Day 84: Trust
Cardiac rehab’s treadmill time gives a guy time to think. Stuff like, what exactly is holding my sternum bone together? Lucky for me our nimble fingered physiologist could pull up my chest x-ray to show me the stainless steel twisty ties that do the job for me. I was worried that there was just one twisty tie and an over-rambunctious hug could make me come loose. But thankfully I saw seven twisty ties and I am feeling full of trust about the durability of my body.
Speaking of trust, I was reading that bible story where Jesus meets his best friend. Peter was a professional fisherman and Jesus was in his sailboat teaching a crowd of people on the shore – making the best use of the acoustics over water.
When he was done doing his rabbi thing Jesus asked if Peter could push out to deeper water with his little boat … on a lake where storms come up fast … with someone who does not know how to sail. And Peter said: okay. When they were out of earshot from shore (really far out), their boat became unstable from a huge haul of fish. The frantically signaled other boats for help.
A few years ago, my brother – who is an accomplished sailor – took a friend and I sailing on Lake Superior. Soon after we got the engine turned off and the 36 foot sailboat under sail my brother threw the floaty life ring overboard. He explained that if he, the only sailor, should fall overboard, he wanted to know that my buddy and I could take down the sail and start the diesel engine and turn the boat around and save the life ring right now - and him hopefully if we had to. Since the water was so cold we had to get it back into the boat in five minutes. When we were able to accomplish this task, the trust had been built to make for enjoyable adventure, for all.
Back to the bible story – Peter had a lot of trust in this carpenter who had a thing for adventure, to go out to the deep water. And here is how this story is about me: It won’t be long before I will take a stress test and graduate from cardiac rehab. As I leave rehab I will leave with a lot of trust in the adventure that will the rest of my (long) life.