Tag: Life

To The Person I Lost,

Dear Person I Lost,

You are missed every day. It’s hard knowing I will never hear your laugh again. I will miss your encouraging text. I will miss celebrating the holidays with you. I will miss celebrating life with you. I wish you would have reached out to me. I wish I would have reached out to you more. I try not to blame myself. I know I wasn’t the problem, but it’s still hard.

I go through most days asking a lot of questions. Could I have done more? Could I have asked more questions? Why didn’t I asked those tough questions? Why didn’t I say yes to more lunches, instead of always being too busy? I am sorry. I hope you know I really care for and love you.

I go through moments of being angry with you because you chose to leave us. I wish you would have fought harder. But then I realize how hard you did fight. How hard you tried to live.

I am happy you are not suffering anymore, but how I wish you could have found that healing here on earth. I know you tried.

I am sure the days will get easier, but it will take awhile. I will seek God’s guidance, comfort and strength. I know that’s what you would want. I will carry on until we meet again.

Finish Strong,

From the Person Who Misses You

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What My Crazy Beautiful Journey Has Taught Me About Living

When people meet me, they are always amazed how positive and upbeat I am. I have been asked more times than I can count, why I am not depressed? Doctors love asking that question. I guess people just think I should be hiding under the covers and living in pure devastation. Obviously they have never met me.

No, I have decided to live a life full of adventure and gratitude. It is a choice I have to make on a daily basis. Sometimes a hourly basis. I made the decision early on in this crazy beautiful health journey, to not allow my health issues to consume me. Not let it become my identity. I made the choice to be grateful for all the blessings I have experienced on this journey. That has truly been a life changing choice. Choosing to live with a heart of gratitude has allowed me to remain upbeat and full of joy. Yes, there are still some very tough days, but the blessings far outweigh the negatives of this journey.

I have also found that writing and talking about my journey has been very healing. It has also given my family and friends permission to ask about my journey. That has been important for everyone.

Humor has also been positive. If you know Laura and I, you know our humor tends to be on the dark side. And we do not apologize for it. Laura and I have been given the stink eye more than once when it comes to our dark humor. Our humor is not everyone’s cup of tea, but it works for us. Hey, if you don’t like it, go get your own life threatening health issues.

This crazy beautiful health journey has taught me that when I am truly living, I do not have the time to worry about the negatives this storm brings.

During this journey, God has also revealed his purpose for my life. It’s pretty simple. My purpose is to encourage and love others. Not just people who look and think like me. No, that would be easy. No, God has called me to encourage and love everyone He brings my way. That is not always easy, but the blessings have been unbelievable. I love this crazy beautiful journey God has me traveling. I would not change a thing. ~OC

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Reach Out

As we travel this crazy beautiful journey called life, how many people do we meet that feel left out? The unseen. How many times do we walk by them on our way to the next big thing?

The unseen are all around us. The single mom trying to make it on her own. The student who just doesn’t seem to fit in at school or anywhere else. That person fighting for their life who feels all alone. Has someone come to mind as you read this blog post? Who in your life could use a friend? Someone to walk with during this marathon called life.

All of us have felt invisible at times. During those times, how amazing was it when someone reached out to us? Taking the time to stop and notice the unseen around us could be life changing. There are so many people who need just one person to reach out and acknowledge them. Will you be that one person? ~OC

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Perspective

Life is tough. I am not telling you anything new. We all have faced challenging times during this journey called life. Sometimes we feel stuck. Maybe a little lost. Our heads get full of so many different thoughts. Anybody been there?

During those times, it is easy to become frustrated and forget God’s faithfulness in all seasons. Guess what? We do not have to live in frustration. We all have choices as we walk through these frustrating moments in life. We get to choose our perspective. Did you hear that? We get to choose frustration or choose to be thankful for what God has done and is doing in our lives. We have the choice to stay stuck in our current situation or look at the lessons God is teaching us during those difficult times. Not always an easy choice, but I encourage everyone to turn your difficult road into life changing training ground.

During my health journey, God has brought me into a greater place of worship, praise and devotion. To pray to God, that he would bring me through this journey in the way only He can. My attitude and the way I look at my current health situation is my choice. I have chosen to look at life with a different perspective. With a perspective of hope.

Will you make the choice to live with a different perspective today? The choice is yours. ~OC

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God’s Promises

Today’s a new day! God has promised to look after me…. to bring help. God, who defends me, who is far greater in strength than my health issues or anything life throws at me. God, who spoke and whose words caused the universe to be. His word are true and unfailing. If He promises something, He will deliver. ~OC

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Life Around The Table

I love sitting around a table and engaging in great conversation. As a child, I remember listening to my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles sitting around the table discussing life. They laughed and sometimes cried. There is just something about sitting around a table and talking.

Think about all the events that happen around a table. From birthday parties, holiday dinners and wedding toast to name just a few. Some of the biggest events and life decisions happen around a table.

As I travel on this crazy beautiful health journey, I can no longer eat anything by mouth. Since I have been on my feeding tube, some people have a hard time eating around me. They feel bad about enjoying a meal around me. Even though I constantly reassure them that it does not bother me, I have noticed less invitations to the table. I miss those moments because sitting around the table has nothing to do with eating for me. It never has. Engaging in great conversations and sharing life has always been more important than the food. I am thankful for those friends who still invite me to the table.

I do not share that experience to make anyone feel bad, I share that experience to show that more than a good meal happens at the table. Life happens around the table.

As I think back on those conversations my family had around the table, food played little into that memory. Most of the time, coffee was the only thing around the table. That and a lot of amazing conversations.

So as we start a new week, who will we invite to the table this week? Maybe it will be a friend, neighbor, coworker or maybe a complete stranger that God wanted us to meet. Remember, life happens around the table and sometimes food is involved. ~OC

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Some Lessons Learned On The Journey

During my crazy beautiful health journey, God has shared many lessons with me. I have shared some of these lessons in earlier blog post. Today, I would like to share some more lessons learned during my journey. Some of these lessons have been difficult to walk through, but they have brought me closer to God. They have made me a better person. They are lessons I never want to forget.

Don’t Live In Fear. Surrender everything to God. Including your fear. My life is filled with a lot of unknowns. It would be easy live in fear. For moments I have. Thank goodness, I chose not to live in that fear. No, instead I continue to choose to live in Hope. Not always easy, but making the choice to not live in fear has been life changing.

Let God’s Word Empower You. Spend time in God’s word. Speak it. Pray it. Sing it. Live it out. During my good days and bad days I choose to let God’s Word pour over me.

Embrace Every Moments. Make every moment count. Tell your love ones you love them. Share some hugs. Take that trip. Give freely. So some grace. Love without prejudice.

Be Grateful. Take time to be thankful for your many blessings. My journey has been filled with some rough moments, but I have so much to be grateful for. My wife. My family and friends. My medical team. Great insurance. Beautiful moments.

Never Give Up. The temptation is always there. The journey is too hard. The pain is too great. There are plenty of reasons to give up, but I encourage you to keep fighting. Reach out to trusted family and friends to walk with you during those moments of wanting to give up.

I hope these lessons will encourage you. They are not easy to walk through. Believe me I know. I have been trying to live them out for the past 17 years. ~OC

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Life Is Short

Life is short. Time isn’t promised. Love hard. Live well. Pray often. Hold the people that matter close. Hug your family and friends. Tell your family and friends you love them. Call a friend. Get together and celebrate family and friends. Love your enemies.. ~OC

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