Life is a gift

Life is a gift; we aren't guaranteed the next minute. How many times have I heard that, yet I still don't grasp it. On Monday night, while I was at camp, my dad had a mini stroke. Let me first of all say that he is fine. However, it did scare all of us quite a bit. Apparently, he lost the peripheral vision in his right eye and my mom discovered (through the wonderful internet....haha) that that was a symptom of a mini stroke. So, much to my dad's chagrin, she made him go to the emergency room. Turns out that that was a wise decision. The doctor said that a mini stroke is basically a stroke that corrects itself throughout its course; however, many times it is followed by a full stroke. Anyway, luckily they went to the emergency room and the doctors gave my dad lots of good medication.:) For the past few days and the days to come he has had and will have several tests to make sure that everything is still okay. When I came home from camp, I was shocked to hear all of this news. It is still so unbelievable to me to find out that someone who seems so healthy on the outside, internally could have a battle raging. It is scary to realize that we are not in control of our lives. I know, however, that God does know what is going on, but it is still a shocking realization that our life is not guaranteed for any amount of time. So, I guess once again this just reinforces that I need to cherish every moment that I have on earth and make the most of every opportunity because I don't know how much time any of us has left. I would really appreciate your prayers for my dad right now too. Hopefully all these tests go well!