October 13, 2017
Category: Chronic Pain
October 10, 2017
Keep Reaching For The Stars
If you can feel your spirit slowly dying, I implore you to make a change. A change of scenery, a change of friends, a change of music, whatever. Whether it’s online or in your community, seek out crazy, like-minded individuals who lift you up and not tear you down. Whatever it takes for you to keep chasing your dream, do it. Never give in, never give up, never surrender.
October 4, 2017
Remember The Young
Today, somebody, somewhere is commemorating the passing of someone dear to them. They are wiping tears and trying to swallow grief before it swallows them. They are sad and maybe even bitter. For the rest of us, it’s just Wednesday.
October 2, 2017
I’m A Miracle Man
I’m not here to prove anything to you; I’m just a husband, father, grandfather (aka “Poppy”), chronic pain sufferer and writer, trying to make sense of the world around me. I’m not a preacher, evangelist or professor, and I don’t have the “gift of healing,” as we Pentecostals like to call it. All that being said, though, I’ve witnessed miracles all around me. So, in case you were wondering...the answer is “yes,” God is still in the miracle-working business. Don’t you ever doubt it.
September 27, 2017
Hurt People Hurt People
One unfortunate result of tragedy and turmoil is the emotional fallout. They spew venom from the pits of their own personal lake of torment, and we get dumped on. Then we turn around and judge this person solely on a single action, such as flipping us off in traffic, or not replying as happily as we felt they should've in the drive-thru. But we can't see the torment their weary eyes have veiled. We are fully unaware of the agony they have endured. They might've felt they were going mad last night, yet, having been awakened by the coming dawn, decided to give life just one more shot.
September 25, 2017
Don’t Embrace Misery – Rage Against It!
There are days my pain is so relentless I don’t even want to get outta bed. For many of us, there’s no escaping our prison of pain. So what do we do? The answers to that are many-fold, but one thing I DO know: We cannot EMBRACE our misery; we must rage against it!
September 23, 2017
Bloody Warcry of an Angry Soldier
One dark day, in pain and ticked off at the Devil, I put on one of my favorite Christian heavy metal bands, Impending Doom, put my earphones in, turned the music up as loud as I could stand it, closed my eyes and started banging away at the keyboard. What you'll read in this blog was knocked out in about 10 minutes. I present it to you unedited, unrevised. It is the warcry of a tortured and angry soldier, resolving himself to never give up, never give in, never surrender.
September 20, 2017
Forgiven
This art piece, based on the painting, “Forgiven,” by Thomas Blackshear II, has always got to me. The man has a large nail (more like a spike, really) in his left hand and a hammer in his right hand, and the nail-scarred hands of Christ can be seen. Translation: even though the man’s wrongdoings were what nailed Jesus to the cross, the Lord still forgave him.
September 19, 2017
Broken People 