastor told us some time later that GOD sometimes does such things for his children who believe in him, and pray not for themselves, but for others, in those worst of times, when he hears so many asking for themselves that which they never think to give to others. The reason the C130 flew straight and true leaving Tallil? The base ops had told the pilots of my harrowing journey to get that far and the harrowing future awaiting me. They felt that If I could go through all that, then they could give me a break. It worked out, but could have gone very wrong, very fast.
This is a true story and I thank him every day for bringing me home safe many months later and for allowing my dear wife to live. Be well.
Peace unto you.
Ghost.
 
Ghost, that is an amazing story! I hope your wife is well today, I hope you and your family are doing well. You are an excellent story teller. Thank you for your service, and god bless you.
 
I didn't mean to hijack the thread. Thanks, we are all well and happy.
I don't suspect for a moment you intended anything untowards, Ghost. There wouldn't be anything to be gained by doing so.
I'm glad you can tell that story now. It's very productive to be able to. What do they call that - cathartic?
God bless you and yours and as meager as it sounds - thank you for what you do.
 
UPDATE 7/18/18:
Made the drive down to Knoxville to the follow up visit with the surgeon. First time I've driven any distance since the
surgery. Thanks to my Rams' icebox-like a/c, no worries there.
Test results were that there was no evidence left in that part of my body of any malignancy. :thumbsup:

I asked if they'd done any biopsies on the removed thyroid, etc. and she said that didn't matter since it was out of me.
I gave her "that look" and asked again, more slowly this time.
She lowered her voice and said there was "some" malignancy in one of the nodes removed.

In other words, I dodged another bullet. Again.
All except one brother and one sister are all gone in my family, most from various forms of cancer.
You could say it runs in the family. No idea how I keep getting by with it (4 times now).

I asked about the bruise left on my left forearm and she grinned and said I had started to come out of the anesthesia
during the surgery and that they had been forced to restrain me long enough to hit me with more of the stuff.
No worries, doc, that happens with me a lot.
Something in my subconscious fights like hell to get up when they knock me out for some reason, I dunno.

The doc and I had a really nice chat and I gave her my best hug at the end, careful of her tiny frame (she's like 90 lbs).

By the time the wife and I got back to the Ram to go home, she asked if she needed to drive the 80 miles back home.
Honestly, I should have let her.
Instead, I drove.
It was glorious. :)
Next (and hopefully final) stop - endocrinologist next Monday. More blood will be taken. Worst part would be if the renal
testing shows something (doubt it). At the most, I'm expecting perhaps a slight adjustment in the thyroid replacement
meds, that's it.

The little bright star was in its' usual place in the sky when the dog and I went out this evening, just like usual.
He and I had another chat. It felt good. :thumbsup:
 
Don't know how I missed this thread, but here I am a day late and a dollar short, as usual! LOL. This is a very inspirational thread and I hope it continues to bring about happy endings. I am not a really religious type but have witnessed too many miracles not to believe. None of us know what our purpose is here on earth. We must not forget to be thankful for the littlest things that we take for granted everyday because everyday is a gift. Keep fighting the good fight Ed and God bless all of the good folks on this site and in the world.
What was that old movie? "God Is My Co-Pilot" - Seems kind of fitting here.
 
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Don't know how I missed this thread, but here I am a day late and a dollar short, as usual! LOL. This is a very inspirational thread and I hope it continues to bring about happy endings. I am not a really religious type but have witnessed too many miracles not to believe. None of us know what our purpose is here on earth. We must not forget to be thankful for the littlest things that we take for granted everyday because everyday is a gift. Keep fighting the good fight Ed and God bless all of the good folks on this site and in the world.
What was that old movie? "God Is My Co-Pilot" - Seems kind of fitting here.
Very kind of you MM. Thanks!
Yep, made it 57 years as of today - and much like cars go, it ain't the model year that matters, it's the mileage - and I got a ton of 'em. :thumbsup:
 
Greetings moparedtn! Just like multimopes said earlier, I too can not understand how I missed this thread. I know first hand what you are experiencing.

May 2016 I was diagnosed having throat cancer. The tumor in my throat disappeared in less than 5 weeks when I opted for a safe, inexpensive, natural healing method! Believing I beat cancer forever, I went back to my old ways; living in high stress, drinking pop instead of water, eating lots of red meat, potatoes, pasta, enriched-flour bread, donuts, potato chips, corn chips, pizzas, cheese burgers, French fries, ice cream, sugar, junk food and diary. Rarely a fruit or veggie passed my lips.

Then 10 July 2018 I found my throat cancer had returned and a PET scan revealed the cancer had spread to other areas in my body. I have been under a natural healing protocol for 3 weeks now and all my tumors have substantially diminished. In the next few days all the tumors in my body will be gone; but I will still be in a DANGER ZONE.

Being diagnosed with cancer May 2016 and again July 2018 means my immune system is shot (overwhelmed); hence being in a DANGER ZONE. I know now a healthy immune system keeps cancer in check once the tumors are gone. I know ALL my old ways need to disappear if I expect to restore/fix my destroyed immune system; if I expect to truly beat cancer. I have made that decision to stop my old ways and start a healing process on my immune system that may take me 2 years to complete.

Ed, I'm telling you with luv, your immune system is shot, non-functioning and cannot handle another cheeseburger. Today my immune system is that bad also; but not for long. God made our bodies miraculous enough to naturally overcome the dreaded cancer to never return again! A truth your cancer doctors will never tell you; or may not know themselves. If you want to remain cancer-free, you need to make the choice to stop your old ways, stop stress, eat right, drink lots of water and restore your crippled immune system so you can keep pulling the gears on your B-Body for many years to come. What is a better motivation than that? Okay, maybe family, kids, grand-babies and such.

This guy, Chris Wark, has helped me on my second journey to beat cancer and restore my immune system. I know he can do the same for you:

https://squareone.chrisbeatcancer.com/module1
 
The night before the surgery, I wasn't sleeping (of course) and I stepped outside to do what rednecks do out here in the country - namely, take a wizz. :D

And all this time, I thought that rednecks peed out their windows.
 
I wear this metal always, just to remind myself that I'm never alone. I'm also just a sinner like all of us. ..... Be well, God bless

Isaiah 41:10 ..So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
 
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