Flavius Josephus...

Last Friday, May 1st, I determined was the date on which I would begin to walk on my treadmill again. I have not done this since probably last December with regularity and was told by the doctor not to do it until sufficiently healed. He didn't want me to fall while walking and tear stitches...ooooowwww...neither did I. So somehow I got the date of May 1st as sufficient time for healing. Thursday the 30th of April marked 5 weeks since surgery so I was just sure I would be fine. Friday, I got on the treadmill and determined to start sssslllloooowwww. I set that puppy at 1 mile and hour and it wasn't but a few seconds before I realized that, even in my impaired state, I still walk faster than 1 mile per hour. So up to 2 miles per hour I went and walked for 16 minutes. It was exhilarating!!! Well, really I was quite tired after I got through but the high of actually doing something a little more strenuous that lifting a crochet hook felt really, really, really great! I have often sat in the nursing home and watched everyone but my mom and a couple of other residents live their lives in a wheel chair. At those moments I have thanked my Heavenly Father for the ability to still be able to walk. Knowing that I could live in a wheel chair if called to do that for whatever reason, I was determined to appreciate the use of my legs and movement. So this return to my treadmill was just a great, big, HUGE, blessing. This morning I walked for 22 minutes. Hopefully by the end of this week I'll be back to my 1/2 hour each day and begin to move the speed up a little. How does Josephus fit into this picture...well let me tell you. In September 2005, Claude and I made a dream trip to Israel. I prepared for that by reading my Bible before the trip and then I borrowed Papa's copy of Josephus. This was something that had always intrigued me and I really wanted to read it. So I determined it would be my reading material for the trip. I hefted this heavy volume of history all the way to Israel and read it on the plane. Now, if you have never seen this book, let me share with you it is the tiniest print that man could possible read and it is VERY thick. I marvel that with his hand Josephus must have written it. Not with a word processor mind you but with quill and ink on some type of rough paper. Of course it was not written in English. So I have a translation of the entire works of Josephus from a Greek original version. I am totally enjoying the extended reading project and found that the best time to read this book was when walking on the treadmill. In 1/2 hour you can read the front and back of about 3 pages. I can only walk at 2.8 mph or the movement is too jumpy to see the page through my reading glasses. The words used are phenomenal. There are some really long words and they are fun to try and understand in context of the sentence they are in. There is, of course, the wonderful names of people and places that are in languages that I can only try to pronounce in my head. Then there is all the intrigue and violence of living in royal families or conquering the land the Lord has given you. This is really heady stuff. So I title my entry for today 'Flavius Joseph' in honor of that great book I am into the 2nd half of as I begin to walk on my beloved treadmill again. Viva Life!! (Is that redundant?)