Odds and Ends

I watched Inside the Actor's Studio for the first time today. For some reason I always saw it on as I was searching for something to watch but never checked it out. Duh. You would think the title at least would pop out at me. Apparently not. I had it recommended to me though so I decided to scope it out. For those of you who are like me and hate to waste your time when watching television, it is a show where a man, I forget his name, interviews famous actors. The interviewer has watched every movie and tv show the actor has ever done and researched a ton about them.

Today the interview was with Michael J. Fox. Now there is a man who has turned his suffering into joy (I have been on a theme of suffering this week, and no, not mine). Fox has Parkinson's Disease. I have watched two men in my family suffer from Parkinson's. One is already dead. It is a sad, sad disease that kills you very slowly and painfully. He talked about the opportunity this disease has given him. He told a story about several people standing around in a circle and each person wrote what they were suffering with and put it in a pile in the middle of the circle. When they were asked to choose which experience of suffering they would take from the middle, every single person took back their own. He was very inspiring. He also mentioned his book titled Lucky Man. Just a glimpse of his view on the disease that's robbing his body of control.

I am reading two of Henri Nouwen's books. Nouwen has an incredible story of suffering. He was a Catholic priest and a writer who died just recently of a heart attack. Only after he died did it come out that he was a homosexual. He had gone his entire life without telling people he was gay. On top of that, taking a vow of celibacy for priesthood. This man knows suffering. People read his forty something books in a whole new light with the knowledge of his understanding of pain and what it means to have a "thorn in his flesh". Anyway, look him up for a good read.

I went running today and was completey taken back by the beautiful view. And it came to me that His banner over me is love. I can look back and think, these last six months have been the worst. I have never felt so much pain. And yet, tonight all I could think about were good memories from this last year. They came flooding in. I couldn't stop them. There I was, standing in a field watching the sun slip behind the mountains and all I could do was laugh. I must have looked like an idiot. I didn't care. My God is good, ALL the time and I wouldn't trade my life or my suffering for the world.

Song of the Day:
See the Morning by Chris Tomlin