HEALTH LINKS:
ADOPTING A BIBLICAL VIEW OF AGING & OPTIMIZING YOUR HEALTH.
ABOUT ADOPTING A BIBLICAL VIEW OF AGING
Francis Chan on Aging Biblically. “The church is in dire need of elderly who are living radically for their faith.”
Nearing Home: Life, Faith and Finishing Well by Billy Graham. “. . . No one had ever taught me how to grow old.” Graham wanted this to be the handbook he never had—spiritual, pragmatic and fearless. Billy as featured in Christianity Today.
Finishing Well to the Glory of God: Strategies from a Christian Physician by John Dunlop, MD. From 39 years of practicing geriatric medicine come pastoral wisdom and sound strategies. Dr. Dunlop gently addresses spiritual, emotional, psychological, financial and physical needs of people as they age. This book helps us plan our final decades, months, weeks and hours with a God centered attitude toward death and dying. This book is a “Theology of Finishing Well.”
The Joys of Successful Aging: Living Your Days to the Fullest by George Sweeting, former president and chancellor of the Moody Bible Institute. With maturity, grace, and wisdom, Dr. Sweeting shows us how to be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer as we get older. Drawing on his own experience, he claims the later years of life can be the most joyful, rewarding, and fulfilling ones.
Finishing Well: The Adventure of Life beyond Halftime by Bob Buford. This book is an inspirational guide for the journey through our older years. Finishing Well explores the possibility that you may live a whole adult lifetime that wasn’t available to your parents and grandparents. Buford brings us insights and thought-provoking ideas from more than fifty leaders of diverse backgrounds who are finishing well.
From Success to Significance: When the Pursuit of Success Isn’t Enough by Lloyd Reeb. Discover God’s unique purpose for your life.When you do, your talents, your drives, and everything you are will make sense in a new way and have an impact you’ve never dreamed of.
The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? by Rick Warren was newly released in 2013. It is a 42-Day spiritual guide, to help one discover the answers to life’s important question—what on earth am I here for? Knowing your purpose will explain the meaning of your life; it will simplify your life; it will focus your life; it will increase your motivation, and it will prepare you for eternity.
ABOUT OPTIMIZING YOUR HEALTH
C.R.E.A.T.I.O.N Health is a faith-based wellness plan. By consistently practicing the eight principles of CREATION Health – Choice, Rest, Environment, Activity, Trust, Interpersonal Relationships, Outlook, and Nutrition – we fulfill God’s original plan for our lives.
Younger Next Year by Chris Crowley and Dr. Henry S. Lodge is an amusing and inspiring read. Based on medical research, Harry puts forth seven rules for living fit and delaying many problems of aging. Chris lives the seven rules, and his exuberance is contagious. Without realizing it, these two evolutionists illustrate that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” There is a second book, Younger Next Year for Women.
The Daniel Plan: 40 Days to a Healthier Life by Rick Warren, Dr. Daniel Amen, and Dr. Mark Hyman. Three Christian leaders have put together an appetizing approach to a healthy lifestyle. People get healthier together by optimizing the key five essentials of faith, food, fitness, focus, and friends.
Workout Videos by Leslie Sansone offer an inexpensive, self-paced means of exercise in the privacy of your own home. In the rainy, Pacific Northwest an indoor exercise option is essential! Some folks use Leslie’s lighter, agility producing workouts to alternate with more strenuous forms of repetitive exercise. If you need encouragement, Leslie offers it throughout every routine. If you just want the music, you can select that option as well.
Living Well with Chronic Conditions is a six-week workshop providing tools for living a healthy life with conditions such as diabetes, arthritis, asthma and heart disease.
None of These Diseases: the Bible’s Health Secrets for the 21st Century by S.I. McMillen, MD was revised in 2000. This is a fascinating uncovering of scientific research that supports biblical directions regarding health care. For example, eighth day circumcision coincides with the baby’s initial production of Vitamin K, the vitamin needed for blood to coagulate.
ABOUT CARE OPTIONS FOR A “GOOD OLD AGE”
Retirement Connection Is a hub of providers, services, and events available to adults over 50 in the Pacific Northwest. Their website includes national resources as well as a wealth of informative articles also published (or downloadable) in a free guide updated seasonally.
My Mother, Your Mother: Embracing “Slow Medicine,” the compassionate approach to caring for your aging loved ones by Dennis McCullough, MD. The author chronicles his mother’s life through eight stages of later life. In stories of his patients, he points out how the practice of acute or fast medicine does not serve the needs of the elderly but often exacerbates their problems. McCullough offers another approach and validates the importance of listening to the wishes of our aging parents.
Taking Care: Ethical Caregiving in Our Aging Society This free book, authored by the Pro-life Bush President’s Bioethics Council, can be read online or an e-book printed. The section on dementia and the human person not only describes the staging of the disease, it also describes the importance of ‘well-being’ from the afflicted person’s standpoint.
What Are My Choices provides a guide to long term care choices in Oregon with links to explore how they are regulated. It also provides descriptions and definitions of the various types of care available.
Together Again: A Creative Guide to Successful Multigenerational Living by Susan Graham Niederhaus and John Graham. The coming failure of Social Security and healthcare systems are forcing us all to rethink how we care for one another. This book offers solutions based in part on interviews with over 100 people now involved in extended family living relationships. Topics include the financial and emotional benefits of living together; proximity and privacy; designing and remodeling your home; overcoming cultural stigmas about independent living; financial and legal planning; and making co-habitation agreements.
When Your Parents Move In: Every Adult Child’s Guide to Living with an Aging Parent by David Horgan and Shira Block. So you thought you’d never have to live with Mom again? Think again. As the population ages, elderly parents everywhere are moving in with their children and changing everything. Making room physically, emotionally, and financially for an elderly parent can push families to their limits. Written out of the personal experience of an acclaimed expert and medical educator, this guide walks families through the planning and execution necessary to make it work.
Caring Bridge, a free service, allows you to keep a personal health journal online to which your caring family and friends may respond without troubling anyone for progress reports. One recipient states on their website, “When the nights seemed to last forever, I would read and reread guestbook messages of support and encouragement.”
ABOUT 4TH QUARTER GAME PLANS & FINISHING WELL:
Surprised by Suffering: the Role of Pain and Death in the Christian Life by R.C. Sproul. Suffering affects us all, and it can cause us to ask many questions about the goodness of God. This work explores how the Lord works in tragedy to sanctify us.
Don’t Waste Your Cancer by John Piper. The diagnosis of cancer can be earth-shattering to us. Yet as Dr. John Piper shows us in this work, cancer can provide us a unique opportunity to glorify God.
If God is Good by Randy Alcorn offers insights from his conversations with men and women whose lives have been torn apart by suffering, and yet whose faith in God burns brighter than ever. Randy delves deeply into a profound subject, and through compelling stories, provocative questions, and keen biblical understanding, he brings assurance and hope to all.
Walking Through the Valley: A Bible Exploration of Suffering and Death by Judith Allen Shelly and Mary Thompson. Published by Intervarsity, this Bible study provides an informed understanding of Christian caring.