Needs More Salt...

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men." Jesus in Matthew 5:13

How true. How true. You ever have a life experience that sheds new light on a passage of scripture? This week, I have had that happen.

For those of you that don't know, I have had some health issues in my 27 short years here. Believe it or not, I had a heart attack at the age of 21. To make a long story short, there was no problem with my plumbing... it was all electrical. (you can click here for more info if you're interested) For the past 5 years I have not had even one flutter of an issue--until this week. For whatever reason, I began having palpitations quite frequently. Sometimes they would come once an hour. Sometimes, I would have 15 in a minute. Needless to say, it was distracting at best and panic inducing at worst. Given my past history, I don't panic when this stuff happens, but I do take notice and realize my need to get it checked out.

I went to the cardiologist on Monday and they ran all kinds of tests. My prayer was just that I wouldn't have to go on any meds again. Last time it was almost unbearable. My blood work, EKG and ultrasound came back normal. What concerned me was my doc's obsession with taking my blood pressure. I felt like I was trapped in an episode of Monk. Two, then three, then six times later, Dr. G. tells me that my pressure is high. I thought "maybe it is because you're stressing me out with your incessant use of your sphygmomanometer." He obviously thinks it is from other sources.

I left the office after scheduling a follow up appointment and determined to kick this thing the right way. I have been exercising every day, getting more rest, and (worst of all) changing my diet. I have cut WAY down on sodium and high-fat foods. Sure, that sounds healthy and all, but do you have any idea how hard that is? I have new respect for those of you who have been doing this for years.

All of this got me thinking how accurate the salt illustration is in Matthew. I have got to tell you: a world without salt is a world that is bland, tasteless, and down right hard to live in. Think I'm kidding? Try going one day without consuming more than 800mg of sodium. That's what I have been doing, and it is tough! It makes me proud to be called salt by Jesus. Salt is good stuff, man. It is now part of my prayer life to pray that I'll truly be what God is intending to make me--that everywhere I go people will encounter that salt of God and not want to be without it.

Once you've tasted life with Christ, you realize how life without Him could never measure up.

Off to go eat some yogurt. Peace.