Horse Feathers!

On the morning of June 18th I got the morning call that nobody is ready for. “They just took Dad to the Hospital. He has no B.P. and they don’t know what’s wrong. It is really bad. PRAY!” 20 minuted later, my brother, also a paramedic, who was there with him called and said that they just called code blue and were doing CPR on Dad. “Get here as soon as you can.” I was in the car going 90 MPH up the 101 freeway to the central coast with Lucy in the seat next to me. As I passed in Goleta, I got the call… “He’s Dead” <sigh> <tears!> <sobbing!!> They had done what they could to keep blood flowing… they were being Dad’s heart for him, but alas, his aorta had already ripped apart and his blood had nearly all been pumped into his abdomen. His BP was 0/0 and his heart rate was around 250 BPM. Try as it might, the heart just had nothing left to pump and gave up. My sister said that as he was carried away by the paramedics from the house, he told her and her two daughters that he loved them. Then as they entered the doorway, bumping him around, he just said “Ah, horse feathers”. His famous last words.

Life can change in a moment. We find that the “important” things are not that important, and those things that can be so little in our lives are actually the most important events because they are life giving, and life changing. I have spent the past month wondering and wandering. Trying to steady myself for these next steps. I do not know what they will be, but I take them one step at a time. The Psalms remind us that “Thy Word is a lamp unto our feet” and it is not a search beam that shows us much more than a couple of steps ahead. We do not really know what lies ahead. We can only be ready to hear the call of God and to do what he asks when He does. Prepare yes, but be ready for change. Be ready to alter your own plan and see what God is doing in your midst. I am glad that at least I have a lamp at my feet. Peace.