10 December 2007

The Crud and Thy Will

Sorry postings have been slim of late. I think I have some version of the "winter crud." This one was a first for me. It really hit after Divine Service and Baptism on Saturday - was totally wiped out and knew something was wrong. I was able to do the services yesterday morning, but I didn't do Bible class and came home and slept for 1/2 hour instead. I also cancelled catechism service and missed an important meeting this morning. No temperature to speak of. Throat still hurts - but not in the sharp way it did before. Achy here and there. What's really weird is that if I am up and about for more than 15 minutes, it totally wipes me out - and using my voice at all exhausts me as much as walking around. (Thanks be to God for Bob and the Church's sound system! I was able to just speak in a very quiet voice yesterday and still be heard. And yet even that was totally exhausting.)

So the big bummers are that I missed Bekah's Christmas concert yesterday at Metro East Lutheran High and I'm knocked out of the Collinsville Chorale Concert--I was really looking forward to them both. I couldn't make practice last week, and I won't make it tonight. Sigh. Man proposes, God disposes. I'm still learning to pray "Thy will be done" and to trust that His will, plans, and purposes are always the best - far better than my own ideas. What a struggle to believe and trust that about little things like this - how much more about the big things?!

Credo, Domine; adjuva incredulitatem meam.

17 comments:

  1. I wouldn't dream of trying to interpret the Divine will. I suspect the answer is closer to home. Ask Cindi: "Am I overdoing things in the run up to Christmas?"

    I bet I know the answer.

    And you aren't twenty anymore whatever your soul says!

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  2. Oh, and by the way, I only know enough Latin to order a coffee so stop showing off!

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  3. P.W. : You may be getting that virus that was going around here, in Cali. It starts with exhaustion, for about a week, with a horrendous sore throat and headache. Then it turns into a very bad cold, almost like a flu.

    Lots of vitamins, rest, and hot and sour Chinese soup. Hope you get better soon, I know this is your busy season!

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  4. Anonymous12:48 PM

    Truly sounds like a virus. We will pray it will pass soon.
    As for the Latin, are you sure that the Latin is right? Shouldn't it be:
    Credo, Domine; adjuva crudum meam.

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  5. Oddly enough, the big stuff I can deal with, it's the little stuff that drives me nuts. The trick is, not to allow the little stuff to become a sign of the big stuff!

    Hot and sour Chinese soup always sounds good, crud or no crud -- then some Ming beef, eaten with chopsticks of course, no little metal shovels to change the taste.

    Yeah, I'm a purist when it comes to Asian food too. You don't go to a steakhouse and ask for chopsticks, you don't go to a Chinese joint and ask for a knife, spoon and fork!

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  6. Wait, make that cashew chicken!

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  7. Tom yum soup will get you perspiring and crying at the same time too and you will feel better.

    LPC

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  8. I pray that you feel better soon. I have a random question.

    What version of the Brer Rabbit stories would you recommend I buy?

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  9. And if the Chinese soup isn't available, take any soup and add as much cayenne pepper as you can stand. If you sweat, then you will gain the benefits. This is best applied in the first 24 hours, though.

    Pray for a speedy recovery.

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  10. Thanks for all the good advice and well wishes. I think it's coming to an end. It HAS to! :)

    Charlie, the only version worth having is the original Joel Chandler Harris. Avoid the disneyfied version at all costs.

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  11. Terry,

    If I had to eat with chopsticks, I'd be one hungry man!!!

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  12. Next time I'm in Hamel, I'll show you, right or left handed (I do both).

    Guaranteed, once you get the hang of it, you'll never eat Asian food with Western utensils again!

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  13. Pr. Will,

    Past Elder is correct, it is not that hard to learn, besides it is a matter of survival too! The learning process will guarantee a sweat that will kick that bug out.

    LPC

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  14. Terry,

    You old show off! Both hands??? LOL.

    I am telling you, my friends, I do not think it is possible for me to do it. My foster-brother was born in mainline China and lived there until he came to the US in the 7th grade. He TRIED to teach me and even he gave up - I think he was convinced it had to do with the inferior brains possessed by ANY non-Chinese! He was such a great guy - and now Lito and Terry, you've made me think of him again. Wing Wai Leung. He was a dear friend. I wonder whatever has become of him? It was my joy to see him baptized into the holy faith, but I don't know if he's continued in his profession or not. He was absolutely blown away by Pastor Lobiens discussion of justification and that was what decided him. But, of course, what troubled him was the ancestors. That whole dimension of Oriental thought is one that we Western-amnesiacs tend to forget about.

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  15. Having to submit to the divine will is difficult, of course.

    But believing He knows better than you do is a cinch for an old hand like you. I'm sure of it.

    Anastasia
    with many wishes and prayers for a speedy recovery

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  16. My boys aren't that good at it either, and their mother was hopeless at it.

    What amazes me is, a lot of the time at my favourite Chinese place I see younger Chinese using Western utensils, while this grey bearded round eye uses chopsticks. Some of them have said I'm better than they are at it!

    Too bad the Communion of Saints hasn't fully recovered from the "Don't look too RC" reaction. We don't make gods of our ancestors, but sometimes we act as if they're really dead too.

    Man, you, me and Lito at the Golden Palace! Now there's something to contemplate.

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  17. Philip,

    I meant to tell you - that was priceless. It made me laugh out loud when you wrote it, and I wasn't doing much laughing that day.

    Help my crud, indeed!

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