Dad

My father-- his name's Jim-- is scheduled for hip replacement surgery in the morning.

Actually, it's his ankle that started all this. He hurt it very badly when he was a young man, and it never healed right. The stress that has put on his gait all these years has caused his hip to deteriorate. And so the good doctor is going to install a few replacement parts.

Dad's looking forward to the surgery; he's been having increasing trouble moving, and hopes this will alleviate the pain and stiffness that currently is an ongoing theme in his life. I hope so, too, though I will admit to a little nervousness about it. He's the one parent I've still got around, and I love him. A lot.

So I'll be saying an extra prayer or two for him in the morning; and, if you'd care to join in, I-- we-- would appreciate your intercessions as well.

[Update: Thanks to all who have held Dad in prayer with me this day. I talked to Pat, his sweet wife, a while ago, and he is in recovery and doing well. The surgeon apparently was surprised when he got started, by the extent of the deterioration. Dad is a stoic soul, and has a pretty high pain threshold, which masked the scope of the damage; they had more work to do than they had planned. Nonetheless, all the work was doable, and the doing went smoothly enough, thanks be to God.]