Personal

You Who Have Ears to Hear, Please Listen!

Leave a Comment / Church, Citizenship, Personal, Spiritual Disciplines / By /

I’ve had a weird week dealing with a plugged ear. At first, I thought wax had accumulated, so I started the drops and flushing routine for a few days, but heard no improvement. We’re talking totally blocked hearing in my right ear. My efforts now focus on reducing nasal congestion, and a strong decongestant seems to be breaking it up a little. I’m told it could be up to two weeks before it resolves! Meanwhile, I have experienced some of the oddities and embarrassments that hard-of-hearing folks have told me about in my pastoral travels. “Talk into my good ear—don’t […]

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Deep Breathing in the Battle

Leave a Comment / Anxiety, Personal, Spiritual Battle, Spiritual Disciplines / By /

Quite often when I am visiting a patient at the hospital, we become aware of a persistent beep from the vital signs monitor. The patient’s pulse oximeter is registering a low blood oxygen level, usually a dip below 90% (98-100% is normal). The patient will sometimes crimp the sensor taped to a finger or “forget” to breathe during conversation! The beep is a prompt to take a few good, deep breaths, and almost without fail the O2 number climbs back up into normal range. We can continue our visit without further interruption. A persistent beep has been going off for

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Deep Breathing through a Bad Air Day

1 Comment / Anxiety, Current Events, Personal, Prayer, Spiritual Disciplines / By /

The San Francisco Bay Area, where I live, has been in the national news of late, due to the lightning-sparked wildfires consuming our state. Our region is surrounded by record-setting fires, and as a result our air has become smoky. The Air Quality Index (AQI) has for days been in the “hazardous for all people” range, with a few respites in the evening as winds change. As a lung cancer survivor, minus one lung lobe and afflicted with asthma, I am hunkerin’ down at home with the A/C and fan running night and day, sealed against the hazy soup that

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Christian Faith Stands the Test of Time

2 Comments / Personal, Romans 8, Testimony / By /

A milestone offers me the opportunity to give witness to God’s faithfulness. Fifty years ago today, I surrendered to Jesus Christ, actively received his salvation and indwelling Holy Spirit, and committed my life to serving him. This after six months of resistance following a sermon of invitation I heard in Seattle in January of 1970. The problem was pride, conceit, self-sufficiency, and fear within me, preventing me from trusting God with my life. But the pursuit was on, and finally I just gave up because God wouldn’t let it rest. I was in high school at the time, and new

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Holy Week Trilogy Part I: Headlong into Trouble

7 Comments / Anxiety, Holy Week, Leadership and Spirituality, Lung Cancer, Personal / By /

Luke 19:45:48 Many of my readers are aware that in 2013-14, I faced Stage 3 lung cancer, enduring six months of treatment—radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery—and coming out the other side “cured” (my doctor’s word). Officially NED (“No evidence of disease”) for six years now, and yes, I am celebrating the success of all that effort. Unfortunately, the fact that I gave up a lung lobe and developed asthma makes me “high risk” for serious complications if I were to contract Covid-19. I serve part-time as chaplain at a Level 2 Trauma Center that now has an Incident Command Center to

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Taking a Blogging Break

3 Comments / Personal / By /

Hello readers, I’ve taken a look at my calendar of the next few weeks, and the crazy schedule is going to make blog writing impossible. I have placed higher priority on finishing a book, so that project is getting my best writing hours in the morning. Right now, as mentioned last week, my afternoon free time is taken up with various medical appointments—all routine check-ups— and procedures (including the removal of my vein access port, authorized last week by my oncologist). I just wanted you to know that my silence is for positive reasons, and that I am doing well

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The Frustrating War Within

4 Comments / Food, Personal, Spiritual Disciplines / By /

Every six months, I go through the medical surveillance that tracks the signs of health and/or disease in my body. Last Wednesday, I underwent the CT scan, and six hours later my oncologist called to tell me, “It looks great! No changes! All is well.” When all my testing is done next week, I fully expect the all-clear and won’t have to think about cancer for six months, heart disease for maybe five years, skin cancer for a year, colon cancer for five years, female cancers for two years, yada, yada . . . But there is one dumb thing

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What If You Asked?

Leave a Comment / Personal, Prayer / By /

I spent the morning at the dentist being “crowned.” Nothing traumatic to report; in fact, Dr. H. did a great job numbing my lower left jaw with three Novocain shots. This is why I am known in her office as the woman with nerves of steel. Afterwards, I delayed going to work at the hospital, since I did not want to drool on patients while my mouth was anesthetized. Just as that tingling sensation of tissues waking up started, I jumped in the car for the five-minute and 1.25 mile drive to John Muir Hospital for my Monday shift. Within

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The Seedbed of Power and Influence

4 Comments / History, Lung Cancer, Naegeli's Laws, Parnell v. San Francisco, PCUSA, Personal, Writer's Life / By /

In anticipation of a stellar 80° day, Andy and I headed out Saturday morning to explore the John Muir Historic Site. We toured a visitor’s center and the Martinez home where the famous “wilderness tramp” John Muir lived and raised a family for 24 years. John Muir was born in Scotland in 1838 to strict Presbyterian parents, who immigrated to Wisconsin when John was still a boy. He showed promise as an inventor, an interest that motivated him to study at university. But before graduating—he dropped out in 1863—he made a tour on foot of Iowa, Illinois, and Canada and

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Anxiety’s Triggers—My Big One

Leave a Comment / Anxiety, Lung Cancer, PCUSA, Personal / By /

I’ve been on the road, driving alone in our little Sprinter van conversion RV, to meet Darling Daughter A in Ashland, Oregon. It’s a drive one can easily accomplish in one day, but I left Wednesday afternoon to get the first three hours under my belt. Without really planning it this way, I have had a mini-retreat. Driving in the quiet, enjoying the scenery, occasionally listening to music, stopping every once in awhile to stretch. It’s good for the soul! I recommend it. Sometimes a person just has to get away, into the quiet, in order to gain perspective. The

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