As the years continue to roll by--I'm now 83--I continually marvel that the Lord has kept me here all this time.  There was a time when I didn't think I was going to survive long enough even to find the woman He had chosen for me.  Now, after 57 years of marriage to my darling Norma Jean, I  have lived to experience the birth of three children and 11 grandchildren, the marriage of 3...#4 soon... and the arrival of a great-grandson...with another great-grand on the way.
But back to survival.  After serving a year on an air base in England, while with the Navy in World War II, a routine x-ray disclosed that I had tuberculosis.  It was considered an advanced case, as witnessed by the imposition of strict bed rest for more than two years.  It could have taken my life, but God spared me.  In 1948, I had resumed my college education and had lungs healthy enough to, among other activities, blow my trumpet and play ball.
Fast-forward about 30 years.  After careers in broadcasting and journalism and 11 years on the faculty of Calvary Bible College, Kansas City--which, by the way, included putting KLJC-FM on the air in 1970, Norma Jean and I were short-term assistants with Wycliffe Bible Translators.  I thought I was doing the right things healthwise, including walking to work and playing tennis.  Then one day I went to the doctor to have him check out "discomfort" just above my breastbone that had been going on for a few days.  I should mention here that I have a high "threshold" for pain.  He didn't find anything in particular, but thought I should go to the hospital next door for further tests.
The policy was to provide a wheelchair, which made no sense, but.....almost at the entrance to the hospital--and the ER--I suddenly keeled over.  I was raced to the ER and, Norma Jean was told later, "we almost lost your husband!"  Heart failure had dropped my blood pressure out of sight.
A few weeks later, on the advice of the cardiologist, I was undergoing triple heart-artery bypass surgery.  We were informed that the average expectancy for bypasses was 10-15 years--and that was in 1982. So here I am 26 years later, and the bypasses are continuing to serve me well.
How much longer God will grant me is to be seen, but I thank Him daily for giving me yet another day.  And I trust that what little service I can provide Him and His church will, in some small measure, indicate my thankfulness that He decided to spare my life, not once, but twice!
PRAISE HIS NAME!