Fluoroscopy & a Barium Milkshake

Just last Sunday (Mar. 19), a friend of mine was detailing his 8 weeks in the hospital. One of the comments he made was, "Nobody can make a barium milkshake taste better!" Well, the next evening, I started suffering major stomach cramps. My wife coerced me into seeing the doctor. She wanted me to get an Upper GI. I had to drink a barium milkshake. Well, it wasn't as bad as I'd been led to believe. Although, the straws they used wound up splattering me with the stuff. Yuk.

My doctor thinks I have a duodenal ulcer. I turned 40 in October, and since then I have come to appreciate the body of my youth; the body I ravaged with alcohol and other bad stuff. That body could handle nearly anything - 750ml of tequila, jalapenos by the gross, running a mile and a half in 15 minutes (well, that was stretching it) and numerous hits to the head and other parts of my body. Now, I'm breaking down. I need reading glasses. My back hurts when I wake up. My legs hurt. I may have an ulcer. And it all comes with age.

Solomon wrote "Be happy, young man, while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment. So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaningless."

Ecclesiastes 11:9-10, NIV

He was probably an old man at this point. Some would say he was a cynical, grumpy old man. Like me, however, he ravaged his youth with physical pleasures. He also recognized that these pleasures would only last a short time. He would grow old and die. And what would become of his life?

I am getting old. I will die. What will become of my life?

My daughters don't want to know that I will eventually die. They do not yet understand that "man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment"

Hebrews 9:27

. What will I leave? What will be my legacy? I would like the world to remember me not as the drunkard that roamed the world until 1994. I would like the world to remember me not as the person who took advantage of his friends. I would like the world to remember me as I am now - a man who desires to seek after God's own heart.

So, as I sat in the waiting room at the Imaging center, waiting to drink my yummy shake, I pondered over the events in my past. I thought about who I have been. I also thought about who I am becoming.

We, the aging population of the world, are looking for purpose. We are looking for a legacy. I pray that my legacy will be one of Christ. I pray that I will leave the world having introduced at least one other to Christ.