Last night as phone calls and such came in following my short hospital stay, I sat there and thought about all the things you think of in crisis. The range was from family and friends to mortality and change. Perhaps the “life flashing before your face” thinking.

A lot happened in a couple of days. But a lot did not happen. I did not die, suffer a stroke or a heart attack, despite all the alarms, diagnoses and more. My vision is clearing, my head is gaining clarity and I am home with my family. In fact one doctor told me were I not so healthy, all these other things might easily have occurred and in fact were thought to have occurred. I am thankful for all the people who took a moment to pray for me. To encourage me, my wife and family. Even some notes from work.

Is it not interesting that in crisis people begin to talk? I am thinking the world would be a better place if we did not wait to say the things we want to say.

A friend wrote this to me. He had suffered a heart attack the week before. “The Lord has reset our hearts to match the pace at which we are meant to be walking out. Watch for the signs and wonders they follow…”

Maybe crisis is the reboot. Surely 9/11 changed perspective. (Not from God but perhaps from too much stress, obligations or lack.)

Last night I reached out to family member and I said what I needed to say. All good, all God.

Do I think we need crisis? No! But we can surely use it to our advantage to make the changes, alter the outcomes. We can remember in the midst of our running around, we have family. We have friends.

[tweetthis]But again I say why wait? Why not gather your thinking and put it into play.[/tweetthis]

On a personal level, I know I felt my dream world was shrinking. That I was feeling bound by circumstances. In the midst of all those things it is time to unravel that which is problematic, holding you back and change some things.

How do you regroup, I do not know all the details, but I am sure God does. In the midst of clanging alarms and fast moving changes, I was simply trying to find my center. A place to pull into. His rest is the place. Labor to enter His rest.

For some that is foreign. You feel as though you can not go back. Trust me it is not going back as much as it is going forward. My friend Marty in California posted this yesterday. I think it is a keeper. “Reconciliation=not counting other’s faults against them.”

We will not see restoration until we decide on the reconciliation piece.

This morning I shared this with my kids.

“I am sure you all know how much I love you. The last few days reminded me of how much more to life there is. Dreams and lives change. One of the greatest reasons for me emphasizing family is because He did. He came into a garden and He walked with them. He did not chase them out. They left. And God left with them. He left the garden for those He loved. I am there. Each moment with you guys is precious to me. Your voice, you dreams, your hopes, your joys.”

Last night I listened to the pain of someone’s life. How much it hurt, how badly it stung. I get it. It could have easily been me. I was the father missing in action at one point. Some by choice, some not so much. But in my discovery of Jesus, I was able to see change.

Hours later I heard of a change coming in that person’s life. Someone connected with me to tell me the story! Yay God!

Why? Because if you don’t one day you realize how much you missed.

Sometimes revelation is not about something “new” so much as it is about something that was always there being uncovered. Much of what I learned over the last few days was not new, but what was already tracking on my radar. Things about family, work and life. But in the moment of loss or the time of crisis…they are brought to the forefront.

Even the word crisis speaks of a stage in a series of events at which the turning point (For better or worse.)is determined. A series of events! That tells me we can change it. Despite popular dramatic statements of “Resistance is futile” we are told that “resist the devil and he will flee”.

We have the ability through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to change. We do not have to wait, but we can truly believe, accept and embrace this time, this day, this season.

Why a reboot? Perhaps to see what you and I already knew.

Jesus loves me, this I know.