Most of us remember times when our world stood still, when the event was so traumatic that to this day we remember where we were when it happened. I am old enough to have had several of those moments. Most of those, like 9-11, weren’t personal, but 61 hours ago everything changed.
Sixty-one hours ago my wife was holding our oldest grandchild in her arms, when she told me something wasn’t right. A couple of minutes later she asked me to call EMS. I decided it would be faster if I drove and within ten minutes we were at the ER. She was evaluated and was sent to Neurological ICU where she will be for up to thirty days.
There are few real guarantees in life, but one we tend to shove out of our minds is the fact, the guarantee, that we all have an appointment with death. We tend to think that death is reserved for the oldest of the old. We tend to think that we, and those we love, will live happy and healthy, but it takes only a few minutes to prove otherwise.
This is not my typical blog. I am not writing to remind you of seniors in need, nor am I reminding you of the ministry I lead and how you can be a part of Elder Source. Today I am writing to remind you that there is no guarantee that you will have another opportunity to speak love and show love to those around you.
Thankfully, we were keeping two of our grandchildren when the brain bleed and the subsequent stroke happened. Otherwise, my wife would have likely chosen to take a nap due to her severe headache. If she had, she would not have survived. There are no guarantees for her survival, but I am looking forward to that time several weeks from now when I can take my wife home to the place where our world changed in a dime’s worth of minutes.
People are asking us what can they do. We have decided that our response is to ask them to pray that God will direct the doctors to the source of the brain bleed. In this blog I would like to ask you to pray as well, but I want to ask you to do one more thing. Live your life with the knowledge that the only real guarantee we have is that death is certain, so love and show love to your loved ones no matter how young or old they are.
Stan Means
Elder Source Senior Ministries
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