Dear friends & family,
A couple of people who apparently love me have mentioned that they haven't heard much news from Malcolm-land lately other than the Christmas letter and updates in the wake of Matt's passing. They have nudged me to do something about it. In spite of their implied confession that they never check my blog, I figured that an update was probably in order just in case you might occasionally like to mention me to the Almighty. (If perchance you're happy with your current pre-update level of Malcolm news, feel free to hit the delete key and make me disappear.)
If you have been praying for the completion of the Christian Life course that I was writing for BEE World, thank you. It was a question about the status of that course that started the update-nudging. Three days before Matt's passing last June, I submitted what I thought was the last set of the revisions for the course (more about that later...) and breathed a deep sigh of relief. That was a good thing, because the weeks following Matt's death were not exactly the most productive of my life.
A California vacation in the fall included some personal retreat time with an opportunity for me to listen to the Lord and do some refocusing. My three years of retirement have looked very different than I had envisioned. That time of refocusing was valuable. I came home with a fresher and clearer understanding of how my gifts fit into God's purpose in this season of my life. Though God's purpose is constant, our season keeps changing, so we never outgrow need for such freshening. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that in the wake of that clarification, my life started to get busier.
That busyness includes multiple BEE World challenges that have come my way. (Thank you, Tom & Debbie; you are so good at sharing the joy!) Since I have survived (at least so far...) BEE's writing process, I have been asked to be a resource and occasionally consult with a couple of people who are endeavoring to create a Pastoral Counseling course for BEE. I have also been challenged to consider writing a needed course on Missions, for which I first need to be educated. To that end I am taking an online course called Perspectives developed by the US Center for World Mission that promises to keep me busy for the next few months. I am also taking a series of online modules through the Internet Seminary to become equipped to do some online teaching and facilitating.
Into this mix came an additional challenge a couple of days ago. One of the last stages in developing a course for BEE is review by facilitators who will be using it. That has been completed for Christian Life, and I've been asked to implement a few recommended changes to that course. The challenging part of that request is the desire to complete those changes by mid-February. The exciting side of the challenge is that this much needed and much-delayed course that I inherited in 2008 will very soon be in use, and you through your prayers have been a key part of that. The lives of many, many believers that you and I will never meet this side of heaven will be impacted in response to your faithful prayers for this course.
Among the other pieces of my life are opportunities God provides to interact with others along the way, mentoring, encouraging, occasionally preaching.... And in the process I get sharpened as well. On the horizon is a trip to England, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland with my daughter this spring. How and why that trip came to be is another story too long for this email; suffice it to say that the story includes my mother's ashes. (Hmm, that sounds a bit like those news teasers... "Mom's ashes; video at 11...")
That's the almost-short version of the update. It if prompts questions, ask. And most importantly, THANK YOU - big time - for your friendship, love, and prayers. Even if you hit the delete key. ;-)
Malcolm
Pictures of Matt’s graveside memorial July 16, 2010 and barbecue July 17, 2010.
Easter - April 4, 2010
What a great thing it is to celebrate the reality of the resurrection! I trust as you have been doing that today, you have sensed with renewed freshness the wonder of God's love and power that meet at the empty tomb.
This seems to be a season for me of connecting with family and friends. I enjoyed a visit from Joan's cousin Donn a week ago, and last Wednesday had the opportunity to visit a couple of long-time friends in Canada, one of whom I hadn't seen for 40 years. Friendships in the family of God are precious indeed! Tomorrow I begin a road trip that will include seeing a host of friends and family in Oregon and California as well as attending a conference in Las Vegas. If you are in that direction, consider yourself warned. I also plan to spend a few days at Mount Hermon, and while there, Matt & I plan to continue the tradition begun a couple of years ago of celebrating our birthdays with dinner on the Santa Cruz wharf. Thanks for praying me along the way on this trip; in spite of the calendar, there's still snow in the Siskiyous.
Many of you have been faithfully praying for the Christian Life course that I have been working on for BEE World. Thank you! The course content is now complete, and I am reviewing the sections contributed by another writer so that we can achieve the greatest possible sense of course unity. Continue to pray for this much needed course that will soon be available; I believe it will become a significant tool for church leaders around the world. Writing the course has been an adventure.
Physically I am doing reasonably well and graduated from cardiac rehab in mid-February. The challenge now is to maintain the discipline of regular cardio exercise, which I have come to enjoy. (That discipline was interrupted a couple of weeks ago by what I sincerely hope was my dumbest moment of the year. Don't try turning around on a treadmill while it's moving. And no, there are no pictures of that event to share!)
Thanks for being a valuable part of my life.
February 12, 2010 - C.R. Graduation
Changes in the last three months:
Weight: down 15-20 pounds
Waist: down 2-3 inches
Cholesterol: down 55
LDL: down 45
Resting blood pressure: that’s down as well.
And on another note - CL Course: content completed
☺
December 31, 2009
134. I think that’s the lowest my cholesterol has ever been. Maybe I’m shrinking in the right way. ☺
Christmas 2009
Merry CHRISTmas. It’s a beautiful, frosty, sunny morning in Seattle. I’m feeling great, cardiac rehab is approaching the half-way point and going well, and walking a couple of miles is fun again. As I write, Matt is on a train somewhere in Oregon due to arrive this evening, and Suzanne is on a plane, heading home after a brief trip to sing in Twin Lakes Church’s Christmas Eve services. (They call it Christmas eve; it’s four services over two days...) I’ll be making a couple of short trips today to the airport and train station, making this what Matt has called our Planes, Trains, and Automobiles Christmas.
Whatever you are doing today, I pray that Christ will be at the center of your Christmas. God bless.
December 8, 2009 - Building memories on the Christmas Ship with the Dickens Carolers
Pope Matt I
November 7, 2009 - Niece Heidi’s Wedding
November 4, 2009 - Happy Doctor
My cardiologist is happy, which makes me happy. ☺
Cardiac rehab is in my near-term future.
October 27, 2009 - Before & After
The top picture is before; the bottom is after. The stent is in, the artery is open, and i am home. ☺
October 23, 2009 - Blessed by a friend
Thank You, Lord, for Your grace and mercy toward Malcolm. We ask for Your continued protection for him through the procedure on Monday and his healing after.
Lord, You have the power to unclog the artery before Monday so he doesn't have to have the procedure. We're asking for that by faith, knowing that You will do for him what's best for him. If your plan is to heal him through the Dr.s, we pray that You will guide and direct them, protecting Malcolm all along the way. Pour Your peace into Malcolm's heart and mind. Remind him that You are his loving Father. And that You will not let him out of Your sight, even for a moment.
We speak healing and health to Malcolm and his heart and arteries. There is no power in heaven or on earth greater than Yours, Lord. And we claim, in the authority Jesus gave us, that power to heal Malcolm. We thank You, Lord, for all that you are doing in Malcolm's life.
In Jesus Christ's name,
Amen
October 20, 2009 - Angiogram Day
Blessing #1: Suzanne was my designated driver and companion for today’s angiogram. Matt was my designated out-of-town prayer guy. My kids are a blessing! ☺
Blessing #2: Today’s angiogram was not worthy of the anxiety with which I anticipated it. I have had shots that were more painful. ☺
Blessing #3: I am alive and walking around in spite of having a coronary artery that is 100% blocked. ☺
Blessing #4: The staff in the ATU at Valley Medical Center remembered Joan (and therefor me) from our all-too-frequent visits a couple of years ago; I was cared for today by friends. ☺
Blessing #5: Thanks, Matt Jr , for your encouraging presence today in spite of the fact that I am considerably less coherent when sedated. ☺
Blessing #6: I now have an official doctor’s excuse for doing nothing, at least for the time being. (“Go home and take it easy... nothing strenuous.”) ☺
What next: The plan is to insert a stent next Monday at Swedish. (This procedure is not done on an elective basis at Valley because of the absence of a back-up cardiac surgery program.) Thank you for praying.