Today’s a new day! True friendship is not about being there when it’s convenient; it’s about being there when it’s not. I am grateful for the true friends who continue stick by me during this crazy beautiful health journey. ~OC
The Road
Today’s a new day! My health journey has taken me down many winding roads. At times the road has been muddy and tough to travel. There have been many hazard signs to navigate. This journey has not been easy and continues to take me down roads I would not have chosen to travel. But this journey is really not about me. This is a journey God has placed me on. A journey I embrace daily, because of the lessons learned. The memories made. I did not choose this crazy beautiful journey, but I am excited to see where it takes me. I encourage you to embrace the journey God has you on. I hope to see you along the way. God Bless. ~OC
Some of My Favorites
Some of my favorites:
Team:
Cincinnati Reds
Boston Celtics
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Florida Gators
Players:
Baseball: Johnny Bench
Basketball: Larry Bird
Football: Lee Roy Selmon & Derrick Brooks
Florida Gators: Al Horford, Danny Wuerffel & Tim Tebow
Coach: Tony Dungy
Movies:
Hoosiers
Selma
Brian’s Song (The Original)
12 Years a Slave
Woodlawn
Remember the Titans
Doc Hollywood
Facing the Giants
13th
America History
Any Jimmy Stewart Film
Music:
Kirk Franklin
U2
Michael Jackson
Prince
TobyMac
DC Talk
Bruce Springsteen
George Michael
Bee Gees
4Him
Queen
Elton John
Alisa Turner
Tasha Cobbs Leonard
Anthony Evans
Run-DMC
Lecrae
FC Worship
Lionel Richie
The Commodores
Stevie Wonder
Rod Stewart
Kenny Chesney
Truth
Michael English
Proverb
Kim Walker-Smith
Harry Connick Jr.
Michael Neale
Tenth Avenue North
Jeremy Camp
Journey
Earth, Wind & Fire
Hall & Oates
Def Leppard
Hillsong United
Jackson 5
Luther Vandross
Whitney Houston
Adele
Books:
Bible
America Story by Bob Dotson
The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs
Moment Make by Carlos Whittaker
Under Our Skin by Benjamin Watson
Just Mercy Bryan Stevenson
Unscripted by Ernie Johnson, Jr.
Living Out Loud by Craig Sager
I’ll Push You by Justin Skeesuck and Patrick Gray
Breaking Cover by Michele Rigby Assad
Love Does by Bob Goff
Crazy Love by Francis Chan
Radical by David Platt
Transformed by Remi Adeleke
Council of Dads by Bruce Feiler
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
Drop the Stones by Carlos A. Rodríguez
Brave Surrender by Kim Walker-Smith
Comeback by Dave Dravecky
When You Can’t Comeback by Dave & Jan Dravecky
Quite Strength by Tony Dungy
Separate Peace by John Knowles
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Believe by Eric LeGrand
Lucky Man by Michael J. Fox
Always Looking Up by Michael J. Fox
God & Football by Chad Gibbs
The Pact:Three Young Men Make a Promise and Fulfill a Dream by Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, Rameck Hunt
Vulnerable by Raleigh Sadler
This Life I Live by Rory Feek
42 Faith by Ed Henry
The Slave Across the Street by Theresa Flores
Ultramarathon Man by Dean Karnazes
Long Run by Matt Long
Forty Thousand To One by Ben Petrick
The Unlikely Disciple by Kevin Roose
When The Game Was Ours by Jackie MacMullan
Catch You Later by Johnny Bench
Love Thy Rival by Chad Gibbs
This is just a short list of my favorites. I could go on for days. ~OC
Thriving with Chronic Illnesses
During my 17-year plus crazy beautiful health journey, I have learned many lessons. Here are just a few:
1). Embracing Relationships That Matter.
Want to find out who your true friends are? Let life throw you for a loop and you will quickly find out.
During this journey, many friends who I thought would stand with me walked away. I must admit that hurt. But, instead of dwelling on those friends that walked out, I decided to celebrate those that have stuck around through the best and worst of times. I am forever grateful for each and everyone of them.
2). Laugh And Then Laugh Some More.
My wife and I have learned the power of laughter during the darkest times. Our dark humor has helped us deal with some of the toughest moments in this crazy beautiful journey.
Even during the worst days, when my medical team has stated they have no idea what is going on with my body. Or when they wonder out loud, how are you still alive? We still laugh.
Sometimes it comes down to, if we don’t laugh about the situation we might go hide in a dark place. Who wants to deal with that scenario?
3). Be Your Own Advocate.
During the early days of my health journey, Laura and I depended on my medical team. Hey, their the experts. They know best. Wrong!
After some of my doctors refused to listen to us, Laura and I learned we needed to take charge of my healthcare. If not, some of our former doctors would have ended up killing me. That’s not a joke.
It is vital to stand up for yourself and take charge of your healthcare needs. If you are not able to do it yourself, please have a team of advocates around you. They could save your life.
Never be afraid to ask questions. Listen to your gut. Never be afraid to fire your medical team.
4). Keep Living Life.
Do not allow a bad diagnosis to keep you from living your life. I mean truly living life.
Stop putting things off until you get better. Guess what? You may never get better. So take that trip. Take that class you always wanted to. Call that friend who’s been on your mind.
Do not get so caught up in your health journey, that you forget to embrace the beautiful moments of life. The truth is, we only get one shot at life. Don’t waste a minute. ~OC
Truly Living
Remember the first cell phones? They were big. Real big! Remember when you waited until after 7pm to call your family and friends? Free minutes! Young folks don’t know the struggle. Oh the memories.
Cell phones have come a long way in 20+ years. They are definitely smaller. No more waiting until after 7 pm to make calls. Cell phones today are little computers. You do not even have to dial a number anymore. Just tell your phone who to call.
But in an age when our cell phones and other devices have given us almost everything within seconds to make our lives easier, have we slowly stopped living? Have you been to a restaurant, amusement park, church or family gathering lately and looked around the room? Just about everyone is on their phone. Checking emails and social media. I am guilty of it more than I care to admit. We are completely ignoring the people around us. Instead of engaging conversations, we have become obsessed with how many likes or comments our latest post received.
We have lost the art of a great conversation. Truly enjoying a beautiful moment with family and friends. We cannot put our phones down for a minute for fear of missing something important. We just have to know what our favorite celebrity had for lunch. Meanwhile, we are missing out on life. Real life. Not what we see on social media. We have lost the art of truly living.
Truly living is about spending time with loved ones. I mean actually looking them in the eye and having real conversations. Truly living is helping others. Truly living is watching a beautiful sunrise or sunset and not worrying about capturing the perfect picture, but instead embracing a beautiful moment. Truly living is visiting a friend dealing with the storms of life. Truly living is laughing with family and friends.
Please don’t get me wrong. I am not saying we need to toss our cell phones or laptops in the trash. Technology definitely has its place in our lives. But I am saying it’s okay to put your devices down sometimes and have a real conversation with the person sitting next to you. To truly live. ~OC
I Speak For Free
Since our book The Blessed Overcomer came out this past March, Laura and I have been fielding inquiries about speaking engagements. It has been exciting to share our story with an audience. I always love the interaction with a live audience.
Of course one of the first questions I get about speaking is how much do you charge? People are amazed when I tell them we do not charge for our speaking engagements. After they recover from the shock, I share that our story is really not our story. It belongs to God. Laura and I do not feel the need to charge at this time. If God tells us we need to charge for our speaking engagements at some point we will, but I do not ever see that happening. The only thing we will charge for is transportation and lodging if we have to travel. Oh and our book (I usually give away more than I sell).
So, if you or your organization is interested in hearing about our story of overcoming the storms of life, perseverance and embracing this crazy beautiful journey, feel free to contact me. Laura and I would be honored to share at your next event. ~OC
Beautiful Interruptions
I am often asked what are “Beautiful Interruptions”, that I encourage everyone to embrace? Beautiful Interruptions are about slowing down to see the needs of people around us. Beautiful Interruptions are about seeing a world that exists outside of our own little piece of the world. Beautiful Interruptions are about seeing a hurting world that needs a little extra love and encouragement. Beautiful Interruptions are about keeping things in perspective. I pray your day is filled with Beautiful Interruptions. ~OC
Health Advocate
I am a professional patient. Nothing I am excited about. Definitely nothing to brag about. It’s just a fact. The past 17 years, I have learned a lot about the medical field and being a patient. Of course, I didn’t learn all this overnight. My wife Laura and I have made some mistakes along the way. Listened to some doctors when we really should have been kicking them to the curb. In a nice way of course. The biggest lesson we have learned is you have to be your own health advocate. If you are not physically, mentally or emotionally able to take that role on, please find a trusted family member or friend to take on that role for you. You might need more than one advocate. Being your own health advocate or entrusting someone with that role is one of the best decisions you will make during your health journey.~OC
My Weakness
Today’s a new day! My weakness makes room for God’s strength. In times that are tiring and uncertain, when I feel I have nothing left in the tank, He shows up and reminds me that there is indeed nothing I can do…and He offers me his strength…because it is more than enough to carry this weight. ~OC
Heaven And A New Body
In 2017, I had to have a feeding tube inserted. Since then, I have had to have several replacement feeding tubes. Just another part of this crazy beautiful journey. Last Tuesday, while shaving my feeding tube fell completely out of my stomach. The anchor that keeps the feeding tube in my stomach deflated. I had to go to the hospital and have surgery to replace my feeding tube. That’s where I had a experience, that has changed my life forever.
After arriving at the hospital, the surgeon decided based on my current health condition they would not use anesthesia during surgery. They would just numb the area around my feeding tube. When I was taken to the operating room and the surgeon surveyed the situation, it was decided that I would actually need anesthesia. No big deal. I have been under anesthesia many times. After the anesthesia was administered everything changed.
While I was under anesthesia, I believe I actually went to heaven. You read that correctly. On Tuesday April 16, 2019, I spent a few moments in heaven. No, it was not a near death experience. During surgery, I was walking down a brightly lit road. I felt peace that I have never felt before. During my visit, I was actually in a new body. I was no longer in pain. My body felt whole. I saw what I believed to be levels during my experience. I actually believe it was steps. I felt like I was home. During this experience, I never saw God or anyone else. I also never heard the audible voice of God, but I did hear him speak to my heart. What He shared was disappointing. I heard God tell me it was not my time. God shared he had more for me to accomplish. I remember being disappointed and not wanting to come back to earth. I was ready to be home in heaven, but God was not ready for me yet. I then woke up in the recovery room. Usually when I come out of anesthesia, I am very talkative. My wife Laura shared this time I was totally quiet. So quiet, she was actually concerned something was wrong. Laura shared I just kept looking up to the sky, like I was searching for something. Of course, she had no idea the experience I had just woke up from. When I was able to verbally share what happened to me later that night, everything made sense to her. I was trying to get back to heaven. Oh, how I wanted to get back. But I realized God wants me here to finish the mission he has given me. A mission to truly love and encourage others. That desire is greater today than ever before.
Why did God allow me to experience heaven? That is something I am still processing. Several people have shared that with everything I have been through health wise the past 17 years, God wanted me to experience my new body for just a moment. I am not sure, but that new body felt really good. I may never know for sure why God blessed me with this beautiful experience, but I know I will never be the same.
I have been a little hesitant to share my experience. I know some people will say I was under anesthesia and that I never actually visited heaven. Believe me, I had that same thought. Some people will say I made the whole thing up. Once again, I had to asked myself that same question. But after going through all of those different scenarios, I know I experienced heaven for a brief moment. I keep going back to the peace I felt. It was a peace I have never felt before. I cannot put that feeling into words. I just know my life was changed that day and will never be the same.
Another reason I have been hesitant to share my experience, is I never want to cheapen the experience. I feel my words do not and cannot fully convey what I experienced. I do not want my experience to be about me. When I do share my experience, I feel overwhelmed by it. I get very emotional. That is a feeling I never want to lose. I continue to pray for God’s guidance as I share my experience.
Dear God, never allow this experience to be about me. Please help me be honest and real as I share the experience you have given me. I also pray my life will never be the same. May my experience encourage others. I thank you for allowing me to get a small glimpse of heaven. I cannot wait to get back. ~OC
The Blessed Overcomer 