Those Pigs

My New Testament reading for the next few days is in the book of Mark. This morning I came across that odd passage where Jesus sends the evil spirits into the pigs and they dash down the side of the hill into the sea of galilee. Always the question--why? Why does Jesus let the spirits go into the pigs, why does he let the pigs die? Mark 5

Here's one reason (there are always others, the Bible is rich in multiple meanings). If you remember the name of the evil spirit is legion. Legion, of course, is Roman military term that speaks of a group of soldiers. In this area of the country there had been Roman legions who had carried out cruel and painful attacks on the people. This demon possessed man was probably suffering from that horrible experinece and it opened him up to demon possession. The idea that flows from this is that when Jesus has this legion go into the pigs, the pigs become a roman legion or roman pigs. These pigs then dash into the sea or the abyss--in doing so they show that God rules over and can destroy Roman which has abused people rather than rightfully carrying out their ruling task (cf. Romans 13). The story then, is a political statement of who rules, who reigns and who wins and what the world will look like when all is set right (the demon possessed man is now in his right mind). It is also a story of resistance to this world of hope because the people of the land ask Jesus to go.

How it's going

Just a quick update on Linda and all of us. Linda had a good day yesterday--which typically means not as good of a day today. Which so far has turned out to be true. She is very sore in that upper left leg area and moving slowly this morning. At the same time imagine my surprise and joy when she took several steps without crutches or walker yesterday! So we keep moving forward.

As for me, I'm a bit tired. So in a moment of laziness I drove to work today instead of riding my bike. I think a couple of nights of sleep and mornings of getting up at about 7 instead of 6 will get me up and going again.

Chris is having a great time at Calvin in their ready for life program. He loves what they are doing and loves getting out of the house.

Thanks for the meals this week--they have been awesome.

Noise

As I was doing the morning dog walk today and listening to Genesis I found that as cars went by I had to turn up the volume on my cassette player to hear the words--at times the words were simply drowned out by the volume of the cars. This set me to thinking: What is it that drowns out the very words of God in my life so that I don't hear them? Busyness? TV? Preoccupation with other things? Something to think on for all of us--just what is it that makes it so we stop hearing the very words of God? What is it that gets us listening again?

A bit from 2 Kings 1-2

With Linda laid up my time for Bible reading has changed a bit. I'm now Bible listening more than Bible reading (I remembered this morning that the Bible was made first to be listened to, only later to be read). My Bible listening happens in the mornings when I walk our two dogs--not my favorite activity, but it needs to be done. Since I take these walks not only for the dogs but also to get myself in shape for next summer's trip to Israel I usually walk about 3.5 miles which gives me some significant listening time.

Anyway, a few days ago I was listening to the story of Elijah and Elisha. As I listened to the last days of Elijah's life before going to heaven I realized something: the second to the last miracle performed by Elijah is centered around the destruction of soldiers who profane the name of God by not honoring Elijah as a prophet. After this we find that King Ahaziah who has treated Elijah with contempt (by sending these soldiers) dies without an heir i.e. there is no life in him. After this Elijah parts the waters of the Jordan and is taken up in the whirlwind. When Elijah is taken up Elisha asks for a double portion of his spirit. This request is granted by God. The next thing we see is Elisha parting the waters with Elijah's cloak. Then we find a rather odd little miracle story about Elisha healing the water of Jericho. It is odd, that is, until we see that it is a story of life given to those who are obedient to God--notice that the water will no longer cause death or miscarriage (King Ahaziah had no children, was miscarriage involved?). Then the next story we discover is that odd story of the children who call Elisha "baldhead" and are attacked by the bears. It too seems odd until we see it in parallel with the destruction of the soldiers. As they had dishonored God's prophet, so these children are dishonoring God's prophets in a significant way. Since the spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha we would expect no other result than the punishment of those who speak this dishonor.

So here's the picture

Elijah Dishonored/ punishment Elisha Dishonored/Punishment
Ahaziah, has no offspring/life because he disobeys A city with faithful people receive new water that gives life/ no miscarriages
Elijah parts the Jordan Elisha parts the Jordan

Back to Work

I got back to the office yesterday. Kind of an odd thing after being gone and doing the nursing deal for the last few weeks.

Linda continues to have good days and bad days. Yesterday was one of those bad days, a lot more pain and discomfort. At the same time in the midst of her pain she took three steps without crutches or her walker--so progress is being made. She has the most discomfort in her upper left leg. We think that there is some muscle damage there. Pray for healing for that leg.

Other than that, no real news from our house. We just keep taking the steps of the healing process and are thankful for all the concern shown.

A Visit to the Docs

Yesterday we made our first trip to the Doc's. He was pleased with Linda's progress. She is now up and about using the walker a number of times each day. We continue to try to get out a bit for those big adventures like the grocery store. Yesterday Linda, Chris, and I went to Meijers. I pushed Linda and Chris pushed the cart. It all worked rather well.

Even as Linda gets better she is still quite tired--healing takes a lot of energy. So between our outings she is doing her bit of resting and reading and trying to watch some TV. The boredom of it all gets worse the better she feels--so pray for patience.

On Thursday we replaced our Scion which was totalled in the accident. You can see us driving a 2001 VW Passat wagon around town. It's green and was given top ranking in safety by Consumer Reports. It look a lot like the one in the picture, I don't have a picture of the actual car :). Our car search had two central criteria--Chris could get in without hitting his head and Linda can feel comfortable driving in a safe car--the Passat fit both those criteria.

We have been overwhelmed by all your cards and prayers. The healing process will still be a good month before Linda is up to 80% speed, but we are thankful that she is doing as well as she is right now.

Dinner Out

We had quite the adventure last night--we drove two miles to Wolfies (a local restaurant owned by a friend) and ate outside at the picnic tables. It was a bit of a production getting Linda down the stairs of the house, then to her walker and finally into the car. I loaded the wheel chair in the trunk (happy to have fold down seats!) and off we went. The drive was a bit taxing on Linda, but getting out of the house and to another place was well worth it. Overall the outing did not seem to take any more out of Linda than staying at home.

On another healing front a neighbor loaned us their "anti-gravity" lounge chair. It is a great place for Linda to sit because it takes pressure off all those pressure points. Linda found it to be so comfortable much that we ordered one via Amazon--it came in about 36 hours (our neighbor needs their chair back for their special needs "kid").

One last "God moment": Sunday Linda was saying that what sounded good to eat was a small steak and boiled red potatoes. This is a huge change from her normal diet. About 15 minutes after metioning it there was a knock at our door. The daughter of the family that loaned us the anti-gravity chair handed me two ready to put in the microwave meals her mom had prepared. Inside, of course, were two small steaks, boiled red potatoes, and fresh corn on the cob. Got to love it when God does those cool things.

Again, thanks for the cards and the prayers. We are making slow but sure progress.