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.

Outdoor Adventure--Not quite Cedar Point

We had our first outdoor adventure today. We got Linda into her wheelchair and found some even pavement and enjoyed about a 1/2 hour outside. It was great. Not quite the vacation we were expecting with Chris being gone for 5 days--but still a thing to be thankful for.

Chris did leave today for his Serve project. He'll be gone until Thursday morning, so it will just be Linda and myself. It's really great for Chris because he constantly wanted to be doing things and I could only dedicate so much time to him (and he didn't really want to be with anyone else).

Blessings to all on tomorrow's worship.

First Steps

Hey! Good news. Linda took her first steps with a walker yesterday and added some more steps today. Her voice sounds better--more like Linda, less like a "sick" person. So we are making progress. She is getting a bit of cabin fever--which is also good, but frustrating for her. It will be quite some time yet before she is up on her own, but we are very thankful for the progress.

Chris is doing well. He is a bit bored and is looking forward to escaping this place for his serve project on Saturday.

As for me, I'm burning more calories than when I ride my bike every day. It's amazing the amount of stuff that has to be done in a day when a person can't do stuff for themselves.


Thanks again for your prayers and cards, they are a great encouragement.

Hard Day

Linda has been in major pain today. Her stomach has been very upset and this has kept her from taking pain meds--so she is getting hit on two fronts. She is quite discouraged and down. Please pray for an end to the stomach pain. Pray also that she can eat and take her pain meds. Pray for God to quiet her spirit from all the emotions of the accident.

For the next day or so we are asking for no visitors. I'll let you know via this blog when she is up to seeing people.

Chris continues to do well. I'm doing my nurse thing here and doing OK.

Thanks again for your prayers and calls and cards. They mean a lot.

Sunday

First, thanks to Pastor Tom who added to his workload and preached for me today. At about 10:30 I was finishing up the first wave of my morning nursing and family duties and knew for sure there was no way I could have pulled off preaching today.

Linda had a pretty good day yesterday, but today has been a reverse. She is very sick to her stomach and that is adding a lot of pain. It seems that the pain meds make her sick and so she has to decide which pain is worse--flu like symptoms or the pain of the break. Not a choice you really want to make.

Chris is continuing to get better and better. he's been a great helper making Linda's coffee in the morning, walking the dogs etc. I still am trying to sneak out and do a few things with him while Linda rests for a bit. We went for a short bike ride today, took the dogs for a walk and did a quick run to MacDonalds to get him lunch. I'm trying to give him as much normal stuff as I can while paying attention to Linda's needs.

Linda is going a bit crazy not being able to do anything on her own. Not only that but the stuff she usually does around the house now has to be done by Chris and me. She doesn't like that very much. Fortunately I still know my way around the kitchen, washer and drier etc.

As I've reflected a bit on all of this it has stuck me that Paul's words are so important to hang on to. "Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" 1 Cor. 10.31. Linda and I had some great plans for our vacation (first 6 day real vacation without Chris in 19 years), we were having a great summer bike riding, walking, and doing all kinds of outdoor stuff. I was riding my bike to work and getting in over 100 miles a week peddling and enjoying it. All of that has changed quickly. But as I think on it, whether I am doing those things or staying at home and caring for Linda and Chris the goal remains the same--"whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God". So while the shape of the summer has changed (and there's sadness in that change) the goal of the summer has not. Knowing that makes dealing with this unwelcome change possible and keeps me from dealing with it in negative ways.