Wade Blogs
by Brother Wade
It's a long story but a fairly boring one.....
January 22, 2016 was an average and ordinary day around the farm. My wife , Valerie, was in the city taking care of her stepmother, while her dad went to the emergency room with some health issues. I was at the farm trying to get the water pump fixed again. It was a vicious cycle... Fix the pump, fix a broken pipe, repeat. It came to dinner time and I had skipped lunch. Nothing, foodwise, around the house sounded good; so I was there waiting for her to come home with the dinner she had cooked. All that day I was drinking soda. And I do mean ALL THAT DAY! I would probably run out of fingers (and be well into my toes) counting the sodas that I had downed. She made it home s uper lateand I ate but things were really weird in my head. I was super dizzy and felt like a puddle of goo. I was wanting to go to the Blanchard lodge the next day to eat pancakes but I might miss it, the way that I was going.
The wife decided I needed to go to the emergency room, so we trekked over to Grady Memorial HAHAHAHAHAHAHospital ( I call it that because EVERY time I have ever dealt with the place, it has been a joke!).They told me my blood pressure was high and my blood sugars were super duper INSANELY HIGH! They gave me a few things to get it back into check and I waited there until things were more normal. Finally after being there until about 4:30 am-ish, I was sent home. My wife woke me up about 4 hours later because she was heading to get my blood pressure medicine. I laid back on the bed and waited for her and that was when everything turned upside down! Literally!!!! EVERYTHING in my head and body was somersaulting around like Shannon Miller on crack!!
I fell out of bed and pulled the five feet tall stand. next to the bed, over on top of myself! It wasn't looking good for your boy over here!!!! I texted my wife and let her in on the situation. Somehow, I made it back into bed and pulled the stand upright. (Like that was the most important thing in the stinking world!) Valerie made it home and told me I needed to go back to the hospital! We had some guys working on the guest house at the farm and I made it to the back door where they were waiting to carry me to the car. ( I Had to use my right hand to lift my left hand to help steady myself.)
We started on our way on the drive over to meet the ambulance in Naples. (Yeah we are THAT rural). Things were going crazy in my head and body! The left side of my mouth started drooping and boy I tell ya .... that was when I got really scared! Stuff got EXCEPTIONALLY real!! Valerie pulled the car into the parking lot of the little country store and said a prayer for me (and her). Honestly, I know this sounds dumb; but, until that moment it was so scary neither of us could think right. I looked to my left over at the little old country church that sat there and I remember thinking to myself "Well, we are in a good place because I know God is here!" Right about that time, a peaceful feeling started running through my body. It was so calming and soothing!
The ambulance arrived and they talked my wife into taking me to Norman instead of back to the home of the Fightin' Chicks. They put me inside the ambulance and they tried to hook me up to an IV. The guy was having a horrible time getting me attached to it though! After at least 4 attempts; he finally got me hooked up and they started giving me some stuff to quiet the pain. But I was already on a natural (or supernatural) pain reliever I guess!! I remember the ride and remember the hospital very well. I remember the day and most everything about it. It is all wrapped up inside my brain.
So fast forward several months and some of our kid friends who were staying at the farm were invited to go to Vacation Bible School at the little ol' church. The wife took the kids up and they enjoyed their time up there. I got to take my first look at the church, from the inside. It was quite a bit different than I imagined. Basically it was a lot more alive than I had pictured. One of my best friends as a kid, and #1 bus riding buddy, was going to church with his wife there. She was the one who had roped Valerie into going, and she put on one heck of a show. A guy I remembered from school was the pastor. Plus there were several people I have known or know of scattered throughout so it felt good!
We were still going to our other church at the time so I would drop in on a Wednesday night here, a Sunday night there etc. Then, at the other church, we ran into a problem. That church had grown stale with it's views and practices. So when we came in with a new spirit and new ideas; the pastor seemed excited. Go for it! Sounds good!! These are the things we heard, Then all of a sudden it was ..." Uh we decided not to do that. " "We don't feel comfortable with that." Apparently his wife and family had changed his mind on what was needed there. Well, that is okay, we don't want to put you in a bad place but we also need a church that celebrates God and each other. Not just a show up for the sermon and go straight home church. They wouldn't even allow a Christmas tree in the hall! We decided not to go back any more after that.
So on a Wednesday night we went back to the little old church and it was almost like that day when I had my attack. I walked in to the church and it was brightly decorated and, believe it or not, had 2 Christmas trees!! The angels were singing again just like that day when I had my stroke! It made me smile and l was pretty sure I had found a spiritual home.
In the next several weeks, I got baptized at the church (I could hear both my Granny and my Auntie Beulah rejoicing there with me!) and when I came up out of the water I let out a whoop that pretty much frightened everyone up there I think! My wife and I helped out a few to several times up there. It had been a pretty wonderful place. I looked forward to seeing where it went. 7 months we stayed there and then it all went straight to heck! Straight to heck! My wife was being blamed for being part of some stuff that was just pretty dang grade school! I walked out of our meeting just about as angry as I have been in a long while. I didn't want to hurt any feelings so I left; because the people there were handling the whole situation as badly as possible. Sadly the people there didn't even care enough to try and straighten the situation out. Maybe they figured they had talked themselves into a hole and they did not know how to get out?
Oh well.... off church hunting we went and we decided to try going to the Methodist church in Blanchard that we had visited to say goodbye to some outstanding youths from Texas. They had visited our town to do odd jobs for people to help them. We like the church that night and it was our first choice to go visit and see wht the services were like. They seemed nice enough and offer a lot of good studies on Wednesday night. So that is where we are right now. I can't tell you if we will be called to another church or become a part of this one.
One thing is for sure though.... I guess it IS all about the journey!
