Too Much of a Good Thing

I gave blood today. The American Red Cross team came to the club house here at Saddlebrooke, and dozens of seniors bared their arms for a good cause. Goodness! Do you know the questions they ask of blood donors these days? I wanted to say to the young lady, “Do people really do those things?”

Once upon a time, I was a frequent blood donor. It was easy when I served as a Chaplain with the Army Reserve. Ten years ago, I retired from the Army and it wasn’t so easy any more.

Somewhere along the line, the doctor noticed that my blood pressure was high. Not real high, you understand, just high enough to raise a red flag. He asked me an interesting question. “Did you ever consider giving blood?” It turns out that, according to the doctor, I have too much fluid in my system. He put me on a water pill called Hydrochlorothiazide. It worked, but not very well. It sent me to the little boy’s room every hour and the blood pressure was still a little high.

Then we moved to Saddlebrooke. The local paper announced that the American Red Cross was coming, and it was easy, so I gave blood in November and January and March. My blood pressure today is 112 over 80. Who needs Hydrochlorothiazide? I had trouble spelling it anyway.

You can have too much of a good thing.

I have been in worship celebrations that went too long. The people in charge actually believed that people who enjoyed 90 minutes would have the same level of appreciation after 120 minutes. Wrong. I have stood in worship music segments that were inspiring for ten minutes but tiresome after 20. I have listened to sermons that were done at 30 minutes and overcooked at 45.

There are lots of things in life which are good, but only in the right amounts. An eight ounce drink of water can be very helpful. I wouldn’t advise anyone to drink a gallon all at once. One plate of delicious food can hit the spot. Eating two plates of food can produce indigestion at bed time. Lifting weights can prove beneficial in the maintenance of upper body strength. Lifting too much weight at one time can strain muscles and injure the body. A nice chunk of milk chocolate can . . . oops. I’ll drop that one. I think Loreen is reading over my shoulder.

Anyway, I think you get the drift. There is hardly any good thing in life that can’t be ruined by overindulgence or overuse.

So, I have an appointment with the American Red Cross on May 13. I have too much blood.

The View From Our Patio

The View from our Patio

It Almost Rained

Last Tuesday in Tucson, it almost rained. Clouds hung over the Catalina range which lies along the east side of our home. It was an ugly winter day. We saw a few drops of water on the stones outside, and the temperature didn’t rise above 60.

You have to understand. We haven’t had any rain since the first week of September. Well, OK. The newspaper reports that .01 of an inch fell at the Tucson airport on December 12. Does that count? This is the driest fall and winter for Tucson since records began in 1895.

As the sun began to set in the west, a double rainbow appeared over Mount Lemmon. A double rainbow! I never saw that before. Not one, but two rainbows rising side by side from the foot of the mountain up into the clouds above. I got up from the table and went for my camera. Let’s see. Where is it? I moved it from my den when I cleared the clutter to make room for office furniture. I searched high and low. Finally, there it was, in the utility room cabinets, right where I left it two weeks ago.

You guessed it. The rainbows were gone.

A lot of things get away from us when we are unprepared. When I began ministry some forty plus years ago, I wrote sermon notes on a small piece of paper and flew by the seat of my pants. In time, I realized that things got away from me. The time got away from me. Important points were missed. I made mistakes.

I started writing everything out. Then I learned to go over everything I wanted to say, again and again. Mind you, I still made mistakes. But it got better. I learned that the more I prepared, the better I performed. Not only did this apply to preaching, but also to teaching and organizing and leading board discussions and visiting homes. Everything got better when I prepared ahead of time.

Now that I watch others from the sidelines, the value of preparation has become even more obvious to me. Most of the ministers I observe do not prepare as well as they should. They fly by the seat of their pants. Some of them do pretty well. They could do even better if they would only prepare.

Some years ago, Don Shula, football coach for the Dolphins, wrote a book entitled Everyone’s a Coach. He built his chapters off the word “coach:” C for “conviction-driven,” O for “over-learning,” A for “audible-ready,” C for “consistency,” and H for “honesty-based.” His ideas were very helpful to me. The chapters on “over-learning” and “audible-ready” have a lot to do with preparation.

The will to win is not enough. You must have the will to prepare.

My camera now sets on the window sill, waiting for the next rainbow.