Dear Friends in Christ, 

I want to give you the update that I continue to improve and am being released today from Baptist hospital to begin rehabilitation at Novant, still in Winston-Salem. Thank you for your continued prayers and the many positive messages and calls I continue to receive. I also want to thank our young people for the cards they made for me Sunday. I've gotten some compliments from the nurses here about about them being nice works of art. They've brought a lot of cheer to my room and I really treasure them. 

Treasuring seemingly small things is something I'm really getting out of this otherwise nightmarish experience. One of the more straightforward things a doctor told me is that I am lucky to be alive and that makes me realize more and more not only some things I want to do in the future, but that I that need to appreciate the small things I regularly do and receive even more. We think of God working in big ways but we often miss what may be even His greater work in everyday life, especially other people we are privileged to encounter. In so many of the nurses that have helped me through some really rough things, I swear to you that I've seen the work of angels. It reassures me that angels not only exist but really aren't far away.

Finally, while I'm waiting to be transferred, I've had a chance to listen to some music to rest by. One hymn that has stayed with me is Jacob's Ladder. I realize that I'm climbing that right now. It's a slower climb than I want and all I can do is take a rung at a time but every climb does go higher, higher. My prayer is to be a soldier of the cross...

Again thank you for your love, support, and patience. Christ's peace, His grace, and His Hope be with you,