Strokes

A brother from the church had 3 strokes (cerebrovascular accident). The first one was at 42 years old. The last one was during a brain surgery to prevent repetitive strokes. He became unable to drink water. He had to mix water and flour because he could not separate water from the air in his throat.  Very gradually, through many exercises, he now can walk and drink water again. Now he praises the Lord for each new day he lives. Due to his strokes, he had the right to receive government pension, but he denied it.
He has been a very active man, full of ideas. In fact, he was an entrepreneur when younger, but his company failed after president Collor plan which confiscated all money in banks. Then, he got a job. He had the strokes and lost his job.
Despite his sufferings, he sees the Lord guiding his life: go this way, not this way! For me, and others, it is very difficult that he has so much intimacy with the Lord. According to himself, God wants that he blesses others through his ideas.

He is an architect. I asked him to repair the gutter of my house roof. He took it as a mission.

In this photo, from July 26th:

you see the wall of my bedroom. We have been suffering a leak problem that I could not repair by myself.
When I asked him to study my roof, he saw an opportunity to create something new.
He studied very carefully the problem and coordinated the repair with two other guys. He decided to cover the gutter with aluminium in order to prevent the tree leaves next home to clog the gutter. He had to figure out how to dispose the aluminium in the roof so that it does not create holes in the junctions as it expands and retracts due to the sun and rain. Even with some difficulties in his equilibrium, he went to the roof many times.
Certainly the Lord is teaching me many things about life through him.

By other hand, I was known that, coincidentally, another guy had a stroke at 42 years old. He is now "recovering" from it. He was a top executive in the financial sector with a very high salary. He does not believe in the Invisible One and laughs when someone prays for him. Although his wife is trying to make everything for him, he wants to commit suicide.  

Two strokes at 42 years old men and two opposite ways to face life.