Ephesians 5:20 tells us that we should be “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”. This is more difficult to comprehend than what I Thessalonians 5:18 says, ” In every thing give thanks : for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” I can easily understand that I should be thankful in any situation in which I find myself, as I know that God is with me in it and will bring me through it. And I will emerge from it stronger and wiser if I pay attention to all that transpires. And I understand the need to be thankful for all of the blessings that accrue to me each and every day. That I should be thankful for the negative experiences that I encounter is much less intuitive.  But that is what Ephesians 5:20 seems to be telling me. To always give thanks for all things would certainly include the negative as well as positive occurrences. 

I have been giving more thought lately to this idea of continual and comprehensive thanksgiving. I have been blessed my whole life with good things: a loving, nurturing family as a child, an opportunity to attain two college degrees and to have successful careers in three different industries, a wonderful marriage that has lasted more than 50 years and just keeps getting better, a beautiful, intelligent daughter who has added a wonderful son-in-law and two delightful grandsons to the family. And I have always thanked God for these blessings.

Also, I have been generally very healthy all of my life, with a few notable exceptions. In 1969, at age 46, I was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer that with surgically removed at the cost of my left eye. Then last July I was diagnosed with a malignant melanoma. It was also surgically removed, with no trace remaining. Both of these were short term events, with no recurrence. In retrospect, I am thankful that God allowed me these experiences, because it has shown me his ability to take me through them and has enabled me to better relate to others experiencing similar events in their lives.

My latest health experience, however, is a somewhat different matter. I lived for over 72 years without the need for any prescription medicines on a continuing basis. I hate to admit it, but I was somewhat proud of that. Then in January of this year, I was diagnosed with hypertension and atrial fibrillation (high blood pressure and an irregular heartbeat). I was prescribed three medications to lower my blood pressure and heart rate and to prevent clotting, which could lead to a stroke. I now take those on a daily basis. In addition I have undergone two electrical cardioversions to reset my heart to a regular (sinus) rhythm. I reverted to atrial fibrillation after both of these. I also had a heart monitor inserted into my chest to record my heart rhythm, since I am asymptomatic and cannot tell what my heart is doing without using a pulse oximeter to check it. My cardiologist will discuss further options with me after monitoring this activity for about two weeks.

The bottom line is that I have a chronic health issue for the first time in my life. Whereas previously I have always had any health issues completely resolved in a short period of time with no recurrence, I now have a situation that (barring a miracle) will continue for the rest of my life. While I do not anticipate any significant reduction in my quality of life due to this condition, it is nevertheless something that I will need to learn to live with.

I don’t really know why God has allowed this to happen to me. It could be a form of discipline for my pride in my health (as if it were of my own doing rather than a gift from God). Or it could be something else entirely. I have learned over the years to trust God in whatever situation I find myself, so I believe that his intent in this is for my own good. And I have learned not to resent the negative experiences I have had as I have always been able to learn something from them. As Proverbs 3:11, 12 advises:

11 My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke,

Mary and I recently achieved a milestone – our 50th wedding anniversary. Our daughter and son-in-law hosted a party to celebrate the occasion and presented us with a photo album documenting our lives together over these 50 years. Looking back over those photos and remembering the adventures that we have shared reminds me of the ways in which God has used our marriage to transform both of our lives.

Mary was not a Christian when we met and married, and I was a very poor excuse for one. Although I was raised in the church and had accepted Christ as my Savior when I was about 11 years old, I had stopped attending when I left home for college and had no thought of returning. God, however, had other plans. Mary’s family had not attended church and she was very skeptical of Christianity. But then she met a young lady who worked with Campus Crusade for Christ at Arlington State University (now the University of Texas at Arlington) and began a months-long conversation that culminated when she, too, accepted Christ as her Savior. At her request we began attending church and the real adventure of our lives began.

I had pretty well planned out my life by the time I graduated from high school, leaving God out of the equation. I wanted to have a career in the aerospace industry, marry a beautiful woman, raise a family and live happily ever after. I made a good start of it, convincing Mary to become my wife, earning a bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, going to work at LTV Aerospace Corporation and starting a family. But God began to alter my plans once Mary became a Christian and we started attending church together.

We began to meet people who had a real joy and vitality in their lives and discovered that it was due to the ways in which God was working in them to accomplish his purposes for them. In due course we did what they had done, committing ourselves to Jesus Christ as Lord of our lives, as well as our Savior, and beginning to seek God’s will for us. And that is when he began to transform us and alter the direction of our lives.

We began to feel God’s call to follow his plan for us, rather than our own plans. In the process, we found that his plan was much more exciting and rewarding than what we had imagined for ourselves. He made it clear that he had work for both of us to do, and that we would travel a path of his choosing together. Following that path has led to a voyage of discovery that has taken us places we never expected to go and given us the opportunity to  do things that have far exceeded what we dreamed of when we began our life together. I have had successful careers in three different industries, while Mary has had a lengthy career as a university professor. We have visited all 50 of the United States, living at times in 3 of them, and have traveled to more than 60 foreign countries.

Our marriage has proven to be a partnership that has provided the support and encouragement for both of us to accomplish much more than we would have been able to on our own. We have experienced many joys and sorrows together, and our lives are much richer for having shared them. God has used our marriage to transform both of us in ways that have grown and strengthened us, and has taught us that, with God’s help, we are capable of doing anything that he asks us to do. We look forward to seeing what God has in store for us to experience next.

I have been thinking about  mortality a lot more recently. We all know that we are going to die someday, but nobody really likes to think about it all that much. However, the reality that  my days are numbered and that I have already used up a large portion of my number has moved to the forefront of my thinking in the last few weeks. There are several reasons for this. I have been fortunate to have had good health for most of my life, with only a few events of concern to deal with. The first of these was in 1989 when a tumor was discovered in my left eye socket. The initial surgery to remove it was only partially successful, as it was intertwined with the optic nerve. It took almost two months for the biopsy results, which revealed that it was a malignant fibrous hystiocytoma. I was told that it would not respond to either radiation or chemotherapy and that radical surgery was the only viable option to remove the remaining portion of the tumor. As a result I lost an eye, but all traces of the cancer were removed and it has not recurred. I have learned to live with a single eye, the only significant effect being that my depth perception is somewhat impaired due to the lack of parralax. I didn’t really fear for my life during this experience as I knew that God had a plan for my life, and I felt that he wasn’t through with me yet.

Other than a couple of basal cell carcinomas that were surgically removed, I remained without further health issues until fairly recently. In July of 2014 I was diagnosed with a malignant melanoma on my right cheek. This, too, was surgically removed, along with two sentinel lymph nodes that proved to be clear of cancer. So once again my body is cancer free. And my annual physical exams have never shown any other significant health issues. I reached 72 years of age without ever needing to take any prescription medicines on a regular basis. That all changed in January of this year when I was diagnosed with hypertension and atrial fibrillation, placing me in danger of a heart attack or a stroke.  This was quite a surprise as I had never had any recognizable symptoms. However, the EKG clearly showed it now. Consequently I am on three medications, to lower my blood pressure, stabilize my heart rate and thin my blood to prevent clotting. If these are not effective enough, further steps may be needed to correct these conditions.

This occurrence, along with the recent deaths of several of my high school classmates, has brought home to me both the preciousness and the uncertainty of life. Although I still believe that God has more for me to do before he calls me home, I realize that my life on earth will not continue forever, and that I need to make the best use that I can of the time remaining to me. Death, when it does come, is not to be feared. It is merely the portal into the next life. I know what my God-ordained destiny is, and I look forward to it with joyful anticipation. In the meantime, I am more clearly focused on seizing the present opportunities that I have, and on using my time to the fullest advantage.

The Bible makes it clear that you have a choice about your destiny. You can either spend eternity with God or without him. God has pre-ordained your destiny depending on the choice that you make. Since God knows the end from the beginning, he knows which choice we will make before we are even born. In fact, he made provisions for our destiny before he created the world.

Ephesians 1:4,5 says,

4 For he chose us  in him before the creation of the world  to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love  5 he predestined  us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure  and will–

And Romans 8:29 says,

For those God foreknew he also predestined  to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

So before he even created man, God knew what man would do, and ordained that those who chose to cast their lot with him would be adopted into his family, having been made holy and blameless, and thus able to live in his presence for eternity.

Sadly, for those whom he knew would choose to  reject his offer to join with him, God  ordained an eternal destiny of separation from him.

The choice is yours. And your destiny depends on the choice that you make.

If you do an internet search for spiritual entrepreneurship, you will find numerous answers to that question. These include ideas such as bringing together unlimited entrepreneurial and spiritual resources to support the unlimited potential that exists within all of us, learning to balance spirituality, business and money, combining the best qualities of a social entrepreneur and a spiritual teacher, and the spiritual pursuit of profit for the purpose of bringing about great change to the world and becoming connected to the divine power. In one way or another these all involve incorporating spiritual principles of some sort to the world of business.

My definition of spiritual entrepreneurship is a bit different from these. I believe that God has created each one of  us for a specific purpose, and that we need to let him show us what that purpose is. Each of us has a totally unique set of talents, abilities, passions and God-given gifts that perfectly answer a need somewhere in the world. God’s purpose for us is to find that place and fill that need. In order to do that we will need to be risk takers – willing to move out of our comfort zone and take on new and difficult tasks with no guarantees of success, so that we can gain experience and hone our skills, learning from our mistakes along the way.   This is the essence of entrepreneurship. You can attempt this on your own, and probably achieve some measure of success. But in order to be ultimately successful in fulfilling the purpose that God has for you, you will need to be guided and empowered by God’s Holy Spirit. This can be frightening at first, because God’s plans for you go far beyond what you probably think that you are capable of. But if you let him, he will guide you step by step, and will give you the power and authority to do everything that he asks you to do. And the results will be amazing. This is what I mean by spiritual entrepreneurship.