Please Pass the Defibrillator!
Friday, December 8, 2023
“You are not acting as you ought to do when you are moved by any other motive than a single focus on the Lord’s glory. Do not let anything set your heart beating so fast as [your] love for Him. Let this ambition fire your soul; may this be the foundation of every enterprise upon which you enter, and your sustaining motive whenever your zeal would grow cold. Make God your only object.” – C.H. Spurgeon
Back in 2021, as I was recovering from a near-fatal bout with Covid, I was determined to get my strength back after six weeks of being confined to the couch. At first, tasks as simple as eating a meal or taking a shower would exhaust me. Eventually, I gained enough strength to go outside and bring in the trash can or walk our dogs a few 100 feet. I even tried fishing a little but got winded after just a few casts.
By God’s grace, I was able to gradually extend those walks to a ¼ mile… then a ½ mile… and then a full mile. One day, I got up enough courage to play a round of golf with my son Chris, but he had to pick up the tee after I swung, and my drives were about 20 yards shorter than normal. But the real test of my recovery was stepping back onto the basketball court.
After warming up for a few minutes, Chris and I challenged a couple of teenage boys to a game of half-court basketball. However, the only problem with playing 2-on-2 is that you have to be constantly moving either to cover your man on defense or to get open on offense. As I ran, I could feel my heart beating faster and faster until it felt like my chest was going to explode. Thankfully, it didn’t… and we won every game we played that night.
That was three years ago and whereas my lungs may never be as strong as they were before Covid, I can now play multiple games of half-court basketball without risking a heart attack. Not only that, but the past two years God allowed me to play 100 holes of golf in a single day to raise money for our ministry. Best of all, I was able to pick up my own tee after every drive!
And so, I am back to where I belong… with my heart beating fast because of my love for Jesus!
“Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’” Matthew 22:37 (NKJV)
- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President
