The Bema

July 17, 2018

Yesterday morning I was awakened by the nurse.  "It's done.  You can go home now."

"What did you find?"  I asked, hoping that the sleep study had found nothing.

"Well, I can't say.  The doctor will have to look at the results.  But you will be back."

"Back?  Why?"

"Because we will have to calibrate the machine on you."

What the nurse was avoiding telling me was that I have sleep apnea.

The news worked on me all day.  But, it wasn't just the news I'd heard that morning that bothered me.  It was everything: all the physical and emotional pain I've experienced for much of my life.  I was tired of being tired.  I was tired of the pain. I was discouraged about our son's stuggles and about other emotional disappointments about which no one knows.  I was tired of the struggle.  I became profoundly sad.  

I went to bed hoping I'd wake up feeling better.  I didn't.

Then, as I sat on my porch swing this morning drinking my morning coffee, I remembered something someone - a new acquaintance, a committed follower of Jesus - told me about just yesterday afternoon.  He told me of something he had watched.  It is called The Bema, based on the book by that title by Tim Stevenson.  So, I watched it.  

It reminded me of what is truly important; things I already knew but, in my self-pity, I didn't want to think about.  It put this life back into perspective.  It reminded me that this life has a point.  How I respond to life's struggles and pain will matter to me - for all of eternity.  

Thank you, Jesus.  Thank you.

Please, please, click here to watch The Bema.  It will encourage you just as it encouraged me.

You will be blessed, too.

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