Can 60 really be the new 40?

Maybe

Whatever Woody Allen may think about life insurance salesmen, this much is true, they have done a fine job of rebranding the true essence of their job description. In fact they do not insure life, but death. Nothing happens as long as the client lives, it is death that brings a claim and payout.

Therefore the 'life' insurance industry takes infinite interest in actuary tables of life expectancy. For Americans, the facts are these, in 1965 the average American male lived to 65.6 years of age. Get this, in 1900 it was 47.9!

Happily, today that number has grown to 75.8 for males and 81.58 for females. Whether life expectancy in America continues to creep forward remains to be seen. Our horrible eating habits may finally counteract advances in medical treatment.

Obesity is found in fully 25% of the population, there is going to be hell to pay for all those Quarter Pounders.

I had not given my 'life insurance' much thought until I almost needed it this summer, but no, not yet.

My stunted immaturity has never really allowed my age to catch up with me, my emotional growth is pretty much stalled at 25, though my wife would say 15. My ego and image will never allow me to do several things typically associated with hitting your 7th decade: Use a senior discount, join AARP or go to Branson, Missouri.

That's just me.

Here are some of my take-home leftovers from having crawled back from the brink of death in June:

1. Everybody, and I mean everybody knows someone who has had a heart 'event'.' Without fail, after telling me how shocked they are that a health freak like me would go through this, everyone says, 'You know, my (brother, father, sister, ) fill in the blank, had that happen……" Usually, it is followed by, 'And they lived 20 more years.' Some unfortunate friends don't sort their intel, and an awkward pause is followed by,'… and they died on the way to the hospital.'

Not surprising since the only notice one third of all heart attack victims get is death.

When I think back to roaming the halls of the Key Biscayne Hilton at 5:30 am on June 6th to 'walk off' my chest pains, I realize that could have easily been the end.

2. I'm surprised anyone is alive. I haven't spent much time studying actuary tables or disease stats, but after some quick web education, I now think that between cancer and heart attacks, it's amazing anyone is still here. And of course, eventually, we won't be.

3. I'm putting a message together for some guest speaking titled, 'The Heart of the Matter.'

It wasn't a stroke of genius for me to begin studying this topic when I was laid up in Critical Care in Miami waiting for my special moment in the operating room. So I have been diving into what the Bible says about the heart. Short answer: A lot, as in 833 mentions. I will post a link to this teaching, after I give it in a couple of weeks. Here is the text:

Eze 36:26

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

Can 60 really be the new 40? Absolutely. And not just from a statistical standpoint, however, hardening of the attitudes is the real disease that can short circuit this opportunity. If we feel old, we will act old, lose vision and check out when we should be all in. From a biblical standpoint, experience, wisdom and opportunity should intersect at the later stage of life to make it an epic era. Joshua, Moses and Caleb knew this.

Here is a message by Levi Lusko that really sums up my attitude towards aging:

Caleb, Getting Old and Staying Awesome-

http://vimeo.com/29584014

Retirement? From what? To what?

Slow down? Why? Time is short, pedal to the metal.

Give up grand dreams? No way Jose. Bring it on, as long as this heart is beating, I am going after it.

As Caleb put it, give me my mountain.

Getting on God's Wheel

It has been a decent summer, except for the part where I almost died in Miami..... then was sliced open like a yellow fin tuna. That was a speed bump that rocked me like nothing else, ever. Summer 2011 is almost in my rear view mirror, so a few glances backwards.

Here are a few highlights:

Wrapping up the 'Never Surrender' documentary with Daniel, the video biography of General Jerry Boykin. The content for this project includes Dr. James Dobson, Oliver North and Franklin Graham. It was an honor to conduct a three hour interview with General Boykin.

Daniel and I also had an excellent trip to New York City with our wives to interview Governor Mike Huckabee.

NYC interview with Governor Mike Huckabee

One of the best… so far. Governor Huckabee is super articulate and has a great grasp on an intelligent approach to the lethal issues that are strangling our nation. He is just the sort of leader we need, but is probably too sensible and kind to become president.

We are releasing this documentary on 9/11 with a worldwide TV interview with General Boykin from California.

Larissa is extending her teaching and doing a wonderful job. She was invited to speak in Denver and Miami and blew things up with her message. She is compact but powerful!

Tropical Storm Larissa bringing it in Miami.

Meanwhile, Heidi has turned 18, and is off to Bible College in York, England. 

She has been a joy to raise. Genuinely spiritual, beautiful inside and out. A Hope High School Homecoming Princess, State Track Champion, National Honor Society Student and leader in her church youth group, a real gem.

Here are a few snapshots of the last Lusko to leave the nest.

Heidi and our friend Flipper

Heidi during her brief Unabomber phase With Jesse & Bekah
Actually- 5:30 AM at ABQ Airport, on the way to Belize. That almost explains it. 

Favorite line on her first drive: 'The brake is the big pedal, right?" Dear Lord.....

Looking up to her big sister Rebecca

Gee, what great daughters!

I went from biking fifty miles a day to being unable to walk fifty feet. Stunning. Thankfully, I am in full recovery and am on the road back to my previous endurance levels. Thirty-five miles yesterday. Whew. Nonetheless, all the lessons about mortality, counting my days and making a mark for Jesus have been underscored and highlighted for me in neon.

Larissa and I took a business trip to Colorado and combined it with an excursion to Breckenridge to see the USA Pro Cycling Race- with Tour de France winner Cadel Evans, Andy Schleck etc.

Andy Schleck, sprinting in Breckenridge. Second, three times in the Tour de France!

Meanwhile in Montana, Levi and I started a new annual race, The Huckleberry 100. I had organized Chase the Balloons for the past 8 years in ABQ at Fiesta time, but I have moved on. It was a huge setback not to be able to ride in the inaugural Montana race…. but next year I'll be ready for it.

Levi still smiling after his first century

All in all, I have turned a corner, I am turning 60 (the new 40!) and I have my ear to the ground to see what adventure the Lord has ahead. I do know this, I want to use the cycling principle of drafting behind Jesus- getting on God's wheel!

Here's a teaching by Levi Lusko that lays out this point, Slipstream for your soul:

http://freshlifechurch.com/3.0/teachings/search.php

How fallen can it get? Very and quickly.

I cannot count how many times in a teaching message I ended with the evangelistic admonition, "You are one heartbeat from eternity." True, true. But when you are rolling in a Miami ambulance and peering at the end of life as you know it, that shot of truth takes on a whole new shape. One form that fact took was to give me a broad sense of how desperate the human condition truly is. We are all very good at insulating ourselves from this harsh reality, but like a Weekend at Bernie's, we are really propping up a corpse and going on a road trip. When the Bible says all mankind is, 'Dead in their sins,' it is not talking about half measures. Dead is dead, not mostly dead, but totally so.

Therefore our world is generally populated and operated by dead people, out of touch with their creator and capable of the worst in zombie-like behavior. Extreme? I think not. Only our salt and the Spirit prevents a total collapse into depravity.

In the hospital, the History Channel was about the only one that was not trying to sell me something. And June seemed to be 'Nazi Special Month.' I am well studied about the holocaust, have visited Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and shudder during Schindler's List. Maybe it was the morphine, but seeing these Nazi monsters massacre Jews, Gypsies and other 'inferior' races, made me more disgusted than ever. And truth be told, the Nazi's were amateurs compared to Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and many, many others. Don't get me started. The Assyrians may have set the mark for monstrous behavior, their treatment of prisoners was so gruesome it cannot be repeated. And what really happened to the Mayans? My observation is that they disappeared due to sacrificing their male population to the freaking demons, (See Mel Gibson's Apocalypto). And this is not all ancient history before mankind evolved to enlightenment. The 20th century was the worst, not the best.

Remember, until the 1900's, life for most of mankind was short, dark and brutal. Even now it is no picnic for many, consider that our garbage disposals eat better than thirty percent of the world.

All that to say this, most of us are children of, as Bob Seger sang, 'The UMC,' (Upper Middle Class) and as such, we are beneficiaries of all that Western European Judeo-Christian Civilization can offer. Fueled by a cheap and temporary energy bubble since WW II, we have had it soft and sweet.

This is neither normal nor permanent in the context of history and prophecy.

Far from that doom and gloom guy, I am generally a hopeless optimist, but reality bites. It is going to get worse. Much worse. I wish it were not so for the sake of our children and grandchildren, but my Bible has the book of Revelation in it.

Now perhaps our leaders will be ingenious enough to postpone the inevitable for a generation, or two. Actually, the best option is an amazing revival in America immediately followed by the rapture with no stops for judgment or the national humiliation which we so richly deserve due to abortion, mocking God, etc. Here's hoping.

John MacArthur said the path to a civilization's judgment is paved with pornography. Check. William Durant said that before a nation can be conquered from without, it must crumble from within. Partial check, working on it.

Radical Islam is relentless, (see Constantinople Jerusalem and Cordoba) they will neither give up or give in, so buckle up, this is at least the beginning of the end. But keep in mind, it took centuries for Muslims to establish Istanbul as an Islamic capitol in the heart of Christendom. (Note, Turkey is now 99% Muslim).

As I write this on my lanai in New Mexico, it is a gorgeous day, blue skies, birds, blah-blah-blah. But reality is just a click away on CNN where I see some guy shot up a camp full of teens in Norway.

They were meeting to discuss making the world a better place.

I'm thinking Jesus has a plan for this.

Fun things to know and tell after a heart attack

Two weeks after surgery with Dr. Ricci- 'The Man, aka, The Guy with the Golden Hands.' From the University of Miami.


1. The shock is wearing off. I did not consider myself a candidate for heart trouble. No red meat, hundreds of spin classes and an aversion to fast food did not buy me immunity from my end of the gene pool. I'm guessing self-induced stress did not help.

2. I know that we will all die of our last illness, I just didn't want it to be this one.

3. End of the Superman syndrome. I have always had this inherent confidence that I could hustle my way through any adversity. I could always work longer, get up earlier and juggle more projects to get it done.
Those days are dead. Better them than me.

4. The world is so worldly. Like a heightened sense of smell, in the hospital I became more attuned to just how ungodly most of the world is. Duh. It was just a sad dullness of how much people and daily activities are amputated from any sense of God.

5. And I had it 'easy.' A wonderfully supportive wife, immediate and church family; A world class Miami hospital and recovery in a four star hotel. NOTHING to complain about. We were very nearly in Belize and not Key West for our holiday. That could have been a much different picture.

6. Back on the bike. Amazing the vacuum that now exists in my life because I cannot work out normally. I did crawl back on a stationary bike the other day. Yes, I realized it was not mobile, but I felt so enabled. Can't wait to ride again!

7. I am determined not to waste this event. I have been arrested in my tracks by God. I am slowly picking up the pieces of projects that were in motion. But I am convinced the Lord wants to expand my faith in the medium and long term future and do something serious. I am emptying myself, waiting, listening and stretching. We will see.

A Pirate Looks at 60

With Larissa, in the Miami hospital. I am looking better than I feel, and I realize that is not saying much.

Team Lusko: Daniel, Becca, Jesse, Heidi, Levi & the victim. They made me laugh, cry and kept me sane as possible when you are about to have your chest split open with a chain saw. We prayed, read scripture, sang and watched teachings together. Priceless support.

They were also constantly on covert food runs to South Beach.

In Key West, two days before, The Event. Larissa and I took Heidi and our niece Jazzy to celebrate graduating from high school.

 The sign in the ambulance was a rate card for various medical procedures.  Curious. Here I was, in route to the hospital for radical chest pains and I am proof reading the rate card. 

I can't help it, because I have journalism training, I subconsciously proof many things I see, billboards, magazine ads and what not. It is a mixed blessing (a bit of OCD). As I lay in the back of a Miami ambulance, I just couldn't help proofing the rescue rate card hanging on the wall, 'EKG: $100 etc.' 

My heart was attacking me and it was an annoying way to start the week. I had other plans, and they did not include waking up on Biscayne Bay with such classic heart attack symptoms that even I could not go into denial for long. So instead of heading for an early workout on the Bay and a cup of Illy coffee, I stumbled to the Hilton lobby and mentioned to the clerk that she should call 911.

When my new ambulance friends deposited me at the emergency room of nearby Jackson Memorial Hospital, I had no idea I would be thrust into my first major hospital experience. Fifty-nine years old and I had spent one night in a hospital for a minor cut repair. That would change. I was about to be initiated into the hospital culture. Hospitals are a combination of mediocre hotel, much needed torture chambers and a palace for medical working heroes.

Image is everything, and I could hardly bring myself to say, 'I had a heart attack.' But I did. The ER doors of JMH became a wormhole to a new reality for me. Cath lab, angioplasty and a quick prognosis. I would need open heart surgery as soon as my blood thickened. And oh yes, I could go into cardiac arrest at any moment, but the cardio doctor said I was 'lucky.' Lucky to have no other risk factors, lucky to be staying close to a fine cardio hospital and very lucky I did not wait longer. Fifty per cent of heart attack victims perish in the first sixty minutes without treatment. I was in surgery almost one hour to the minute from when I woke up in a cold sweat. My favorite line came from the gurney guy, 'Man, that could have killed you.' He has seen a lot, so enough said. I heard the word lucky and fortunate many times that day. But I knew there was much more, had this 'event' taken place at a different time and place I would have been toast. I could have been hiking the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim as I was two weeks before. I can just see my lifeless body draped over a Canyon mule. Two days earlier, I was 45 minutes off Key West in the Gulf on a dive boat. One week earlier I was on a bike ride with my cycling team, 20 miles out, not good. But a hotel five minutes from one of the highest rated heart hospitals in the country would be excellent, thank you.

God's hand was not missing.

Things I thought while my heart attacked

'Really Lord, like this?' Fifty-nine, alone in Miami, with a legal pad of important projects on the runway. I felt no excitement for heaven, though I had assurance, I felt disappointment. Not the unfulfilled bucket list jive of cycling the Alps or diving the Truk Islands. Something else. It was just that for the past year or more I have sensed a rumbling in the Spirit. I know something big is coming, I don't know what or when. I just was put off at the idea of not catching this Spiritual Set. There were no C.S. Lewis moments of clarity, just a dull mixture of anxiety and amazement.

I am pleased to report that I had no nagging need to reconcile with any of my family. I was at total peace with my wife and kids, nothing left unsaid, except maybe, 'Good-bye.'

That brought me to the need for communication. No one knew. It was 6 AM Eastern, so the middle of the night in New Mexico and Montana. Plus, phoning with nitroglycerin under my tongue was a challenge. So I texted out, first to my wife Larissa, then a group text to all the children: 'I love you. Chest pains. Ambulance. Miami.' Here's some dark humor, I sometimes send my wife song lyric fragments and she has to answer back.

That's what she thought I was doing and not recognizing the Jimmy Buffett ballad, 'Chest Pains,' she did not play along.

I finally called her after surgery and the word went out. Facebook & Twitter are amazing.

Surrounded

Within twenty hours I would be surrounded by Larissa and all five kids, like spiritual centurions, Team Lusko was on guard. Levi had the most challenging flight path, taking a private plane from Kalispell to Great Falls to escape the weird vortex of Montana flight schedules.

Larissa and Heidi had both been with me in Key West the day before, I had stayed behind for work in Miami, so they made a quick return trip from ABQ.

Daniel, Jesse and Becca dropped everything and showed up quickly.

So there I was, laying in CCU with all five Lusko children and my lovely wife Larissa waiting for my chest to be opened.

Support

In addition, support poured in from around the world. Calvary of Albuquerque was incredibly gracious as were other churches like Calvary Kendall here in South Florida. But mainly, people prayed and I could tell. And thank God, because I was in for the medical equivalent of the Tour de France. Before long I had IV's in my arms and neck (the worst) and other tubes and wires in my body. I felt like Frankenstein. Through it all, more support flowed in, Kent Bagdasar, a life long friend from So Cal showed up, as did Pedro and Lourdes Garcia. Other pastor friends offered to fly in and and run errands. I was deeply touched.

The Fruit

Four hours of surgery brought more prayer pay off. They did not need to stop my heart and use the heart-lung machine. This alone is a major meta-physical victory for me.

The 48 hours after surgery are a foggy, painful blur. I do recall looking at Levi, and demanding to know who he was.

Each child in turn was special to be around, each spiritual, each supportive and altogether a lot of my tears were shed.

Released from the hospital after 4 days, the hits keep coming. I have been off pain meds since then, literally pain free. I am weak, but walking. Talking briefly to the kids each day to make sure this really happened. It did.

Now what?

Four months ahead of my 60th, I have raised my family, conducted a 40 year media career and have been given a new lease on life. I do not plan to waste a single moment for the Kingdom.

For This Purpose

Here is an interesting point, Louie Giglio has a current 'Open Heart Series,' that really got my attention in the hospital, let's just say. It was also something wild to watch Levi teach online from Tucson just after he had to leave. Surreal. I was to have been there, but no.

All that to say, what have I been hearing? If I had to distill my spiritual impressions to a single thought it would be this:

Be sure you are able to say, 'For this purpose was I born,' as Jesus was. This is not harvesting any fresh manna, but my perspective gave me a new hunger to go all out on a spiritual adventure, 'and see what the Lord will do.'

Once you discover your God given passion, do not look back. Genuine passion is contagious, outrageous and rare. It needs to be exposed to all the world. We cannot convince people to love Jesus (thank you Frances Chan) but we can be so incredibly on fire and in love with Him that the world will want to watch us burn as they warm themselves by our fires.

Anybody got a match?

Oh, and I did not find any typo's on the ambulance rate card. I didn't spend a lot of time on this blog since I was just released from open heart surgery. Feel free to proof it. 

Prime Time in Miami

Pasion Cielo, excellent coffee shop in Coral Gables. Esta muy bien! Blue Mountain from Jamaica, etc., etc., wow.
Main event, creative session for the 2012 One Conference in Miami. The team that does Catalyst primed the pump. We'll be at the University of Miami next February, but this is how the work gets done. www.oneconference.com
Without a vision..... here is Pedro Garcia the Miami Hurricane Himself. Dreaming kingdom dreams & talking about it.

Of Cancer & Christianity Part 2

Everyone knows someone who has suffered from cancer. My mom endured a horrific year with brain cancer that took her life in her mid-forties. The worst suffering I have ever seen, so far. That is not being cynical, but pragmatic: One out of three Americans will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. Cancer is responsible for one of four deaths. These are not good odds.

I will say that while watching my mother go through cancer induced dementia was the most painful episode to date in my life, it was also one of the most spiritually powerful times as well. God was there in a tangible way; I had recently been converted and was living in a Christian commune in Honolulu when a phone call came that changed everything. Within 24 hours I was standing in a southern California hospital hearing a fatal diagnosis from the Doctor. But I was not alone, the Lord touched my whole family and many of them came to Christ.

I was able to baptize both my mom & dad in their pool.

That leads me to this remarkable story that I have been following....

The story of Christopher Hitchens, author of:

'God is not Great, How Religion Poisons Everything'

I recently posted the story of Christopher & Peter Hitchens, brothers on totally opposite spiritual spectrums. Christopher, a raving (but brilliant) atheist. Peter, a Christian author and apologist in his own right.

See how Peter made peace with his brother:

(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1255983/How-I-God-peace-atheist-brother-PETER-HITCHENS-traces-journey-Christianity.html)

However, Christopher has stage 4 cancer that is ravaging his body. Now, a curious twist to the story has further captured my attention. His former debate opponent is a doctor and is now his hope for recovery!

Read this & pray:

Atheist Christopher Hitchens turns to evangelical Christian doctor in his fight against cancer

By SIMON NEVILLE

The last person you might expect Christopher Hitchens, one of the world’s best known atheists, to turn to for help would be an evangelical Christian.

But a highly religious doctor might be the only individual who can help the author and journalist who is suffering from cancer.

Dr Francis Collins, the former director of the National Human Genome Research Project was one part of the team which developed techniques to map out the entire human DNA make-up is using Hitchens as a guinea pig for a new treatment.

Friends: Atheist Christopher Hitchens, left, is being treated by Christian Dr Francis Collins using a new technique of DNA mapping to tackle the mutated DNA directly

Hitchens, author of God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, has had his genome mapped out in its entirety by taking DNA from healthy tissue and from his cancerous tumour.

On each sample six billion DNA matches were run, in order to catalogue the mutations in the cancerous cells which had given Hitchens cancer of the oesophagus.

Then in the New Year Dr Collins found a mutation and went about tackling the DNA directly.

He discovered that a drug already existed to treat the particular mutation and now Hitchens takes just one tablet a day, rather than undergoing gruelling chemotherapy.

Hitchens, 61, told London’s Daily Telegraph: ‘I’m an experiment.

‘These are early stages, but in theory it should attack the primary site of the tumour.

Authors: The duo have both written books about God. Hitchens said of Dr Collins: 'I won’t say he doesn’t pray for me, because I think he probably does.'

‘If that does happen, it won’t just be good news for me, it will be very exciting in the general treatment of cancer.’

The unlikely alliance between the Christian and Atheist formed when the pair used to debate each other about whether God existed, leading to the two becoming friends.

Dr Collins, who is director of America’s National Institutes of Health, has authored his own book on religion’s role in medicine: The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.

Hitchens added: ‘It is a rather wonderful relationship.

‘I won’t say he doesn’t pray for me, because I think he probably does; but he doesn’t discuss it with me.

Hitchens, a prominent Atheist, he refused to change his views on religion even after his diagnosis in June 2010.‘He agrees that his medical experience does not include anything that could be described as a miracle cure.’

He said he finds the new treatment very exciting.

‘At least it spares me some of the boredom of being a cancer patient because what I’m going through is very absorbing and positively inspiring,’ he said. ‘But if it doesn’t work, I don’t know what they could try next.’

He added that during his treatment he was constantly contacted by other atheists sending him positive messages.

‘I get a huge number of letters and emails every day, a lot of them from people I don’t know, and they quite often say things like, “If anyone can beat this, it’s you”, “Cancer is a fool to take you on”… Jaunty, upbeat stuff like that.

'A lot of people, because of my contempt for the false consolations of religion, think of me as a symbolic public opponent of that in extremis. And sometimes that makes me feel a bit alarmed, to be the repository of other people’s hope.’

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This could be a real set up from the Lord. Stay tuned.