Episode 48: He is Risen
Not Necessarily the Good News
President, Dictator, and former KGB Head Vladimir Putin was attending a rally in March in support of his actions against Ukraine. This was early in the war, and over 20,000 Russians attended the rally, mostly those who support Putin’s aggression and his dream of recreating an empire.
Putin had given reasons before the invasion of Ukraine including stopping the Ukrainian sepratists, the villains in his interpretation, from genocide of their own people. Then he added this:
"And this is where the words from the Scriptures come to my mind: 'There is no greater love than if someone gives his soul for his friends…”
Yes, he quoted Jesus Christ as to why he invaded the independent country. We know that Putin, like many before him, is quoting Jesus out of context. What was Jesus’ intent when he said this?
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15: 12-13
Stand Up and Testify
Stand up and Testify is our way of preserving the church tradition of giving time to the congregation to stand up and talk about a moment, between weekly services, where they felt God’s presence, or understood a spiritual truth, or had a moral victory. There is a lot of humor about this, and often its because the person giving their testimony is oversharing, or putting others in a bad light.
I will do my best to avoid this in my testimony.
Last summer I was working out with an extraordinary martial arts instructor, and in the days following developed a sore back. After a few weeks the pain kept me from sleeping, I visited my regular doctor and he said, based on my range of motion, it was a pulled muscle and could be relieved through physical therapy and ibuprofen.
Eight months later I went to visit him again, insisting on X rays. I had developed dizziness, and a lack of sensation in my legs. It turned out I had a spinal infection, and that vertebrae and discs had been pitted and scored with infection.
I had a nearly ten hour surgery, removing the infected discs and between two sets of vertebrae, and reinforcing the vertebrae with four sets of screws. There was a brief hospital stay and I was released home.
I am recovering. I will be going back to work next week, for limited hours. I am told that I will not be able to get back to my full function in the future.