When I awoke in the recovery room, Sue came in to tell me that when they went in, they couldn't find the bone spur that the MRI revealed, so they didn't have to cut my collar bone! (And we KNOW the One Who removed that intrusive little obstacle!) They cleaned out two arthritis patches. I have no restrictions on motion, and I don't have to be concerned about damaging anything by trying to get full range of motion back right away. This didn't mean that I didn't have pain. I spent two nights sleeping a recliner. Four days later, with some pain, I have a full range of motion in my shoulder.

As some of you know, our Lord has provided for Sue and me to meet my brother Tom, who is married to Sue's sister Billie, for some R & R at the beach in North Carolina each fall at a condo they rent. The girls love walking the beach and thrift-shop hunting, and Tom and I enjoy golf and boogie boarding in the surf. We'd had to cancel this because of the operation and the presumed months of therapy.

On Sunday, two days after the operation, Sue, our spiritual son Matt Kowlsen who's staying with us, and I went for a long prayer walk on a dike along a river that flows through the center of Colorado Springs. We were all still marveling about God removing the bone spur, and how quickly He can change things. As we walked along on the dike, Matt asked me, "With the change in your shoulder, what about North Carolina?" I told him that I was 'neither here nor there' about going. So I prayed with them for our Lord's guidance.

[Before I go further, I need to give you a little history. Inside, I truly feel like a child with a heavenly Father who truly has my best interest in His hands. We never take these times away with Tom and Billie for granted. When we first moved to Colorado Springs in 1997, Sue and I were walking through a park far removed from civilization. We walked by a golf ball on the ground. The Holy Spirit prompted me, "Go back and pick up that golf ball. That is the Father's sign that you will be taking a golfing vacation with your brother Tom."

Over the years golf balls in strange locations have been His sign to us that we can take a break and spend some refreshing time with our family. In our Lord's timing we have found golf balls in an elk reserve outside of Flagstaff, Arizona when we lived there. We have found them on top of a volcanic cinder cone in the National forest around Parks, Arizona. We found one 11 miles north of Lubbock, Texas in a soybean field while visiting our friend Tom Woodruff.

On Sunday, within thirty seconds of finishing our prayer on the dike, Sue and Matt walked over to the edge to look down at the river below. Simultaneously they spotted a golf ball in a bush on the dike! Each of us sensed that our Father was telling us to go to North Carolina. We have the tickets and will be leaving in mid-October for a few weeks.

I am one excited "kid" writing this e-mail. I wanted to share with you my joy, thank you for your prayers, and acknowledge a Father above all fathers. Glory to Him!!!