Vision, 2015 Series

Vision 2015 Six Arrow Year, By Pastor Rob Ketterling

Well, I want to say hello to all of our campuses and say how delighted I am to be back in the pulpit. As many of you are aware, a month ago I had a heart attack. This weekend it was a month ago. And I just want to thank you for your prayers. I just want to say to all the campuses, to the church here, thank you for your prayers. We felt them.

It is true, I did tweet from the ambulance asking for prayer. People were worried that my Twitter account was hacked. But here's the way I see it; I believe in the power of prayer. I wanted you praying right then and there. They'd just told me I was having a heart attack. I said, like, "Am I getting a shot?"

And they said, "You're going in for surgery." And I was, like, I need prayer. So I don't know why people don't ask for prayer. I'm asking, and I got it, and I thank you for that.

I want to say thank you to our church. We have felt the love. I mean, people have brought us meals; meal after meal after meal. As a matter of fact, if I were I you, I would join a Lifegroup just for that very reason, because your Lifegroup is supposed to take care of you if you're in need, and I'm telling you the meals were fantastic. We just felt the love.

I love our church, our team. Pastor Lindsay, Pastor Darin, the whole team, you covered for me while I was gone. Thank you to the elders for giving me I didn't know what to call it I call it heart attack leave. Thank you for heart attack leave. It was good to have that time off. I didn't like the heart attack, but thank you. The church has been just so generous.

I just want to let you know I am doing fantastic. I feel great. I am obeying everything the doctor is telling me to do. Your pastor is a good, obedient person. And I just want to give a quick heart update. I am in cardiac rehab, and I go there three times a week. They hook the probes up to me. I keep pushing my exercise each time. Interesting, there were three of us from River Valley at cardiac rehab on Friday. So I said that's enough to start a campus, so we now have a campus in Burnsville. We were all gathered, you know. So I thought, is this going around? Don't quit the church. But, no, so I am in the rehab, and I want to let you know it takes six weeks. Once you have a heart attack, even if you're doing amazing afterwards, it takes six weeks. Your heart has been damaged. My heart was damaged from the heart attack. And they said no matter how good I feel, it takes six weeks. I'm limited to ten pounds of weight to lift. I walk about two miles in my workout. It's a lot less than I was doing. But, again, I'm obeying everything. I'm cleared to preach. I'm not disobeying anything. I didn't have to twist anybody's harm. The doctor was ready to clear me a week ago, but he's like "Hey, it is great your church has blessed you with this."

A lot of people have said to me, "You know what the message is from this, don't you?"

I'm like, "What?"

They are saying, "Slow down."

Here's the thing you've got to understand. It wasn't because of my pace of life. It wasn't even because I had blockage of cholesterol. It was a rupture of my artery. I would have passed a test the day before the heart attack. So what happened is it ruptured, and then the blood clot acted just like a complete blockage, and that's where I felt the heart attack. I'm on five medications now that prevent this and, they've said, are going to extend my life. I had three stents put in. I'm doing great. But the answer is not to slow down. Now, I'm going to be wise in the things I do, but when I talked to my doctor, I said, "Does this mean I need to slow down?"

He said, "You may have lost a gear that you used to have, but as fast as you want to go, go. If you feel comfortable, go for it. It is not to change you into a different person. We have you on the right medication now. Go as fast as you were created to go."

And I was like, "Can I get that in writing?" Because that's how I feel.