“The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn't have been complete without you.”
— Frederick Buechner
I stole this quotation from The Dude Abides, the blog of the Chicago Sun-Times religion columnist; the title is from the Psalms.
Ever since, I have been thinking about meeting Jesus at a party. I want to be in my power chair.
I used my manual wheelchair when I went to that birthday party a few weeks ago. It is harder to run over people in the manual. I would hit a foot and role backward.
The power chair is more like the irresistible force. It hits things and bounces up and over them. A friend stopped by work a few months ago, and in my rush to give her a hug, I ran over her foot. Fortunately, she was wearing some hulking Doc Martens things, so the chair probably took more damage.
Mom insists that God is answering my prayers to be healed, just not in the way I want them to be answered. (I am not oblivious either to the fact that Mom helps me take off my shoes almost every night, probably an answer to my prayers. I just realized, what if Mom is saying God can't fix me, so I really appreciate what she does? She is devious like that.)
I figure at the party, I can accidentally roll over Jesus' foot, and unlike my friend, we will probably be wearing sandals or nothing on his feet. I don't want to cripple him, just remind him of problems that need fixing.
"Oh, I'm sorry, buddy," I'd loudly say. "It's just so hard to navigate in a wheelchair. I sure wish someone would heal me so I didn't need one. You know, like someone who alleges to be a parent but has a far way to go before actually being one. It's pretty hard to enjoy all the good things on earth when your body is so damaged you can't even ride your trike around the block."
Maybe he'd get the hint -- or is it too obtuse -- or maybe he'd tell me to just watch where I am going and enjoy the party.
5 comments:
You are not alone. At the Nationals game today on the way in we past a very young guy who was extremely well built in the shoulders but was in a wheelchair and a double amputee above the knees. I knew right away that he was an Iraqi veteran. That was confirmed when they showed a big view of the section for veterans on the big screen and he was right in front (ironically with a Chicago Cubs shirt). I thought to myself, what must it be like to have been in amazing shape and sacrifice so much for your country. I mean the guy is seriously disabled and probably isn't more than 25.
SDT
You trying to make me feel like a wimpy whiner?
I think when you meet Jesus at that party, he's gonna be in a chair too. Then what? You're both gonna groan.
not trying to make you feel like a wimpy whiner, just that you are not the only one with these feelings. I already have my conversation planned with g-d regarding why I had to endure everything I went through at Shepherd and continue to endure every single day with my trach.
I want to have my talk after you because God will be so cowed by you ...
Post a Comment