Monthly Archives: December 2006

I’m one of those who have enjoyed technology for years.  The enjoyment goes in cycles.

There is a day when you find something new.  You diligently explore approaches.  You (meaning “I”) read the manual — that’s how I work best.  Then I approach the technology.  I try it out.  If I read something, I’ll see if I can make it work in reality.

After a while, you tire of the new technology.  Or more rightly, you have mastered it so you move on to other things.  Each part that you have learned in the past contributes to your understanding of new technology.  Soon you can move into something quickly and with confidence.

Until you forget to backup something, and you lose some of those good things you have been working on.  Today I did just that.  Thought I had everything backed up and that the program was running fine.  Pushed the wrong button and the backup wasn’t complete.  I’ll be working to replace that piece of data in the near future. 

Until then, I’ll kick myself a few times and move on.  Maybe there is a new piece of technology just waiting around the corner!

So today I’m at the office – the doctor’s.  Not just any doctor – the knee surgeon’s.

Dr. Lobback stepped into the examination room.  We chatted.  I asked if his children had ever been to Israel — 1998 to be exact.  Yes, they had.  Some of our friends had gone over with them to Israel.  Gave him their names to pass on to his kids.

He asked if I wanted knee replacements.  I figured this would take some convincing on my part.  He said I was a young man — too soon for knee replacements.  But then he claimed that my knees were in bad shape and I needed to have the surgery.  I was not just to get one bone worked on — my knees were too far past that.  I was not to just get one knee worked on — both knees needeed attention.

So, six months to a year from now I’m hoping to get surgery.  I can’t act like a twenty year old – although they say my knees will feel like it.  At least a month needs to be booked off for recovery (I won’t be able to stand up to preach — maybe I’ll need to get someone to do some of the preaching).  At least three months of phsiotherapy.

I knew I didn’t have too much planned for this coming year.  And now I’m going to start working on alternate plans.  In many ways this is just what I need — to let other work in their area of giftedness instead of doing all the work myself.

Now, let me explain my title.  I was told that grouting is what holds the knees replacements on the bones.   I always used grouting to fix my tiles in the bathroom.  I wonder if they coat the grouting with silicone?

The knees are expected to be high flex — more than 90 degrees of motion when they are in place.  Older replacements were not quite as flexible.

And finally — is this an urban myth?  I understand that when you are born you do not have knee caps.  They develop in the first year.  I guess my knee caps could use a little more development — they are a bit worn.  Do they do knee cap replacement — or do I become like a child and grow them back?

Loved a little statement as we toured around Saskatoon yesterday and today.

“Even the lowly mosquito doesn’t get a slap on the back until he begins to work.”

On the way to Saskatoon we stopped to see renovations on my sister’s house and to see a dying aunt.  Somehow those two together don’t seem related — other than the fact that they are relatives!!

But, as I thought of it . . . My aunt has been in the renovation of her heart for well over 80 years.  She has a gracious spirit in the midst of cancer that is advancing.  She knows of her final destiny — her heart has been Jesus’ heart for decades.

As we walked through house renovations, I was reminded that nothing of the material world around us will last!  If there is a starting point for renovations, the heart is by far the best place to start.  The rest can happen as needed.  But if the heart is not renovated in this life time, a life time to follow will forever be affected.

Consider the work of the heart — certainly a better work than that of the mosquito!

A number of years ago there was a TV show that worked off the idea of family cooperation.  As I remember it, the opposite could also be true — families in this show could also hate each other.  The deciding factor was how each family member responded to the other in the midst of tense situations.

This past week I attended two funerals where there were strained relations.  While family members might sit on the same bench, the minutes were spent far from each other.  Some family members didn’t even show up or want involvement in funeral preparations.

The other day I was talking to my parents.  As we finished our conversation, my father said quietly, “Love you.”  I have heard that from him for many years.  But somehow it struck me this time around.  He has said that same thing to all of us kids.  My mother does the same.  We as siblings are also on good terms.

I will look forward to the next funeral in our family.  Not in a morbid way!  But in a way that the gathering will be a celebration of a person’s life.  And the gathering will be a time to speak to each other with gracious tones and not with harsh invectives.

May no family feuds interrupt peace on earth and goodwill toward men!