Or "How y'all doin' today?" is more like the question I'll hear in Anniston, Alabama. I've been asked that question a bit more lately. It may be because I'm not walking to well. I have to use a cane now because I fall down quite a bit from my legs "going weak;" that is, going weaker than they already are (my right thigh has lost about 1/3 of its muscle). I actually drive better than I walk. I drop things alot more often. It's less fatiguing to type than it is to write with a pen or pencil.
All in all, though, I'm doing very well. What a blessed and gracious God we serve! I don't recollect that I've had any bad days since these symptoms came on. Certainly, I've had days where my own sin was overwhelming. Surely, I've had days when I was self-consumed and full of self-pity. Yet, I've also had days where I could feel the pain, but I really couldn't FEEL the pain. I've had days of tremendous prayer and communion with my Sovereign; and I've had days of utter anguish because my sins have driven me to realize how far short of the glory of God I truly am...
YET! the LORD God was there in every one of those days; in every one of those instances; throughout every jot and tittle of every circumstance. How could one possibly have a bad day with God in it? The Master was working in all those things to conform me to the image of Jesus Christ. That is unbelievable! and I mean that literally, because there's no way that fallen man can believe that because that is most assuredly revelation truth that only comes by the Spirit of God by the grace of God according to the Word of God!
Moreover, when I hear the question concerning my health, especially in the last few weeks, my mind immediately rushes to my wife, Lisa; to my daughter, Rachel. How are they doing because of how I'm feeling physically? Though she tries not to show it, I know that Lisa cries when she is overwhelmed because I collapse. I have prayed many a prayer that has sought to keep them from hurting over my condition. I can't imagine what they must be going through; yet, I know that whatever the Lord is bringing to them in this, He is working His grace in them by it, and working faith through them for it.
This experience, as a minister, has allowed me to think more of the loved ones whose spouses, children, parents, &etc. are sick, infirmed, afflicted, or diseased. O, how horrifying it must be to feel so helpless in the midst of the physical sufferings of dear ones. As a parent, I can relate a bit to that, for watching a child with a fever brinking 105 degrees F. and standing by being able to do nothing about it. It is in these times that the Spirit of God brings us a glimpse of the Father's heart... not in helplessness; God forbid that we should suggest that of a sovereign and omnipotent God; but in watching the cruelty of mankind inflicted upon His one and only Son, and then, on top of that, in order to save the very ones that inflicted cruel torments, humiliations, mockings, beatings, unbelief, &etc., He poured out His holy wrath upon His willing, obedient, righteous, sinless, innocent Son in the most holy act of grace, love, and justice that the universe will ever see for all eternity!
At the bank, at the church building, at the barber shop... when folks ask me, "How y'all doin' today?" I smile with even greater revelation of the truth that I've been replying with for years now, "I'm more blessed than I deserve."
"What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him? For Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour" (Psalm 8:4-5). |
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