A joyful heart is good medicine, Happy thangkiving

He did this stunt himself with a prosthetic
hand.  Check out a video clip and see if
you can figure  out which is his prosthesis.

“A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones.”

I read an article in Wall Street Journal that pointed out as a person declines with Alzheimer's they lose the ability first to laugh at satirical and absurd humor. The article cited Monty Pythons humor as an example. Slapstick it seems is the last humor to be lost. The Three Stooges is a big hit with 10-year-olds and apparently declining mental states in seniors. The research backing the article pointed out there may be cultural differences as to humor appreciation. 

I am always thought Harold Lloyd and Laura & Hardy were a whole lot funnier than Charlie Chaplin. Some of the things Chaplin did were funny, but it seemed to me he was more interested in the other themes then comedy. Artsy people will continue to rave about Chaplin, but the other comedians will make you laugh. 

In Proverbs 14:13 even in laughter start may sorrow… we tend to see humor in some of our darker experiences. Comedians are often lead complicated and sad lives. I read an article recently we're in Norman Rockwell went to therapy with the fame therapist Erickson to deal with the pain in his private life. Maybe it was a pain in his life that helped him to focus on the beautiful in living in his art.

There is another side to humor that I think is good for us. In Proverbs 17:22, New Living Bible paraphrases “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person's strength.”

Laughing, reframing life's experience in a positive way has been shown to be good for our immune system and overall health. This is not being a buffoon but it is a mental strength that is more resilient then seeing life of gloom and despair. If we laugh often it may even affect our longevity. One thing that will do is give us a better day. Keep walking. Happy thanksgiving.

Articles on Alzheimer's progression and humor

http://content.iospress.com/download/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad150413?id=journal-of-alzheimers-disease%2Fjad150413

http://www.wsj.com/articles/changes-in-sense-of-humor-may-presage-dementia-1447865310

pain I hate it but we have to go through it anyway

I posted on Facebook and twitter an article that I read on Wayne Stiles blog.

http://www.waynestiles.com/the-question-we-ought-to-ask-when-hurting/

The question we aren't to ask went hurting spark thoughts about pain that I've come to understand over the years. If you like to question where is God in the mist of our pain? Read his blog. I also would encourage you to read Phillip Yancy’s book, Where is God When it Hurts? 

Wayne Styles contrast how the Psalms looks at the question of pain with the book of Job. In the Psalms the writers repeatedly asked where is God in the midst I'll our pain? Job never answers the question of where is God in my pain? Nor Why does God allows such struggle in our lives? Asking these questions you are right with the writers of Scriptures.

We all know when our body tells us we are hurting. That pain is communicating to us a problem. Answering the question why does this hurt? That's a very good question. Finding the answer not only helps the pain but it helps us with the causes of pain. Some pain it is wonderful to just get relief from it. And most of the time our body heals while we get relief. 

Sometimes the pain indicates that we have to get help to fix the problem. Other times pain is a warning and we must do something to put a stop to it. 

Pain becomes a problem when its chronic or overwhelming. The cry of “why” you can feel the pain. Pain often can be helpful but at the same time it can be unuseful if the “state” is prolong or terminal.

Along the way in life teaches us there is no escaping problems and pain. One way or another we have to go through it. We live in a fallen world and God has his purposes with the things that are and that isn't going to change anytime soon. Bad people in Paris are going to kill innocent people, crazy broken evil people are going to kill children in school. Demented agendas become more important then people.

In the context of difficult and painful experiences caused by evil or even things going drastically wrong with our bodies, why doesn't always cut it. Job shares with us that we need to discover the who that can go with us through the pain is what we need. The truth is we are all going to experience the ultimate loss of life and the most important thing that we need is to trust the one that can take us through that. 

We may find people who can help us through our darkest day. We may need courage courage to stand up to evil. It took our soldiers to go through the darkest days of World War II to end the suffering of Holocaust. The people of London had to suffer much before Hitler was stopped. We may be an accident with broken bone and body and have to go through the pain of care by medical people. We may have to endure a long recovery and possibly some loss and chronic pain. Learning to trust God through these things in seeing how God uses these things to make us more like Jesus is a big part of the purpose of pain that Styles talks about. Nobody wants it, that is the pain. But that doesn't change the reality that we will go through these things one way or another.

That's why I encourage you to read the article or the book in think through these things. Sometimes we have to pray through these things when we don't want to. We can be angry about it, bitter about it, we can do the blame thing; but it will not change the pain that we go through. Trusting God in our darkest time maybe the hardest thing we have to do. Keep walking

My take on being Cooperized - What's that?

In living we face our three enemies of cardiovascular, cancer, and diabetes. These three diseases touch all of us no matter what age we are. Cooper from the Cooper aerobics Center has set up a health program he calls get Cooperized. In this months newsletter there are articles of interest for you.

https://forms.cooperaerobics.com/acton/fs/blocks/showLandingPage/a/2187/p/p-0155/t/page/fm/0

One article can give you the edge against diabetes if you get Cooprize. Seven of the steps everybody agrees with. There are different opinions about supplements but I think you're good to follow your doctors advice for your own personal plan of health. Each one of these steps can be a game changer with diabetes. Here is my take on the steps:

1. Get to a healthy weight. Personally I've been reading less health articles and I allow myself one day a week where I follow my sources to new information. I've been putting more my attention to quit eating insanely. Also I've been looking for opportunities throughout my day to move more an exercise. Mentally I've been focusing on my writing and ministry to Liberia.

2. Make healthy food choices most of the time. This is such a good point that's easy to forget. Life isn't perfect and if you have a weight problem being less-than-perfect can really mess with your head. Lately I have had more success looking at my crazy behavior and eating in being more mindful. I know how to eat right, but I also I'm very capable of doing the craziest things, like binge eating or eating large amounts of food in less than a minute. It's unbelievable.

Adaptive push up

3. Exercise most days of the week. 30 minutes of walking can really help someone with type II diabetes. A couple days a week I do a TRX program and resistance bands. Every day I do 2 or 3 sets of modified push-ups, situps, squats, Heel raises, dips and lunges. I call them my fat man exercises. 

4. Take the right supplements for you. Ask your doctor about supplements and which ones might fit you better. Most of these benefits can be obtained with healthy food. But there maybe things that help you and that's the bottom-line.

5. Do not use tobacco. If you have a death wish there is nothing better that you can do but smoke three packs a day of Lucky Strikes. For most people death comes a little earlier. But you have to be prepared to live a while and you can't breathe. You could be very likely have your mouth or jaw, or tongue, Voice box ripped out of your body. Maybe you'll be lucky to have hardened arteries due to smoking for a instant death of heart attack. But then you could be one of the few who lives into their 80s connected to an oxygen tank this cigarette in the hole of your neck. With tobacco you never know but there is no support whatsoever that it doesn't hurt your health. Do you feel lucky, well do you?

6. Control alcohol. If you drink 2 or less drinks a day alcohol may have some benefits. There are no benefits to your health with three or more drinks a day. Even a little alcohol that could help the heart may be an increasing your chances for certain cancers and diabetes. When you look at the big picture we have every reason to get control of our drinking.

7. Manage your stress. Stress kills and is a factor with the big three things that kill us. Stress can put us into a cycle where we quit doing the things that help us and increase the chances that we may lose in heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Learn about the stress in your life and find ways to deal with it. I am a big fan that everybody should have a mental health professional on their medical team. Much of the way that exercise helps against the pain of arthritis and dependence on painkillers; learning how to deal with stress reduces the need for any kind of medication.

8. Get a regular, comprehensive physical exam. By the time you get to be 40 you need to develop a health team starting with a good GP. Never sit and stew with worry about what is going on your body. Please get over your fear and see your doctor. Being on top of your problems is a life saver. I get it, I have no idea when I will pass away. But getting check ups gives you a better chance to live a little longer and even a little better. Keep walking

Imperfect people, Try not to cut them off...

24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Heb. 10

I was reading an article by Wayne Martindale, C. S. Lewis, Reluctant Churchman in which she showed from Lewis’ writing that church attendance something Lewis hoped he could do without. For Lewis it was people came in all shapes and sizes. Ordinary people, even odd people were the vessels in which God worked to create great changes in him. The church or the body of Christ was the place in which people learned to love.

Any of us can love somebody we look up to or appreciate. It is quite another matter to love people more difficult. Odd people who don't fit into our comfortable equations will stretch love in unexpected places. 

For a long time God has shown me when a church resembles more of the Community of Mayberry on the Andy Griffin show we will be more inclined to be surprised by joy and love. One of the best TV commedies were there was a mix of interesting and off beat characters. 

Floyd the Barber (with glasses) still worked was
suffering w dementia. He was still part of their lives.

Lewis did not like the hymns or the sermons. He liked theology books and reason writings. One thing about a book is you can control it. You can close the book and not return to it. If you don't like it or don't agree with it, it can be sent away and become a distant memory. On the other hand books can become a much needed friend. How many books I have read that challenged my thinking and made me a better person? 

A church opens the doors and invites whoever into it. The gospel at the core of its message reaches out to the down and outer, the poor, the disadvantaged, the common person. Our quest for friendship leads us to the noble, the beautiful, the brilliant,  the most liked and loved. The church is the exact opposite of that. 

One of the constructs of our modern thinking comes with setting up borders in dealing with negative, toxic people. Have you ever noticed there is a lot of these people?

Some of these people are very close to us,  a parent, sibling, lifelong associate, a neighbor. Don’t get me wrong I actually understand borders. But borders and difficult people need to be loved. It is the hard cases that is at the heart of the matter. Certainly we cannot tolerate sins that abuse us, but there are relationships that require us to show God's love. 

If there are relationships that are destroying you, then please consider setting up borders and leaving a toxic relationship. I believe the Lord will show you when is a good time to show love and forgive and yet stop the destructive relationship. 

If we separate ourselves from every toxic person we come into contact there will be very, very few people left. We need to develop a little thicker skin and take the bull's-eye off our back. Not everything is hate, there're a lot of things that are really just a lively debate. 

I wish more young people we're involved in BS (bull shit) sessions where anything could be discussed and debated. Ideas explored and challenged where you hear and see what was being communicated. More importantly today to be able to feel the argument. If you could have such a group that met every week you can worked through all the little hangups you come across. Right now we live through our little machines and if we don't like something we block it out or ignore it. We only read or look at things that reinforce our little worlds. Differences become toxic and are removed.

Which brings us  back to church. There is never a perfect local church, each church has its own flaws, hypocrites, and weirdos. There are some mature and functional people to be sure. When you look at the whole of the group it may be challenging to find those mature and balanced, but they are there. It is here that Jesus told us to love one another. It is here that I think you will discover many surprising things about yourself and how God works. I prefer to look at it like Andy of Mayberry and see the humor of it. In work I it is the one thing I miss in my 30 years of working in special ed. Every day there was something funny as well as profound about the human experience. I miss the quirky and unusual discoveries that came each day. That part of my job I was never bored with.

In my 40 years of going to church how God works with the dysfunctional, the weird, and offbeat is what fascinated me. We need a church that is not an entertainment center. There are people who are harder to love and we need that if were going to understand God's love. A church full of common regular people will teach us a lot more about ourselves.

There is a subject that I wish to explore which is seeing things with God’s humor. Keep walking