Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
8 29 2023
Dennis Piller Update after Open Heart Surgery.
God set Fire to My House…what about you?
So God came into my life and said everything you have is worthless and then he set fire to all that was left. Only what was built on His foundation will matter.
How do you feel about that?
Can I update you on my health as I write my first devotional since joining this elite group of survivors? After going through a heart attack and a triple bypass two weeks ago, while on vacation, I am looking through a bit of a different filter. I have spoken to a couple of you who have gone through this before, basically telling me that my lack of energy, drive, and motivation to do anything is normal, although frustrating. I am progressing. They said my scars have gained me admittance to the Frankenstein Club of Stitches. (I’m actually ok with that). I would have thought I could get caught up on my reading and do more writing but I do not have the acuity to think beyond any basic level. My thoughts often come in truncated sentences but without continuity and or depth. And then I’m worn out! I slept through the night last night for the first time. I can’t tell you how exciting that seemingly little thing felt. But the nurses and physical therapist say that is all normal and I am doing great. Keep up the effort and press through the trend toward laziness and fatigue. (easy for you to say.)
But I am encouraged. I am so overwhelmed by your prayers…I actually feel them. I so appreciate how Dyan has kept Facebook updated to allow you to see some progress, she has been my full-time caregiver and social calendar project manager trying to keep you all updated. She is still the angel I married a second time for our 25th anniversary just 7 weeks ago.
I am not sure how often you can expect a new devotional. I will try to do something early and later in the week, so be on the lookout. God the Holy Spirit has revealed some things to me during this experience that I feel are important for you to know.
A good friend recently said, how important I was to our Men’s Courageous group and I shared that someone will always step up to replace you. You believe that the seeds you planted grow to fill in the ground you vacated, and they have. This is God’s show, not ours. We don’t give much thought or worry about the impact of what happens when we die of a heart attack or whatever because we’re in good health. No systems – no issues! It is typically never more than an occasional thought. One that most of us have imagined in a fleeting moment here or there only to be squeezed out with a burst of immediate needs, pressing financial issues, and to some level or another a bit of this attitude, that it isn’t your time, or I don’t even have a symptom, (Neither did I). And that you have so much to do for your family we don’t even have time to work out, let alone contemplate what would happen if we no longer existed.
So let me state again; God came into my life and said everything you have is worthless and then he set fire to all that was left….who doesn’t struggle with that concept? We all feel there is some level of goodness in each of us…even the most pronounced criminal. But the truth is, without the Holy Spirit alive in your heart. We are nothing…we have nothing. In fact, all that is not of God will burn up like the hay and stubble it is. Faith is the only thing that moves God.
1 Corinthians 3:5-15 MSG
Who do you think Paul is, anyway? Or Apollos, for that matter? Servants, both of us—servants who waited on you as you gradually learned to entrust your lives to our mutual Master. We each carried out our servant assignment. I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plants, but God made you grow. It’s not the one who plants or the one who waters who is at the center of this process but God, who makes things grow. Planting and watering are menial servant jobs at minimum wages. What makes them worth doing is the God we are serving. You happen to be God’s field in which we are working.
1 Corinthians 3:9-15 MSG
Or, to put it another way, you are God’s house. Using the gift God gave me as a good architect,
I designed blueprints; Apollos is putting up the walls. Let each carpenter who comes on the job take care to build on the foundation! Remember, there is only one foundation, the one already laid: Jesus Christ. Take particular care in picking out your building materials. Eventually, there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine; if it doesn’t, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won’t be torn out; you’ll survive—but just barely
( If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.)
It’s as if we’ll make it into heaven, but we will lose so many if not all of our rewards. They’ll be burned away by Jesus’ righteous judgment, even though they will be saved, but it’ll be as if they’re coming into the kingdom, as the late Dr. J. McGee said, “smelling like they were bought off a fire sale rack.” They’ll be there, but their rewards will not be. Some will pass through, and some will not…just like all of us.
Your near-death experience is just ahead of you. Your filter will change after you go through the valley of the shadow of death. But my friend Ed was treated for lung cancer and through Chemo beat it! But went back to smoking again and died 18 months later…from lung cancer! Your first thought? How stupid can you get and still breathe? But I’m saying, don’t be so naïve. Even after a near-death pass…it is too easy to resort to your old ways…using inferior materials to build your house and life…too easy to fall back to the old ways…oh, just a little at a time…until one day you may catch a break and God shows you, that you’re right back where you started, building a house of hay and stubble.
You can discover this on your own, or use my wake-up call to…wake up. Choose you this day who you will serve. You will make hundreds of decisions every day to determine that. I pray you choose wisely! God Bless you each and everyone for your continued prayers.
My mission is to be an encouraging and challenging word for you to seek intimacy with God every day.
I will see you again, as soon as I can.
Lauren Daigle – Noel
