The Bungee Cord 1-14-22

Hello,

The first house I lived in as an adult was a simple house in St. Paul., Minnesota. Mustard yellow stucco. But it was ours. It had a unattached two car garage, mustard yellow stucco, too, and it was placed about 50 feet behind our house giving us a long St. Paul drive way to shovel, by hand. Of the 4 winters we lived in that house we had 2 winter snow falls of 120+ inches. Lots of shoveling.

One fall morning I woke up to go to work and on my way to the garage, I noticed that one of the garage doors was wide open. I stuck my head in and looked around and I discovered that we had been broken into. My bicycle was gone.

It wasn’t the end of the world, but it was a nice bike. We reported it to the police who said they would keep their eye out for my bike, but in truth I had no hope of ever seeing it again. If you have ever been broken into, you may have felt what I felt. I felt an eerie feeling of vulnerability. My soap bubble of feeling safe and secure was burst.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I was broken into again. This time it wasn’t my garage. It was my body. Some cancer cells have apparently been stalking my body, and they broke in and took up residence in my left kidney. They were discovered because of tests that I have been taking to seek out a reason for high blood pressure that I have been dealing with for a number of years. Noticed with an ultra-sound. Confirmed by a CT scan, and discovered by surgery to remove my left kidney.

So, if you were wondering where the Bungee Cord was last Monday, it hadn’t been written because I was, on Monday, a bit preoccupied getting those squatter cancer cells out of my body. The doctors removed my kidney, and they believe that they have gotten everything that they need, and I should be able to proceed on with life rid of my cancer…..also rid of one of my kidneys. The recovery has been significantly harder than I had anticipated, but as of today, Friday, I am doing much better. Able to get out of bed by myself and things are finally “moving”, I know TMI.

I write this to you in this weeks Bungee Cord, not to solicit your pity or even kind thoughts. I write this to you because after this week’s break in, I am feeling the same sort of feelings that I felt when my garage was broken into. Much more elevated, though. I have a very eerie awareness of my vulnerability, and my bubble of naïve safety has been popped. Truth to be told, I have always been aware of these things in my life….but until the break in happened, they seemed to be distant feelings.

When I heard the doctor tell me that the mass was cancerous, I felt like I had just been hit by a Mack truck, even though I knew that it most likely was. I started weeping as I told the surgeon, ”Thanks for saving my life.”

Some may say it to be so, but I do not view my faith as a crutch to lean on in times of struggle. What I experience my faith to be is to discover that I am held in the hands of One whose power is far greater than mine, and whose love is more than I can imagine. When I can hold on no longer, I discover that I am being held…..nomatterwhat.

And that is what I am experiencing now. I have much confidence that the road ahead is quite clear of cancer, but also with a heightened awareness that I live every day stepping into the unknown. And so I step into the future, singing a song that I have sung before. A Rich Mullins song, “We’re Not as Strong as We Think We are.”…..singing the last line of the chorus with increased gusto, “….you have been my king of glory, won’t you be my prince of peace. You have been my king of glory, won’t you be my prince of peace.”

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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