Day 21: A little birdie told me so...

A quick update and then a story. I am feeling pretty darn good these days. I am scheduled to check back into the hospital Tuesday morning for round 2 of chemo, which I anticipate will also require about a week of inpatient stay. This is a B-round, meaning it will involve some new chemo drugs (specifically Methotrexate and Cytarabine).

I also expect to have a surgical procedure whereby they implant an access point on my brain called an Ommaya or a Rickman 'resevoir'. I will tell you more about this later (as I don't know very much yet), but just know that it involves putting a line into my brain for direct injection/withdrawal of cerebrospinal fluid in lieu of getting lumbar punctures, which proved to be very complicated for me the first time around. Stay tuned on this point.

As for the story, I will try to keep it short and simple - as it should be. I was getting out of my car on Friday about to walk back in our house via the garage, and decided I'd take the chance to bask in a little sunlight and stroll around to the front door. Right as I came in view of our diminutive front yard, I saw something flutter in the corner of my eye. It was a little bird on top of one of our fenceposts. It was about 10 feet away.

I took notice because it was surprisingly close and just looked back at me with its beady little eyes. I was more taken aback when it hopped to the next closest fencepost, putting it about 5 feet away from me. It had come noticeably closer than most wild birds ever let us humans get. From this vantage, I could easily see the bright white lines on each of its individual tailfeathers, contrasted by a rich gray tones of its plume. Wow. It was a very stunning, ordinary bird.

I stared at it quietly, fully expecting it to flitter away once it noticed that I was present. But it didn't. We locked into a staring contest. We just stood there. A few minutes later, it dawned on me that 'my' dirt quite possibly served as this little fella's homestead, and he must be trying to thank me for paying property taxes on his behalf. He was squatting on my land. I was ok with it, however, as the grass was dormant, the bushes and trees were fairly unimpressive, and I'd be surprised if there was much he was able to harvest from our little slice of heaven here in the City of Atlanta.

At this point, I continued my stroll around to our front gate, and then down the sidewalk towawrd the front door... all the while giving thanks for all the life that exists around us, in so many seemingly inconsequential forms. At this point, the little dude (the bird), managed to fly right over next to where I was walking (again, about 5 feet away-- noticeable closer than normal). He tilted his fragile head up at me, and then abruptly stuck his little beak into what seemed to be frozen, barren earth.

That little sucker pulled out the longest, juiciest, freshest most alive worm I'd seen. Out of nowhere. I shrugged audibly. He savored every single bite of the squirming earthworm, until it was gone.

Despite not knowing much of the Bible, two 'bird' stories immediately came to the front of my mind. (I had to look up the specific scriptures, of course):

Matthew 6:25-27: "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather up into barnes, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more valuable than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?"

Matthew 10:29-31: "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows."

That darn little bird finished his worm-lunch and proceeded to hop up onto a low-hanging branch of the small bush literally right next to me, adjacent to our front steps. He sat there -- awkwardly close -- and we locked eyes for no less than five straight minutes. Again I noted how intricate and ornate his coat was. Every feather laid on top of the next with a precision that no human hands could've orchestrated. He was not bothered by the bitter cold winter air, as I was. His stomach was full. He had found plenty to eat, out of the barren and near-frozen earth. He was not worried about what tomorrow would bring.

That second story goes onto say, "So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I will also deny before my Father in heaven."

May the Lord of the heavens and the earth be glorified in all that I think, say, do, and am.

On the good days, I will praise Him. And on the bad days, I will praise Him.