Don't be alarmed, but..

I'm on DRUGS!

OK.. Not drugs as in the illegal bad stuff, of course, but medication. However, the result right now is that I'm a little spaced out from the effect of it all. Ah well, I will try writing a brief journal entry anyhow and if I find once I'm well that I wrote about seeing pink elephants or flying pigs I can always delete it and try again.I've been unwell for about a week.

At first I thought it was just a common cold, but it got worse every day until on Friday I finally decided seeing a doctor might be in order. I went to a doctor, called Doctor Leach, who diagnosed me with a bronchial infection and told me to take penicillin, pain medication to get the fever down, regular puffs of a rather strong asthma inhaler, etc. I'm not sure how much it's all helping me so far, but due to the combined effects of the medications I'm not really sure of much of anything at the moment. What was my name again?

On Saturday, the church had an Alpha Day Away at Gartmore House in Aberfoyle. It's a beautiful place, and the weather was absolutely wonderful that day so I got to go on a couple of really nice walks during the breaks. The church has been taking people through what is called the Alpha Course, a course that explores the basics of the Christian faith, and it seems to have been very helpful so far for some people. On that day, two of the people made commitments to Christ, so we are all excited about that.As a result of pushing myself on Saturday when I was already unwell, however, I completely crashed that night. Early Sunday morning when I was shaking violently from the chills and crying out, "God, help me!" I finally got the idea that just maybe I should take a few days off to recover.

Though I was supposed to preach twice that day, I called one of the elders and told him my situation. He said he would preach in my place and that I should just stay in bed.While I was confined to my apartment all day, the people from the church were very supportive. Some called to tell me they were thinking of me and that they wanted me to call them if I needed anything. At noon, one of the deacons showed up with several bags of groceries, including a freshly cooked chicken and donuts.

Then later in the day, someone brought me dinner. I was very grateful for the way everyone was looking out for me.Today, a friend of mine brought me lunch and spent some time with me, which was encouraging, and I continue to get phone calls from concerned friends and church members. I also got an interesting email over the weekend. Even though I had not yet announced being unwell to anyone really, I got an email from a friend in Peru saying she was worried about me because she'd had a dream that I was sick. After the dream she had been unable to sleep, so she stayed up the rest of the night praying for me. Coincidence? Hmm.Well, today I think I really am finally on the upward mend and hope to be back to work within a few days. Until then, I'll just rest and try to recover. I'm not alone anyhow. I just saw a pink elephant come in and sit on my couch. Uh-oh. Anyhow, I'll write more in a few days when I'm no longer under the influence...