Foreign Body Ingestion (938AA)

That is what I was diagnosed with.  How could they know?  Well, first, I told them that while taking down something from a bulletin board, I put a thumb tack in my mouth to hold it because my hands were full.  then I sneezed. (Did you know that you inhale sharply before a sneeze?)

Second, it was right there in the x-ray.

Humiliating.  This was particularly so, when the admitting nurse asked if I 'swallowed the tack deliberately'? "#$%^^#$ Yes I was trying a science experiment".

Well...   Now we wait.  The xray showed it was either low in my stomach or high in my small intestine. 

"Go about your normal routine, you'll know if something is wrong because a perforated gut really, really hurts, Mr. Shelby."
"Can I eat?"
"Sure"
"I was thinking of going for a run this afternoon, will all that jostling cause a problem?"
"No, you should be fine.  These things generally pass, you can explore your stool if you like."

I will never think of the word 'explore' the same way again.

Humbled, even humiliated, to say the least.
Thank you, Jesus.    

Sick

Since last Thursday, I have had quite a cold.  Not the flu, just a cold.  Malaise, snot, scratchy throat and worst of all a cough.  Like most men, I am a real wuss when it comes to being sick.
Other than taking some zinc lozenges, sitting in the steam room at the JCC and drinking lots of hibiscus tea, I've tried to go about my normal routine.
My problem is I am impatient.  Ok, I get it, everyone gets sick, 48 hours is enough, though.

I don't like feeling sick, I don't like coughing and I particularly don't like this interruption to the way i believe my life should be.  I'm ready to be done now.  I even found myself telling Jesus, I'd had enough and it was time for Him to step up to the plate.

No one likes to be sick.  However, the Bible says that strength is made perfect in weakness.  Being sick makes me feel very weak.

Maybe that is the point.  Jesus made Himself weak (whoa) for me.  Now that is love.