You are viewing the older version of this Weblog. I have left this version available for those of you who do not have Javascript enabled in your web browser.

If you have Javascript enabled and would like to view the lastest version of this Weblog, please go here.
« A new contender? | Main |   » Crazy Golf...

July 14, 2004

Informatio:

Mortality, part 1

Left Index FingerIt’s slower than expected.

Not like standing on a cliff’s edge or slamming on the brakes of your car a second before it’s too late…or even having a gun pointed at your head, I imagine.

No. In most cases, adrenalin is the source of emotion; ignorance the source of relief.

There’s excitement. Only an instant of anxiety. And then it’s over. There may have been a tinge of color…maybe. Somewhere. Like something creeping in the back of your mind. But the sense soon fades.

I should know. I’ve broken at least ten bones (a couple of them more than once). I still have visible scars from vast experiences — and memories of countless more that can no longer be seen. I have skated in empty pools and down steep hills. I have jumped bikes high into the air and skidded them upon uncombed dirt trails. I have fallen from roofs and have leapt from walls. I have swum in oceans considered unsafe, waves crashing endlessly overhead…

And, yet…mortality — the great and ever-present foe — never once glanced in my direction.

But, now…I have been breathed upon.

Sure, I’m not the only one. But, who ever is?

(Read more entries on my mortality.)

Posted at 7:30 pm

Trackback:

Trackback Link:

Please enable javascript to generate a trackback url

Comments (3):
What a great gift you have been given. Treasure it.

will () (URL) - July 15, 2004 at 08:52 am

Tim, I think I understand. My most traumatic brush with my own mortality came when I was 28. It changes you. I’ve found that I’m rarely surprised by death, like folks who are still jumping off buildings with the abandon of the invincible might be. (“Mom, nothing’s gonna happen. Really. We’ve done it a million times, and nothing’s happened before…”)


A health crisis at an early age can make you more in tune with the eternal perspective than you might have been. I will say I have very little fear of my own death, only a fear of failing to fulfill my responsibility to life.


With that, I’d better get to work! I’ll keep praying for your health, Tim.

Katy () (URL) - July 15, 2004 at 09:01 am

The three times I spun out in a car I was driving — those all happened in slow motion. The time a friend and I were robbed at gunpoint was the longest 90 seconds of my life. The bus that ran the stop light and careened past me as I was stepping into the crosswalk — now that was fast. But every time I walked away without a scratch.


I made peace long ago with the notion that every time we survive a brush with death, it’s just God reminding us that He’s got something for us to do, a higher purpose, a right place for us to arrive at the right moment, an equation in which we are meant to be His instrument.


Be well, Tim. Clearly He’s not done with you yet.

Shepcat () (URL) - July 15, 2004 at 11:45 am

  
Remember personal info?

Emoticons / Textile

I have implemented this measure for any Entry over 30 days old in order to alleviate automated spam.
 

  (Register your username / Log in)

Notify:
Hide email:

Small print: All html tags except <b> and <i> will be removed from your comment. You can make links by just typing the url or mail-address.