The Shadowlands

"Then Aslan turned to them and said: '...you are - as you used to call it in the Shadowlands - dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning....'
     And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was truly the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better then the one before."
                              - The Last Battle, by C. S. Lewis


For all of you who have ever wondered about the origin of the movie title, here it is. Lewis was a Platonist. These ARE the Shadowlands...in the words of Lewis "the anesthetic fog we call Nature." Some day we shall go "higher up and higher in" forever in Aslan's Country...:-) (Go see "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" if you haven't. While not exactly true to the book it's a good movie none the less.)

More Good News

I did my weekly visit to the Wound Care Clinic this morning. The foot wounds are doing remarkably well healing with the Biostep-Ag. It's good stuff! In addition, the Wound Care Clinic will dress the wound once a week (with Karen serving as backup at home if needed...more stuff she didn't bargain for when she married me...:-) so no more Home Health Care visits! That means Monday, Wednesday, and Friday belong to us again...:-). Also, as of the one I did this morning at 6:00 a.m., no more antibiotic infusions...woohoo! Maybe I'll really be able to taste food again! I go to the Infusion Clinic tomorrow morning to have my picc line dressing changed, but it looks like that will be coming out with my visit to the Wound Care Clinic next week. I've had it for six months, but believe me I won't miss it. Can walking be far away? Not too much longer, I think. We also get to go see the girls and their hubbies on Thursday! What a great set of Christmas gifts! I am very thankful!

Now, for those of you who wonder what I read for fun, here's my list:

Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates: Using Philosophy (And Jokes) To Explore Life, Death, the Afterlife, and Everyting in Between, by Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein

If You Can Read This; The Philosophy of Bumper Stickers, by Jack Bowen

The Amazing Story of Quantum Mechanics; A Math-Free Exploration of the Science That Made Our World, by James Kakalios

The Greatest Show on Earth; The Evidence for Evolution, by Richard Dawkins (A favorite author of mine, and yes, I realize that he is an atheist...lol!)

Have yourselves a merry little Christmas...or a big one, whatever the case may be!

The Mystery in Which We Live

"Is the mystery within which we live, and to which we are inescapably bonded, ultimately gracious or indifferent? Are we grounded in a reality that cares for us or not? That is for us or against us? The Christian response to these questions is that the hallmark of God is graciousness. God cares for us. God is for us. This takes us to the heart of the reality we call grace." - Richard M. Gula

The Incarnation is the proof of God's loving care for us. If the story is true, it is the most remarkable story ever told on this planet...that somehow the God who created a universe billions of light years across, full of galaxies and stars innumerable, entered into the small Child in the stable in Bethlehem for the sole purpose of human redemption. It is a mystery unfathomable and such a strange way to save the world. As the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe says as she is about to sacrifice Aslan, "Did you think by this to save the human creature?" The Answer from the Deeper Magic from beyond the Dawn of Time is a resounding, "Yes!" that echoes through the timeless halls of eternity!

"It's still a mystery to me that the hands of God could be so small...."

"So wrap our injured flesh around you,
Breathe our air and walk our sod,
Rub our sin and make us holy,
Perfect Son of God,
Perfect Son of God."

Welcome to our world...You who called the galaxies and stars into being. We were too busy with being ourselves to even know it was You. So angels sang to a group of lowly shepherds and foreign astrologers were wise enough to read your signs in the skies and come to find You.

Forgive us for being so tied up in ourselves that we missed Your coming. Help us not to miss it again in this season of parties, shopping, and busy-ness. Turn our hearts to a quiet stable in Bethlehem to ponder this Great Mystery. Let us be still and know that this is God who has entered our world because God loves us and cares for us.

Welcome to our world........

Wound Care Update

I went for my usual Wound Care Clinic visit today. It appears that the Biostep-Ag is doing its job! The wound looks good and is progressing well. It also appears that I am now permanently done with the wound vacc and not just a two week hiatus. We're going to send it back to the company it came from this week! It also appears that the end to my antibiotic infusions are in sight...maybe next week. My picc line will stay in for a bit, just to be sure, but the end is coming! When the picc line is gone and the foot is well, I intend to take an hour long shower (or at least as long as the hot water lasts...lol). I will also then be able to vertically visit the upstairs realms of my house and dismantle the Infirmary so it can become a den again. Please pray that the progress continues in the right direction. It would be a great Christmas gift!

The Faith of a Marshwiggle

"'One word, Ma'am,' he said, coming back from the fire, limping because of the pain. 'One word. All you've been saying is quite right. I shouldn't wonder. I'm a chap who always liked to know the worst and put the best face I can on it. So I won't deny any of what you've said. But there's one thing more to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed or made up, all those things - trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only real world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play world which licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia.'"
                                  - The Silver Chair, C.S. Lewis

Biostep-Ag

We visited the Wound Care Clinic this morning and came away with good news. My foot has reached a point in healing where we are going to try something different. They have put me on a regimen using something called Biostep-Ag. It's a collagen based looking foam with antibacterial in it that they are placing in and on the wound. My tissue will grow around it and absorb it. We will do new dressings every MWF with Home Health Care just like I was doing with the wound vacc. Notice I said "was doing." I am now on at least a two week hiatus from the wound vacc pending the results from the Biostep-Ag. If it does well, I may be permanently free of the wound vacc and well on the way to being able to use the foot again before too long. It will be wonderful not having tubing down my leg and attached to my foot and no extra eight pound vacc attachment around my neck. I still cannot have any weight bearing on the foot, but that is nothing new. At least the extra attachments won't be there for awhile. I will still have the picc line and be on infusion antibiotics until there is no open wound in my foot, but perhaps the end is in sight. Let's pray that the Biostep-Ag works its wonders in the next few weeks!

The Invisible Presence

Shasta: "Then it was you who wounded Aravis?"
Aslan: "It was I."
Shasta: "But what for?"
Aslan: "Child," said the voice, "I am telling you your story, not hers. I tell no one any story but his own."
Shasta: "Who are you?"
Aslan: "Myself...."
          -From The Horse and His Boy, C.S. Lewis

"If what you want is an argument against Christianity (and I well remember how eagerly I looked for such arguments when I began to be afraid it was true) you can easily find some stupid and unsatisfactory Christian and say, 'So there's your boasted new man! Give me the old kind.' But if once you have begun to see that Christianity is on other grounds probable, you will know in your heart that this is only evading the issue. What can you ever really know of other peoples' souls - of their temptations, their opportunities, their struggles? One soul in the whole creation you do know: and it is the only one whose fate is placed in your hands. If there is a God, you are, in a sense, alone with Him. You cannot put Him off with speculations about your next door neighbours or memories of what you have read in books. What will all that chatter and hearsay count (will you even be able to remember it?) when the anaesthetic fog, which we call 'nature' or 'the real world' fades away and the Presence in which you have always stood becomes palpable, immediate, and unavoidable?"
      - Mere Christianity, Book IV, Chapter 10, C.S. Lewis

"No sooner had He spoken than I caught a glimpse of the Light that had escaped the Most Holy Place when the Lord first entered the torn veil. It continued its boundless journey through the ages, touching every time and every nation. It was not a haphazard flash of light, but a calculated methodical search for everyone who ever lived. Upon each one, the Light of His Glory rested, urging, nudging, calling, drawing each person to Him who sits on the throne....I sat in awe of the Light's gentle determination to shine in the heart of every living person, revealing the love and forgiving power of the Christ of God."   - from Romancing the Divine, Don Nori, p. 175