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On Thursday, one week ago, I received a phone call at work from my daughter. She was crying. Her cousin had just got off the phone with her.

“They’ve taken Paw Paw to the hospital,” my daughter sobbed.
“He’s had a stroke. They don’t think he will make it.”

Now, that was a phone call I had dreaded getting my entire adult life. I thought I had received that phone call over eight years ago. Mom had called crying. Dad had cancer. That was part of what made this phone call all the more sudden and surprising. How? My dad had come through cancer surgery, chemotherapy, and all the years of follow up without ever having been sick or losing his hair. The doctors were in constant disbelief at his stamina, strength, and lack of side effects through the whole ordeal.

My dad had continued working. He didn’t work, look, or act like an older man. He didn’t work because he had to. He worked because he loved it.

Two years ago, Dad had worked circles around me helping me roof my house. To the day he went to the hospital he was working with a friend installing gas lines and furnaces. He did the crawling under the houses and the digging. He was really in great shape.

Everyone believed he would live to be a hundred or more. He was the picture of health. He still looked like he was in his mid 50’s. I knew he would see my grand children marry.

So, I called my wife and told her the bad news. My dad and mom live almost 1200 miles to the east. We discussed it for a moment and decided to drop everything and get there as fast as we could.

At different times along the trip, someone would break down. We would all cry for a bit. When we arrived, early the next morning, I realized it was the first time in my life I wasn’t glad to see my home town. In fact, I hated it.

We went straight to the hospital.

My father was elevated in CCU with nothing attached except a heart and respiration monitor. My parents had long decided not to use anything to prolong the life and death struggle. But, you could see the new world we live in when the nurse promptly called for the neurosurgeon after I arrived. I’m sure they were needing to make sure I was on board with the decision to allow things to take their course. I comforted them with an affirmation of “whatever Dad and Mom wanted.”

Dad was so strong, as he lay there. I feared this could last months–even years. Evidently, the right side of his brain had suffered massive damage, but the left side was ok. He was able to squeeze my daughter’s hand when she asked, but he was basically comatose in every other way.

It was very tough seeing Dad that way. I’m very glad he suffered no pain throughout the whole thing.

The morning before his death, Dad ate breakfast with mom. He started slurring his words and losing control of his right side. He never even knew anything was happening when mom asked him. They took him to the hospital where he continued to lose cognitive levels, but never experienced any pain. A blood vessel had burst deep inside the right side of his brain. The neurosurgeon didn’t expect him to recover.

I asked them what would kill him. They said that pneumonia was most likely to end his life. There was a possibility he would begin to bleed again in his brain. This could cause him to lose respiration and heart beat.

The next day was a repeat of the first day. Many visitors and relatives dropped by. There was a small family clan that went in and out all day.

That evening, mom, I and my wife were returning to his room after the nurse had turned him and taken his temperature. The nurse wouldn’t tell us she knew he was dying. She said, “things are changing quickly now.”

I looked at the gages and instrument displays that had become easy to read the last two days. Dad’s respiration was 15 per minute. That was very low. It had been high in the 30’s and 40’s all day. Yes, 15 was very low.

As I watched, in the course of 2 minutes, Dad’s respiration rate kept going down. 15 per minute, 10 per minute, 8 per minute, 3 per minute, and finally, no respiration. I was surprised that his heart rate held steady at 49 beats per minute.

When he quit breathing, then his heart rate started to slow. 42 beats per minute, 30 beats per minute, and in less than two minutes, it started to lose its healthy pattern. It slowed to less then 20 beats per minute, and then just rippled where it had been beating. Finally, that stopped too.

I had just watched my dad die. It was one of the toughest things I have ever had to do. My mom laid across him sobbing, “What will I do. What will I do without him.” We all cried again.

That very night, at home, mom had to answer the donor survey when they called. It made me a little angry as she spent 20 minutes telling them Dad wasn’t ever in prison, Dad had no sex diseases. . . Couldn’t they find that out earlier? Maybe not. Things can change. Still, I hated that part of it.

Well, I’m back home now. I just called my mom again tonight. She is as well as can be expected. Life goes on.

We were planning to visit for two weeks this summer. To see Dad and Mom. It’s hard to think I’ll never see my dad again. Life goes on.

Regards.

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So, I’m sitting here contemplating time and space.

It can get paradoxical really fast.

I was thinking about the whole God thing, how he is said to be ‘outside’ of time.

Now, our whole reality is fixed in a linear path encapsulated by time. Our perception is limited to express itself to us within the limits of our experience. Consequently, we can’t even conceive beyond an inadequate premise even to discuss such things.

So, as the blind talking to the blind, I was considering the length of time a day might be when there is no time. Such a consideration obviously borders on the ridiculous. One might as well ask how nothing compares to something.

Yet, in the first passages in the Bible, after God creates something from nothing, it says that God looks at what he has done, says that it is good, and then there is a division that occurs that is said to be the first day–it words it as “the evening and the morning were the first day.”

I’ve heard people get into rather acute arguments over the seven days of creation thing. But, even in the Biblical account, there can’t be a twenty four hour day until after the fourth day. A twenty four hour day occurs in the first place because of the earth’s rotation around the sun. Well, if you read the Bible, the sun and moon weren’t created until the fourth day. So, there couldn’t have been days in the sense of twenty four hours. Also, even after their creation, nothing says a rotation around the sun was twenty four hours. It could have just as well been twenty four hundred hours, for all we know. It simply doesn’t say. But, within its reading, it is obvious that it for sure had no rotation around the sun to define it until after the fourth day. Also, for those who may be caught up in the fact that the original hebrew uses their word for twenty four hour day, note that their word was applied to the first day, the second day, and the third day—-all before there was a sun to establish a twenty four hour day.

To take the whole biblical side of this another step, when does the passage of time begin in the first place? It speaks of days, to be sure, but time, as we know it, has as one of its elements the laws of thermodynamics. From all I gather in the creation account, the destructive, decay spiral of time didn’t occur until after man sinned. At that point, death, destruction, and the elements of time are first mentioned. So, just how many billion years of non-time were spent before time began? Before there was a sun or moon, how many billions of whatever could have passed before then? It’s foolish to get into arguments over such things. Even science can’t say with any fairness to empiricism that a year was a year as we know it in the distant past. To speak of anything as we know it in an effort to describe billions of years is as frail as catching a comet with a spiderweb. Such science relies on the weakness of extrapolation based on everything having the same linear properties throughout the entire time of the extrapolation. It is as limited and formed upon the same inadequate premise as is describing anything outside experience with only the elements of experience that I mentioned in the onset of this discussion.

So, back to time. What I mean to show with the above few words is that neither religion, nor science, nor any mix of the two, can adequately describe that which lies outside what we can see and know, or even believe. Thus, the freedom of license for what I am about to say. For the religious, weigh it against the words you believe. For the scientists, weigh it against what you can see and test. These words are not intended to prove or disprove anything. They are spoken for the speaking. It they expand your thinking about anything, they exceeded their pledge.

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To begin, one must remove all the elements of experience to consider the heart of this discussion.
Even the act of thinking requires a point ‘A’ point ‘B’ line. A reality without time won’t even allow for thought as we know it. A place without time can’t even exist, as we describe time. The elements of time and space are pieces of a whole. We can’t remove time from our reality and have a reality at all.

For a moment, consider with me the snapping of a photo. We look at a photo as a point in time. Yet we all know it is really a small blur across time for the length of the exposure. In fact, I issue a challenge for anyone to give an example of true stasis with regard to motion. It is nothing known in this universe. It is impossible for anything we know to be outside time. In fact, we don’t know anything that is stationary. Everything of which we are aware is moving through space—which movement is actually one of the components of time.

Remember the old example used in physics of shooting a B-B at an on-coming locomotive. Remember all the discussion around when did the B-B stop to reverse direction, and how it was against the train when it reversed direction, and the argument about how a B-B could stop a train, bah, blah, blah. The point is that there isn’t even anything we know of in this reality that is ever ’stopped’ or stationary at any point in time. Even a complete reversal in direction translates forces to the molecular level (and levels we can only dream about) within the shape such that the ’stop’ never truly occurs. Further, even apparent stasis is on a planet spinning in a galaxy moving through a universe at a speed we ‘think’ we have measured [relative to what?]. Even the center of our universe could be the center of a small system in a much larger system—prove it isn’t! Wait, now prove it with string theory too.
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Here is the logical conclusion based on what we can know, but read below.

With what we know about time, if God is outside time, then he is at a place with no beginning, no ending, and no linear movement related to space and time as we know it. In such a ’stopped’ state, a ‘view’ of time would be all at once—before it, during it, and after it. When God said, “let us make man in our image”, he was talking to us—later. Well, later, after we escaped time and were outside it, which would place us ’stopped’, looking at time for all time, with no beginning and no ending. You see, eternity is always misconceived as linear–but outside time is ’stopped’ in a way we can’t conceive.

OK, has this stretched around your head and gotten ridiculous enough yet?

The ridiculousness of everything this implies can lead us only to one conclusion. The spirit world is so different to the physical world that we can’t think of it with any of the terms we think about anything. When Jesus walked this planet, He said that God is spirit. So, if you believe in God, this blasts you into a confrontation with reality. If God is real, then He is the realest real–He is real if all else isn’t. Since God is spirit, this means that the spirit realm is the realest real. What we perceive as reality is a pocket of decay within the pure stasis of the spirit realm.

“And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. . .to be remembered no more.” How can this happen in a place where nothing happens? You can quickly see how twisted things get when we apply what we know to things we can’t know. Spirit math has to be different from reality math. It totally removes the laws of thermodynamics. So we can’t even talk about spiritual things with the language of this reality. God made dirt and man from it. In our reality, dirt is a product of thermodynamics, so there wouldn’t have been any dirt for a long time.

Have you seen those explorer style programs and books that look at the miracles in the Bible and validate them with a mix of science, archeology, and history? Doesn’t it strike you as ridiculous that anyone believing in God would, then, have to prove or disprove a miraculous occurrence by proving how it could happen with the normal laws of science—you know, all the laws a miracle is said to be breaking?
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In a nutshell, the spirit world is as far from our physical reality as life is from death. A further discussion might circle around how the absence of the Spirit in this present reality is time and death in this physical plane, and the absence of the Spirit in the spirit plane is the ultimate separation from all reality and all that we are, with no hope of anything else–forever.

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Well, it was really cool watching the excitement my dad had when he discovered an old buddy from his regiment living about 45 minutes from his home. Between the two of them, they pulled together quite a collection of items from their service years in the 1950’s. They had been stationed together in Japan during the occupation, and were both held over to serve a second term when the Korean Conflict began. Dad was only 2 weeks from his discharge when he was ‘frozen’ for another three and a half years. He served seven years in all.

The two of them had a lot of fun remembering and reminding one another of the things they had forgotten, but that came out when they were together.

As my dad had gotten older, his mention of his years and events in the army had become more frequent. You could see the pride he had for his service.

My dad was always one to go over board reminding someone about anything. He had told us all several times there would be no need to get a tombstone or grave marker. He wanted the marker the army would supply at his death. It was another point of pride for him.

I spent some time repairing old photos he had in Photo Shop and pulling what information was still available about old ships and places from the internet. He had even pulled out his old uniform and worn it on several occasions. We thought it a bit quaint, or even silly. But dad sure didn’t. He put on his uniform, and wore it with all the dignity and spit-n-shine of his active duty years in the 50’s.

Well, dad died a couple of months ago. It was sudden, but dad had lived a good full life. He was a great dad. Now it is time for his tribute.

But, it seems there will be no tribute for dad from the army. No. I just talked to mom this morning for Mother’s Day. She told me the Veteran’s had refused the grave marker.

I sure am glad dad didn’t see this. His pride went with him. We will remember his service, even if his country will not.

The world has changed a lot since American blood was shed in Korea. Now, the Korea they died for is even in jeopardy.

But know this: Fifty years ago, your brothers died for freedom on fields in Korea. My dad was with them. He was proud to do his duty. He served his country.

May this tribute stand for him where his country fails to remember.

So be it.

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Additional Resources

Symptoms
Early symptoms of mesothelioma are difficult to identify and therefore often overlooked. Pleural mesothelioma symptoms may first appear as shortness of breath, chest pains or persistent cough or a change in cough pattern. Some patients however, may show no symptoms at all. Peritoneal mesothelioma symptoms include pain or swelling in the abdomen, nausea, weight loss, bowel obstruction, anemia or swollen feet. Malignant mesothelioma is a cancerous tumor of the pleura (lining of the lung and chest cavity) or peritoneum (lining of the abdomen) that is almost always caused by sustained exposure to asbestos.

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Information to help file a claim.

Asbestos increased risk
Mesothelioma is a cancer in which malignant (cancerous) cells are found in the sac lining of the chest or abdomen. Exposure to airborne asbestos particles increases the risk of developing malignant mesothelioma. Companies manufacturing products containing asbestos have known for over 60 years that asbestos can cause serious diseases.

Diagnosis and Survival
Mesothelioma is serious and life-threatening. By the time cancer is diagnosed the survival time of patients is usually short. Mesothelioma usually spreads throughout the peritoneal or pleural cavity before diagnosis, and complete surgical removal is unlikely. Because of this, the average survival time is only 1 year. If the cancer is found early, approximately 50% of the patients survive 2 years and approximately 20% survive 5 years. Additionally, unlike with other tumors, chemotherapy and radiation therapy are not very effective.

Risk
Malignant mesothelioma is a diffuse tumor that affects men more frequently than women. Sustained exposure to asbestos is the predominant risk factor. However, smoking dramatically increases risk amongst the asbestos-exposed. The latent period between asbestos exposure and onset of symptoms can be 20 to 50 years or even longer. The median age of diagnosis is 60. The tumor can spread rapidly to involve the pericardium (sac around the heart), mediastinum, and opposite pleura. Progressive pain and shortness of breath can occur. The tumor is usually associated with a pleural effusion.

Exposure Limits
Most people diagnosed with mesothelioma worked at jobs where they were exposed to asbestos. Exposure for as few as one or two months can lead to mesothelioma 10 to 50 years later. The long latency period means that people exposed to asbestos in the 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s may now be seeing symptoms and are now being diagnosed with mesothelioma.

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