Tea has been especially helpful after I had surgery last tuesday. I ended up in the OR a second time on wednesday to insert a #4 fenestrated shiley trach. Initially, they put in a button trach to hold open the stoma while the inside of my trachea could heal without reacting to a plastic tube. Unfortunately, it could not stay in, and I had serious mucous plugs to contend with. Thank God my father stayed to watch and care for me until I stabilized that evening and Dr. Guardiani was close to do damage control. Usually, an intern is on call overnight but has no idea the specifics of your case. My father even had to stop him from reinserting my trach the wrong way!
Again, Roosevelt Hospital did not have the appropriate catheters to suction me with and my father had to bring some from Beth Abe, as well as cath kits. Bonus of being a quad. The good news is that the upper portion of my wind pipe is open and I can speak. If it continues this way for several weeks as the trachea heals, it's a good sign I can be decannulized!
Back to tea for a sec...right off the bat I know I like raw pu-erh tea better than ripe. I like the astringency and 'greeness' of it. I found the ripe pu-erh less pungent and dynamic than I imagined it would be.
Today I tried one of the oolong teas I got from Yunan Sourcing: "Imperial Tie Guan Yin of Anxi" Autumn 2012. It smells and tastes wonderfully floral! I was surprised how big the leaves opened up! Definitely a fan. I don't see myself getting too intricate in this tea business. I enjoy tea and will continue to try new ones as I find them but I really need to be about my heavenly father's business. Lately, that has been being ready with an answer for those who oppose even the notion of my heavenly father (1 Peter 3:15). People will bob and weave on the issue of relativism because it's self-refuting and once I point it out, it's embarrassing for them to pursue it. My father pointed out that people really are displaying their hatred of the Gospel when they react the way they do. It's amazing how people avoid critically examining their own beliefs. They can't possibly imagine any other reality besides the one they were taught: that reality is simply what you believe it to be. This notion is absurd and self refuting! I had to learn a bit of philosophy to understand this, which I'm not a fan of, but it is helpful when speaking of the metaphysical. The statement: "what's true for you isn't true for me" is a self refuting statement according to the law of non-contradiction. If the statement were actually true, having it not true for someone else would be impossible!
Another absurd statement: "You shouldn't judge!" It's funny how secular people will rip scripture out of context when being righteously judged for their sin. Someone recently said this to me, bringing up Matthew 7:1. I explained that Jesus isn't saying that we shouldn't judge at all, in fact, he gives a few examples of how we should judge in the rest of the chapter. Jesus is speaking of judging apart from God's standard. I went further to say, "if you feel I shouldn't judge, why are you judging me? Why judge anyone at all?" She responded by saying she didn't judge me, only thought my ideas were skewed. Having any kind of opinion requires judgement. In fact, our days are filled with judgements as we walk, drive, or decide anything! I asked a few times how she knows right from wrong, where do we get our notion of rights? My generation is the post-modern generation, where we've been taught that morality, our identity and even truth itself is relative. When asking these crucial questions, they squirm and revert to insults.
The bottom line is there is overwhelming evidence that there is a God who created the universe, who's eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, personal and creative. Only the Bible describes this kind of God and attests for it's accuracy historically, scientifically, archeologically, and textually. Paul is dead on when he reasons that people suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18-21). They refuse to believe because they want to deny God and hold onto their sin (John 3:18-20).
Unfortunately for them, God exists wether they believe or not and they are accountable to him wether they believe or not. Truth doesn't change with feelings/belief. It's better to follow the truth now then to face eternity in damnation for rejecting it. The body of Christ will not face the great tribulation, but we will probably see some pretty dark days before the rapture. Our economy is failing, and Christian persecution, even in the west, is on the rise! Not to mention possible nuclear war with Iran who really wants to destroy us along with Israel! The Obama administration says it stands with Israel but actions speak louder than words. Israel is still God's land and those who seek to divide it will get burned.
Again, Roosevelt Hospital did not have the appropriate catheters to suction me with and my father had to bring some from Beth Abe, as well as cath kits. Bonus of being a quad. The good news is that the upper portion of my wind pipe is open and I can speak. If it continues this way for several weeks as the trachea heals, it's a good sign I can be decannulized!
Back to tea for a sec...right off the bat I know I like raw pu-erh tea better than ripe. I like the astringency and 'greeness' of it. I found the ripe pu-erh less pungent and dynamic than I imagined it would be.
Today I tried one of the oolong teas I got from Yunan Sourcing: "Imperial Tie Guan Yin of Anxi" Autumn 2012. It smells and tastes wonderfully floral! I was surprised how big the leaves opened up! Definitely a fan. I don't see myself getting too intricate in this tea business. I enjoy tea and will continue to try new ones as I find them but I really need to be about my heavenly father's business. Lately, that has been being ready with an answer for those who oppose even the notion of my heavenly father (1 Peter 3:15). People will bob and weave on the issue of relativism because it's self-refuting and once I point it out, it's embarrassing for them to pursue it. My father pointed out that people really are displaying their hatred of the Gospel when they react the way they do. It's amazing how people avoid critically examining their own beliefs. They can't possibly imagine any other reality besides the one they were taught: that reality is simply what you believe it to be. This notion is absurd and self refuting! I had to learn a bit of philosophy to understand this, which I'm not a fan of, but it is helpful when speaking of the metaphysical. The statement: "what's true for you isn't true for me" is a self refuting statement according to the law of non-contradiction. If the statement were actually true, having it not true for someone else would be impossible!
Another absurd statement: "You shouldn't judge!" It's funny how secular people will rip scripture out of context when being righteously judged for their sin. Someone recently said this to me, bringing up Matthew 7:1. I explained that Jesus isn't saying that we shouldn't judge at all, in fact, he gives a few examples of how we should judge in the rest of the chapter. Jesus is speaking of judging apart from God's standard. I went further to say, "if you feel I shouldn't judge, why are you judging me? Why judge anyone at all?" She responded by saying she didn't judge me, only thought my ideas were skewed. Having any kind of opinion requires judgement. In fact, our days are filled with judgements as we walk, drive, or decide anything! I asked a few times how she knows right from wrong, where do we get our notion of rights? My generation is the post-modern generation, where we've been taught that morality, our identity and even truth itself is relative. When asking these crucial questions, they squirm and revert to insults.
The bottom line is there is overwhelming evidence that there is a God who created the universe, who's eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, personal and creative. Only the Bible describes this kind of God and attests for it's accuracy historically, scientifically, archeologically, and textually. Paul is dead on when he reasons that people suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18-21). They refuse to believe because they want to deny God and hold onto their sin (John 3:18-20).
Unfortunately for them, God exists wether they believe or not and they are accountable to him wether they believe or not. Truth doesn't change with feelings/belief. It's better to follow the truth now then to face eternity in damnation for rejecting it. The body of Christ will not face the great tribulation, but we will probably see some pretty dark days before the rapture. Our economy is failing, and Christian persecution, even in the west, is on the rise! Not to mention possible nuclear war with Iran who really wants to destroy us along with Israel! The Obama administration says it stands with Israel but actions speak louder than words. Israel is still God's land and those who seek to divide it will get burned.
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