Lessons from a hospital bed

I wrote this post last week whilst in hospital but as it didn’t post properly, I have decided to re-post it. It was written before I became very ill again on the Thursday afternoon and overnight, and before I had surgery on the Friday. However, it is an honest reflection of how I felt at the time…

At 10am on Tuesday morning, I was meeting with a pastor friend for coffee in the City Centre to discuss various aspects of church life. I began to feel unwell and by 1pm, I was screaming in agony in the back of an ambulance racing to A&E as the pain of a stuck kidney stone became too much to bear.

It’s now Thursday morning and I am lying in my hospital bed in the Royal Derby Hospital where I have been for the last couple of days. I was in quite a lot of pain yesterday, but I feel better this morning than I have all week. Having said that, this is not over yet and the course of treatment has not finally been decided. However, as I have laid here, there are some lessons I have learnt. So here goes:

1. I am very grateful to family and friends who rearranged schedules and changed their plans in order to help us. Family and friends are important and highly valued.

2. I can only survive for so long without my iPhone (I think I managed 24 hours!)

3. In times of severe pain or trauma when even praying seems impossible, God knows how you feel. He doesn’t judge you for not praying, he just wants to draw close as a loving Father.

4. Although I love my job leading Jubilee and the people I have the privilege of serving, it’s my family I have really missed this week. Meetings can be rearranged and emails can wait, but a hug here or a kind word or action there should not have to wait. I am looking forward to being back at home with my wife and kids. Perhaps it’s only when you’re not with those you love that you realise how much you miss them. I have realised that this week.

So what about you… who do you need to spend more time with, or show love and appreciation to today?

First day at school

My eldest daughter started school this week. I watched from the window as Sarah took her to school yesterday, looking very grown up and yet very small all at the same time! Along with thousands of other parents up and down the country, I sat there realising that this was the end of one chapter and the beginning of a new one. I knew this day was coming, but I had not expected it to come this soon! When you have kids, other parents tell you that time flies, that they grow up so quick, that you should make the most of the time you have with them. I am now one of those “other parents”. It is so true! I don’t know where nearly 5 years have gone. In a flash, they are over; in a moment, they are gone. If you have kids, let me encourage you, spend time with them – they will grow up so quickly.

But there is another application for all of us here too. Time does go quickly. So what are you doing with the time you have? How are you investing it? We all have the same amount of it; we need to make sure we are using it wisely. Now is the time to live for God, now is the time to love our family, now is the time to plant churches and affect culture. Let’s do it!