Update:
It seemed like the night was short and the alarm sounded too early on
Wednesday morning. Got going on the day
(breakfast, update written and posted, showered, dressed) and after a couple of
phone calls it was almost 11 a.m. and time to leave for Alma, WI.
I drove to Eau Claire to pick up one of the other members of the stress
debriefing team, Al, and we rode together down to Alma. We arrived about 30 minutes early so went to
the gas station in town and grabbed a sandwich for lunch (and I thought
hospital food was lousy) and then found the conference room in the Courthouse
where we were holding the debriefing. It
went well and we headed for home. I
dropped Al off at his car and tried to contact my son, Jon, a few minutes after
4 p.m. We were going out to eat an early
dinner together. His phone was turned
off but he had warned me that he wouldn’t probably answer until after 4:45 p.m. I had time to kill and no way out of the
truck without assistance, so I decided to drive to the apartment that he shares
with his brother, Joshua. Joshua wasn’t
at home, so I just parked the truck in front of their house to wait for
Jon. I figured that I had about a 30
minute wait. I ended up falling asleep
in the truck waiting. I woke up at 5:30
and wondered where Jon was. I looked at
my phone and he had texted me at 5 p.m. asking where I was and when we were
eating—he was hungry. I called him just
before he was about to give up on me and go out to eat on his own. He was inside his apartment waiting?!!? He had driven up and parked on the alley side
of the apartment and went in the backdoor.
He had gotten home just a minute or two after I had called him. So he was waiting for my call for about 50
minutes. THANKFULLY we finally connected
and headed out to dinner. Jon told me he
had been hungry since 4 p.m. and so waiting was hard. I laughed because at about the same time, I
had the very same thought. So much for
careful planning and coordination!
I found out that the handicap accessible stall at the restaurant was
not “Steve friendly.” My wheelchair
barely fit. I struggled to get the door
shut. And the toilet was set at a right angle to the door and the stall was too
small to make a frontal assault. I took
so long that Jon might have begun to worry about me, except that they had
brought out one of those little loaves of hot buttered bread and he had gobbled
it all down before I returned thus removing any thought of “where’s dad?” from
his mind.
After dinner, Jon helped me do a bit of shopping—some warm gloves for
my wife from Kohls, a loofah back brush for me from Target, and some tools for
Jon from Menards. Yes, tonight was the
first time in well over 80 days that I had been at the “man’s store.” I had fun speeding up and down the aisles in
my wheelchair while Jon looked for what he wanted. After about ten minutes I felt the burn in my
muscles and Jon was ready soon after that.
I sort of felt like a kid since I was waiting for Jon to find what he
wanted. I wish I would have thought
about it and gone up to Jon in a whining voice like I heard so many times when
the kids were younger, “Can we leave soon?
This store is so boring!!”
Jon commented while we were shopping how nice it was to have me along
because everyone opened the door for him and let him go first in line,
etc. It really sealed the deal for him
when I paid for his stuff. I believe
that he would be happy to take me along while he did his shopping more often. It is true that people were very courteous
and helpful to me while I was in the wheelchair.
I dropped Jon off at home and then got back to Fall Creek at 9 p.m. I was thankful that my friend, Milt, hadn’t
gone to bed yet and he was still willing to come out in the cold and get my
wheelchair out of the truck and help me inside.
I spent a few minutes on the computer, checked my blood sugar one last
time for the day and then it was off to bed for a good night’s rest.
Thursday morning, I put a roast in the crockpot for dinner
tonight. I’ve never done that
before. I think I followed Karen’s
instructions. Hope it turns out well.
I’ve got two tennis balls and some duct tape, so I will make something
my physical therapist showed me to help ease a couple of tight muscles in my
back. We’ll see how it feels after I try
it.
Thought for the Day:
The account of feeding the multitude with five small loaves of bread
and two fish is recorded in the book of Matthew 14:14-21. A large crowd gathers hearing that Jesus is
in the wilderness. Jesus heals the sick
and preaches to the people. When it is
late in the day, the disciples encourage Jesus to send the crowds away so that
the people can find something to eat.
Apparently this was all very spur of the moment and no one brought food
with them. There are not enough funds to
buy a snack for this many people, let alone a meal, even if you could find
someplace to buy it from. So Jesus asks
them to find out what food is available.
There are five small loaves of flat bread and two small fish. This has often been described as a child’s
lunch size portion. And according to the
account there are 5,000 men there, not counting the women and children. The actual total of people would easily be
way over 12,000 people. That is enough
people to be any caterer’s nightmare.
Instead of being dismayed, Jesus simply said, “Bring them here to Me.” The Lord blessed the food and passed it
out. We are told that everyone ate until
they were full and there were twelve large baskets of leftovers collected
afterwards.
Matthew 14:16-20 “Jesus
replied, ‘They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.’ ‘We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,’ they answered. ‘Bring
them here to me,’ he said. And he
directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the
two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he
gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were
satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that
were left over.”
I love the comments
that Warren Wiersbe made in his book “Everyday Wisdom from the Gospels” about
this event:
“When Andrew found
the lad with the lunch, he made the mistake of measuring the demands by the
lunch instead of measuring the lunch by the Lord. The lunch was small but their God was great! No matter how little we may think that we
have, we must remember that the Lord delights in taking the little things, the
weak things, yes, and ‘the things which are not’ (1 Corinthians 1:27-28) to
accomplish great things for His glory.”
[Wiersbe]
“The loaves and
fish in the boy’s hands were only a lunch, and in Andrew’s hands only a
contribution—but in the hands of Jesus they became a miracle. ‘Bring them here to me’ is one of the most
gracious invitations anywhere in Scripture.
Whatever battles you are fighting or problems or burdens you are carrying,
put them into the hands of the Lord and then do what He commands.” [Wiersbe]
“When we find
ourselves troubled about things that are beyond us, let’s obey the voice of
Jesus: ‘Bring them here to Me.” [Wiersbe]
What a wonderful reminder
that we have a resource that is beyond anything we dreamed of. There is no problem bigger than the Lord, nor
is there one which would strain His resources.
When your back is up against the wall; when you are overwhelmed by the
task; or when you think the situation is hopeless; remember the words of Jesus
and take those problems to Him for He is more than able.
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