My youngest daughter was/is experiencing some
heart problems. She sought my prayers in particular,
and any advice I might have. (Maybe Daddy just
wanted to give some.)
Emailing her back she was assured of my prayers.
And knowing my "little girl" [She is a grandmother,
but will always be my little girl.] I suggested that she
eliminate the stress in her life. Then jokingly told her
I would send my "Stress Sermon" later.
It occurred to me the thing I wanted to convey to her,
might be of help to someone else also. So my "Stress
Sermon" was turned into a post.'
What qualifies me to give any advice. Well nothing.
But consider the source - this old man.
When I was a teenager the family doctor diagnosed
me as having a heart problem. [No. That was not in
horse and buggy days. We actually drove cars by
then.] I had an irregular heart beat or murmur or
something. Probably trying to be an Israelite. You
know, murmuring and complaining in the desert.
The stuff they gave as medicine was awful. It didn't
help either. I suppose nothing did until I met my
little girl's mother.
About that time the selective service called me up in
the draft. But I flunked the physical because of my
heart. That was good for what we called a 4F then.
I really wanted in the Naval Air Reserve. As you can
figure, I flunked that physical too. But someone in the
administration building messed up and swore me in
anyway. I was in whether they liked it or not.
After my little girl was born, I was trying to act like an
insurance salesman for an old line insurance company.
Trying to buy insurance for myself they turned me
down because of my heart. My staff manager went
after them. Well! Selling insurance and not having any
myself? You figure it out. I was taken into the home
office and a team of doctors tested me with all kinds
of neat high tech stuff. They relented enough to sell
me a rated policy. That is I had to pay a lot of extra
money just to get insurance.
So what?
I am seventy five years old and work harder six days
a week than most young people. That's what.
The answer really is in God. He is the one that
deserves all the thanks, honor and glory. He is the
one that keeps my old pumper pumping.
But what about my part?
The precautions I have taken are to have a cheerful
heart. (Well, when I can.) The good book says,
"A cheerful heart is a good medicine...."
-Proverbs 17:22 NRSV
The way I have a cheerful heart is diet. That is, lots of
candy, cookies, pie, cake, ice cream and anything else
sweet I can get. You know. Attitude adjustment. No.
I am not joking. I don't do any thing for my heart.
Zilch. Nothing. Don't even go to the doctor. If I did
he would just try to put me on something expensive
so they could take all my money. Then I would be
broke and have all the side effects to suffer too.
Of course the sweets do not help my heart. It's the
Lord who watches over it.
By nature I am hyper or
high strung. So I do preach this sermon to myself,
sometimes.
Our text for today is Proverbs 14:30 NRSV
Please stand in honor of God's Word.
[That's the way we do it in our Church.]
"A tranquil mind gives life to the flesh,"
Now the point I want to make. Years ago I was
listening to "Focus on the Family". They told of an
incident that went something like this.
One of their staff members had a heart attack.
Latter in a recovery group they were trying to
determine the common denominator that caused
their heart attacks.
As I remember in the recovery group were all sizes
and shapes of people. Some had been in excellent
health, and some not.
But they had one common denominator.
STRESS.
Stress will kill you. Even with a good heart.
Now get rid of the stress.
Jesus said,
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry..."
-Matthew 6:25 NRSV
Paul said,
"Do not worry about anything,"
-Philippians 4:6 NRSV
Peter said,
"Cast all your anxiety on him," [That's Jesus.]
-1 Peter 5:7 NRSV
There you have it. Jesus wants to take your stress
and let you enjoy life with him. Take your problems,
dump them on the Lord. Then lighten up and live.
