Life has been filled with details … the sorts of things one usually takes for granted … but it is about adjusting to a body that has changed. I give thoughts to things that I put into my body. I am looking for balance and wholeness.

In the process, not only appetites, but attitudes are being reshaped.

Fears and pain are generally passed now. I am making friends with my one ounce sized new stomach and am enjoying experimentation with flavors and savoring each bite.

I am taking walks.

I am drinking water and broth and whatever is good and helpful.

I am easing back into work and ministry.

What is surprising me is that, while I am writing, I am not writing as much as I thought I would during this respite. I will, but there is no frenzy or desperation.

Instead, I am thinking … praying … wondering.

In preparation for the new year, I have decided to read, yet again, "My Utmost for His Highest" daily. The December readings are speaking to me as if I had not read them many times before.

Next week, I hope to return to hospital ministry and a few other activities. I have already conducted one funeral and will do another on Friday. I have been driving for a week.

One reality in post-gastric-bypass-surgery that is surprising is how meaningful it has been to me to stop before my meals and give thanks. It is with new meaning that I thank God for the very nutrients of life and ask Him to bless them to my body for His glory.

I finally read "The Shack" and realized what some of the criticism may have been about, BUT … I think it was about the images. And the images were merely the vehicle to communicate the deeper realities. The theology was orthodox and the story ignited something in me that has been very refreshing for my faith.

Story often does that for me.

I have lost over 30 pounds.

I am not hungry.

I am listening to Paul Potts sing "You Raise Me Up" in Italian. One day over a year ago, I went on YouTube and listened to that contemporary "hymn" by every artist who had recorded it in recent years.

I may have a new favorite.

I have an indelible picture in my mind of this gentle man, Potts, singing in that competition and audaciously proclaiming his dream to sing opera. He was undaunted by the derisive laughter and presented himself with precision, grace, and heart …. whole-heartedly.

As I prepare to turn 55 in a few weeks, I am looking at a new day of physical and spiritual health.

The true meaning of Christmas? I may not use that phrase this year. Perhaps the Incarnation is most about what it means for the Christ to be born in each of us in ways that are so personal, intimate, and immediate, that there are no words or ornaments to express the significance of it all.

If the essence of Christian theology is found in encounter, then Christmas is an in-your-face opportunity to gaze upon the face of God and make of it what one will. In turn, we encounter ourselves and each other.

Deo Gloria!