Well, today was one of these days when I felt weaker in body than on other days. Since taking time off and now stepping back from parish ministry through ill health I look back over the years and see how unhealthy my attitude has been towards my body’s well being! Perhaps that was fuelled by reading biographies of Christians who seem to disregard their bodily health for the sake of the gospel and were looked upon as heroes of the faith to be emulated. Somewhere along the way I picked up the feeling that to be a worthy servant of the Lord, I needed to work myself to an early grave. However in the Book of Proverbs we are told by Solomon that “it is better to be a live dog than a dead lion.” Look after your body. Make sure it gets rest when it is tired or unwell. Observe the Principle of the Sabbath.
I want to share something the Lord said to me earlier on in my illness. After a few days in hospital I was trying to force the pace of recovery not only from surgery but from an infected wound. He simply said, “Kenny, listen to the distress of your body.” If it is not irreverent to say this, there was almost a pleading in the tone of His Voice, almost an exasperation born of His love for me that I was ignoring messages my body was trying to give me, that I was demanding too much of myself. It was a serious word that I knew I could not ignore. (How do I know it was The Lord? I just know.) For me practically that means learning to live within capacity, and not feeling ashamed or a weakling or a failure when I think of the champions of old, or have days when I cannot do or achieve as much as I want. In saying all this, please know I am not devaluing the suffering of our persecuted brothers and sisters down through the centuries and in our own day whose loyalty to Jesus has led to the early death of martyrdom. That is Holy Ground on which we should silently stand with bare feet, and bowed heads. I am thinking rather about early deaths that were the result of misplaced and wrong spirituality. In the words of Spock from Star Trek , which actually were stolen from the Bible, “May you live long and prosper!”
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revkennyblog 
Wise Wise words Kenny I pray you Keep well
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really great to see your still passing on such encouraging words Kenny I pray The Lord gives you the strength both bodily and spiritually to continue in passing on the word this way
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Kenny, today of all days I needed these words!
Especially over the next eight or more weeks as I adjust to the treatment I will face.
However, the Lord’s hands will be there to hold and his lap there to rest my head on.
I feel a bit like the returning son in ‘The Prodigal Son’ illustration who is attempting to prepare some eloquent message to his Father about his learning his lesson, but his Father is too busy holding his son in a bearhug as only truly loving fathers can do to show them how much they truly love them. And the word’s of his son are blow away in the wind because they have become insignificant in the face of what has happened with his Father in that moment in time!
Fathers are required to truly love their children, even the adopted one’s!
Children ache in a way they cannot put into words for the true and appropriate love of their fathers.
How else can they come to know, trust and Love the Father of Father’s, our Father God.
Blessings to all.
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God bless you in spirit, soul and body dearest George!
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Kenny, I am very new to your blogs but am loving them! I see you stepping into another ministry here from your arm chair! As someone who has been seriously unwell for many years to hear your trusted views on health and being unwell from a godly biblical perspective is very precious indeed. There is so much harm done by the church with harsh words and innuendos to those of us who long with a burning passion that in itself feels ever so painful, to be well this side of eternity. So thank you for taking the time to put thought to keyboard!
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Thanks so much Hazel. May God’s blessing be upon you this day. Kenny
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To Wisdom and beyond! As I sit here leg up, two days on from knee surgery the wisdom of these thoughts are appropriate and God given. I have often looked at those same ancients and thought the very same things. However stewardship injects within us the need to balance, often in the face of ministry, the limits of our bodies with the work that needs done. I seek to emulate Christ who often took time for himself to see to his own spiritual and physical needs. A very Fyne word my friend, thank you. Drew
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God bless you and your knee my Fyne Friend.
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Thanks Kenny for your honesty and it has some real echoes of what I see in Chaplaincy most days in the hospital. So many people struggle with managing the limitations of illness and remaining positive in that place. I often wonder if our activist Christian culture is most helpful as people navigate this time.
Blessings on you Andrew
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So helpful as always, thank you and bless you Kenny, Rosemary
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