Just at the right time

At all times and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father. -Ephesians 5:20 (The Amplified Bible)

While supervising some needy repairs at our home in High Point, NC, I decided to grab a light lunch at a nearby restaurant where I ran into an old buddy of mine. I was unsure who he was until after I strolled past him on my way to the salad bar. He didn’t see me at the moment I was piling up my plate. However, I noticed that he was eating as well as he could because his coordination was out of control with; quick, sudden, momentarily wild jerking movements of the arms, face, and legs - His head turned in order to shift eye positions. His table was filled with paper napkins and fragments of food all over the place, but he didn’t seem to be bothered as others looked out of curiosity at his abnormal and unusual body movements.

In order not to startle him while he was eating, I moved around so I could look him straight in the eye and politely asked, “Don’t I know you?” His reply was, “Yep! It’s me, Thomas! How are you doing, Jones? Where have you been for all these many years?” His speech was slurred [indistinct clarity], so I had to listen carefully in order to make a reply. Motioning that I wanted to feed my face, I made a comment that we could chat a bit more later on. As I took a seat in another part of the establishment, several waitresses were frequently visiting his table inquiring if he needed anything else that they would get for him. I gazed out of the window where I was seated and observed that a taxicab was waiting just opposite the exit door and breathed a sigh of relief knowing that the driver was waiting for him to complete his meal.

It appeared that everything had been business as usual for brother Thomas. He was handicapped and all the waiters and waitresses knew who he was. In fact one of them said, “Your friend is one of the nicest people I know! I enjoy not only helping him, but I just like to hang around him as much I can whenever he comes in here. All he has to do is show up and he would be waited on hand and foot.” After a while, Thomas [with his walker] wheeled to my table and positioned himself at a distance where he could move around comfortably. We both talked briefly about the good old days when we in college at A& T; about how our families met, as well as the motorcycle he still had.

Thomas mentioned of his wife’s death in 2004, but wanted to cue me in on his present health condition. “Jones, I have Huntington’s Disease, which I inherited through my family line. I’m 69 years old, but my situation began to be noticeable when you and I were members of that Baptist Church in 1969 when I was 27 years old. By the time I reached my middle 30s, things went bad for me.”

I asked how he was able to get around and he surprised me when he said, “Look-a-here buddy, I can do practically whatever I want to! I attend the church and its activities. I can get to the drug store; to the doctor’s office; get to the grocery store; entertain my friends at the house; go to sleep; and go wherever I please. Do you see that mini-van parked in the handicapped space? It is mine…and I drive it.” I thought to myself that Thomas had to be either joking or exaggerating with the way his condition was. However, after I helped him get into his automobile and he was able to drive out of parking lot onto the street, I believed what he said.

Would you believe that I followed him for a while in my car! Even though I could see abnormal head jerks; yet, he had enough control to stop at the red light; wait for the green, and then speed away in the direction he wanted to go. Wait a minute! How could my friend be able to accomplish such a feat? I thought to myself that he shouldn’t be driving a car in his condition. He would inevitably wind up hurting himself as well as putting other motorists in danger. To tell you the truth, I’d never even heard of this kind of disease before. What is Huntington’s disease anyway?

Upon research, I discovered that Huntington’s disease is a progressive, degenerative disease that causes nerve cells in the brain to waste away. As a result, such a person may experience uncontrolled movements, emotional disturbances and mental deterioration. Huntington’s disease is an inherited disease. Signs and systems usually develop in middle age. Younger people with the disease often have a more severe case, and their systems may progress more quickly. Rarely, children may develop Huntington’s disease. Medications are available to help manage the signs and symptoms, but treatments can’t prevent the physical and mental decline associated with the condition. Thomas and I renewed old acquaintances at just the right time. He taught me that hard times are no excuses for giving up; throwing the towel, and looking for sympathy from everyone.

In his letter to the church at Ephesus (Ephesians 5: 20), the apostle Paul stressed that when you feel down, you may find it difficult to give thanks. But he says to take heart – in all things God works for our good if we love him and are called by him. Believers are to thank God, even in spite of the problems but more so for the strength he is building in them through difficult experiences in their lives. Believers can be sure that God’s perfect love will see them through.

Just at the right time, Thomas reached that point when giving thanks to God spoke louder than words could ever say. He lived it by pressing on in spite of Huntington’s disease, which was an affliction that would not crush him nor drive him to despair, but rather an opportunity to show the world that he could overcome the adversity because of the ever living Christ. Selah

Highly Unusual

What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you don’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong –you only want what will give you pleasure.
– James 4:1-3 (NIV)

I just happened to see just before noon today, a “highly unusual sight” of two mocking birds (?) engaged in a scratch and claw skirmish (a minor or preliminary conflict or dispute) while I was waiting for my prescription to be filled at the drug store. Just a short distance from where I was parked, a row of trees became the backdrop for a display of seemingly mortal combat. Whatever the reasons may have been, the two birds dotted up and down in nose diving fashion; one chasing the other until facing each other head on. The loud screeching could be heard, as specks of feathers floated in the air as contact was made. Suddenly, one of them hastened off to perch on one of the low limbed trees. The battle stopped and there was silence. I could see the one that flew off to take a brief rest somewhat unnerved as the other one was camouflaged (appeared to be part of natural surroundings) in the much taller tree where the routine of nest building and looking after baby chicks had taken place. Just maybe!

At the blink of an eye, the bird on the low limb saw where its opponent was and headed in that direction. The battle was on again. Absolutely fascinating! Within a short while, however, both of them flew off in opposite directions giving evidence that the skirmish was an unresolved fiasco (complete failure). Even though the whole thing had to do with birds, James 4:1-3 gives us something to think about.

The Holy Spirit, speaking through James, outlines that quarreling and fighting among believers is always harmful. Most importantly, conflicts come as a result of the evil desires in us that erupts when we want more possession, more money, higher status, or more recognition, etc. When we don’t get what we want, we fight in order to have it. The inside war never stops. The eye opener, as I see it, is that we should submit ourselves to God, ask Him to help us get rid of our selfish desires, and trust Him to give us what we really need. Once a relationship with God is established and faith becomes a reality; then the next step surfaces – being on the alert [underlined for emphasis], which has to do with being vigilantly attentive; watchful, mentally responsive and perceptive.

Long after the mocking bird incident was over and I had labeled it as a “highly unusual” episode from nature, being on the alert stuck with me. 1 Peter 5: 8,9 clearly gives the reason why being on the alert is so important: Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy prowls around like a roaring lion looking for some to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of suffering.

The rationale is that lions lurk in the tall grass seeking out easy prey; they choose their meal ticket from solitary animals and those that are not alert. The Apostle Peter warns us to watch out for Satan when you feel alone, weak, helpless, and cut off from other believers, or if you are so focused on your trouble that you forget. Selah