Pulmonary What?

Pulmonary embolisms (PE) have hit the news this past week. First Jerome Kersey, formerly NBA star of the Portland Trailblazers died from PE and now Chris Bosh is out for the season with PE. PE, or blood clots to the lung are very serious. According to the CDC, about 10-30% of people die from PE within one month of diagnosis. I know because in July, 2008 I had an episode of PE.

The quick version is that I had fractured my ankle playing baseball but then did not get it looked at for a week before I went to the hospital for an X-ray. They then immobilized and casted it creating what my doctor brother called a "blood pool factory". After a few weeks, we were on vacation in Indiana when I developed severe cramping to my chest which I called "the worst runners cramp I ever had". Fortunately with a medical doctor in the house (my father-in-law) and a nurse spouse, they diagnosed it correctly and got me right to the hospital. I was diagnosed with two PE clots, one which was deemed severe. The doctor told me likely if I hadn't gone promptly in, I would have died.

I spent five days in the hospital and then was on coumadin for amount nine months which thins out the blood making the risk of nonoccurrence much lower. Some people have to stay on coumadin for life. The problem with coumadin is that it actually is a risk by itself. When on this, you bleed abnormally. For example, I bit my nails and sometimes if I hit a cuticle, I can bleed for an hour. So if you are active and you have an accident, you can bleed internally for a while. That is why people on this drug have to be extra careful and why rumors of Bosh's retirement surfaced because he may have had to stay on coumadin.

The question you have to ask is whether it is better to be alive or less active. When I was discharged from the hospital, I had a series of tests which determined a slight proclivity for me to have clots. However, I determined that I did not want to compromise my active lifestyle (biking, baseball, etc.) so I was willing to take that risk.

So what are the lessons from what I learned from my experience with PE:

1. A realization that life can end at any moment. I had never experienced anything life threatening and having now had that, I have a much greater appreciation for the brevity of life.
2. I have also learned to experience and treasure relationships much more. As author Pat Morley says, I have an appreciation for who will be at my funeral.
3. I have learned that life is worth living to the fullest. I have not stopped playing baseball despite my accident (although I am more cautious about sliding which is what caused my ankle fracture).
4. I am more sensitive to those with illnesses and ailments (2 Cor. 1:4). I know what PE is firsthand.
5. Most of all, I know where I am going when I die. I have placed my trust in Christ for forgiveness so I don't fear death. If you have that reassurance, you can live life here because you have life to come. I hope you have that reassurance. If not, you can.

None of us Likes to Stink

I don't golf very much. It is because I get aggravated at the stupid game in which I can hit a great shot and still get an 8 on a hole because I hit a lousy shot right after. I played yesterday with my father in Arizona. It was the first time I had touched golf clubs in probably two years. Nevertheless, I hit my first drive straight down the middle of the fairway and then hit the middle of the green on all three Par 3's. Still I followed it up with bad putting or bad chipping, all of which translated to a mediocre score.


I don't like to be lousy at something. But in order to be good at golf, I would need to devote significant amounts of time and probably lessons to get to the necessary skills to be decent. And at this point in my life I am not willing to devote the time and money to be good. So I know going out there that I will be hard-pressed to break 100. I should not be surprised that I don't experience hardship in a game that requires practice and precision.

I run into so many guys in the Christian life who do the same thing with their faith. They don't spend any time reading the Bible or praying or memorizing. They treat it like a drive-through at Wendy's. A few minutes here, a few minutes there. Their excuse is that they are too busy. So they should expect to have a mediocre, unproductive faith because with a faith relationship comes an investment of time. I don't show up on a golf course and become Tiger Woods (oops maybe not a good example now but you get the point). I can't become a productive believer without spending the time.

Paul says in 1st Corinthians 9 that we are to treat our spiritual lives as running a race. He also says in 1 Timothy 4:7 to train ourselves for godliness. In other words an investment of time and attention. We can still expect to sin, but when we sin we become much more conscious of our sin and the gap between us and the holiness of God. As golf demands almost perfection so God's standard is perfection.

Resolutions to Habits

We are now well into 2015, a time when we try to get beyond New Year's resolutions to actually making habits stick. When I finished the Christmas holidays, my weight was well beyond my comfort level and I could feel myself slipping more and more into bad eating habits. As it turns out, I started reading The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. Once I started, I could not put the book down. It is an easy read and one that reminds us that there is a pattern to forming good habits.


Without spoiling the premise of the book, you can summarize it by saying that every habit is described by three components, Cue, Routine, and Reward. A habit has to have a cue, something that signals you to the habit. We don't think about brushing our teeth, we just do it. Then there is the routine, the actual thing we do. Finally, the reward - something that is in the end that reinforces the behavior. During the winter, I am always hit or miss on my working out so I decided I would simply do the same minimalist exercise every morning so I could assure myself some exercise. I sit on my butt most days so this is what I need to do every morning. My cue is my alarm clock, my reward is a breakfast.

I have also applied it to scripture memory. I have always been big on scripture memory, but I haven't had the discipline to do it consistently. I found a program Scripture Memory Typer that prompts me (Cue) each day to review the verses I have committed. It also appeals to my competitiveness because it ranks participants and also gives you little badges and points(reward). I have set a goal of cumulatively memorizing 1000 verses of scripture. I strongly believe that holding scripture close to my heart is a critical discipline (Psalm 119:11).

Finally, a friend told me about a concept called Journibles, the 17:18 series. In this, you actually write out the scriptures longhand and then write your notes and observations about the verse. I am a lousy journal writer. I have tried several times and quit. This however, I can sustain because I actually have something to write on or comment on. I am currently starting in the Book of James, one of my favorite books of the Bible.

Our Lord did not read The Power of Habit, but He built in disciplines that were consistent. In Luke 22:39, it tells us that going to pray was His custom. Luke 5:16 so he would often withdraw to pray. Paul rejoices in the Colossae believers their faith and discipline (Col 2:5). But doing so should not be motivated by checking the box, but by genuine desire for growth. It is the key to staying power and moving from resolutions to habits.