[Faith-talk] Daily Thought for Saturday, July 19, 2014

[Paul]

Hello and good day to you all on this Saturday as I'm writing this.  I hope that you are all doing well, by God's matchless grace and His providential care.

Pastor David Nuottila of St. Barnabas Lutheran Church in Charleston, SC wrote an article several years ago entitled "Imagine That!", rendered as follows:

A friend, who belongs to a congregation that has a pastoral vacancy, asked if I could pay a visit to one of their members who was in the hospital.  The man, whom I'll call Jerry, was well into his "golden years," and suffered a stroke.  He had very little family left; in fact, one could say his congregation was his family.  Details concerning his health and the effects of the stroke were sketchy, but since he was not in intensive care or other form of critical care unit, I assumed he was well on his way to recovery.  I told my friend that it was my pleasure to help in this way, so off to the hospital I went.

The absence of cards, flowers, or any other evidence of a visitor was obvious.  Jerry was lying alone in a dark room, tethered to the bed rail by wrist restraints.  He seemed to be sleeping, but as soon as I entered his eyes met mine.  His puzzled look told me that he wasn't expecting a pastor to stop by, but soon a smile of approval came.  I introduced myself and sat down.

One of the spiritual gifts God blessed me with is the ability to carry on a conversation with a total stranger as if I have known this person all my life (for this reason, my wife encourages my accompanying her to the grocery store).  As I sat next to Jerry, I began talking about the people we have in common, and the friends who asked me to visit him.  As soon as I asked Jerry how long he had known a particular person, the affects of the stroke became evident.  Jerry can use all of his limbs; there seems to be no paralysis at all.  His mind seems sharp and his facial expressions tell me that he can follow conversation quite well.  The problem is that Jerry can't talk.  He makes noise, changes inflection and all, but all that comes out is gibberish.  Yet, given my gift for gab we were able to communicate.

I spoke with Jerry for a good while, mostly asking him yes or no questions.  He knew where he was, why he was there, and understood the need for the wrist restraints.  Jerry was not bitter at all about his situation, he was simply glad that he made it through his stroke and that his friends from church found a pastor who would come visit him.

Soon, I was telling Jerry stories about Jesus and how He healed many people.  He seemed to enjoy the stories, and he even tried to make a point or two along the way.  He did grow a little frustrated when we were talking about Jesus healing the ten from leprosy, and how only one came back to offer thanks.  He wanted to say something but couldn't.  I know in my heart that Jerry was telling me that he too was grateful for God's healing touch in his life.  The noises he made were unintelligible, yet he was still able to communicate his thanks for God's action in his life.

When Jerry finally took a moment to pause, I asked him if he felt the same joy as the man healed from leprosy must have felt.  I asked him if he felt as though God had healed him in such a way that he would have abundant life in his remaining years, if he could envision the day when he would return to his church and see all of his friends.  Jerry looked at me, nodded, and then began to ramble on.  Although I still could not understand his words, his smile and other facial expressions spoke volumes.  He continued talking as best he could, gesturing with his hands even though they were tethered to the bed rail.  Finally, with one last sentence, Jerry looked up at me, said a few happy remarks and pointed straight at me.  As he pointed came the two words that Jerry said, plain as day.  Smiling ear to ear, making the sign of the cross over his chest, Jerry pointed at me and said, "Imagine that!"

There we were, two strangers brought together by unforeseen circumstances; a pastor and a patient.  One might think that I came to give Jerry words of comfort, words of faith, words of God's love.  Yet, as I think about it, perhaps Jerry spoke the words of faith and the words of God's love to me.  Hmmm.  "Imagine that!"

I don't remember whether or not I posted this article last year or not, but I hope that Pastor Dave's article was a blessing to you.  In reading it, I was reminded of a similar situation concerning a Brooklyn Dodgers baseball pitcher, Roy Campanella, who also had a stroke.  I don't know if he lost the ability to speak or not, but as I recall there were other things in his body that wouldn't work because of a stroke.  However, in His own way, the Lord used him for His purposes.

Don't forget that tomorrow, Lord willing we will have the weekly Bible trivia game, so get your Bible thinking caps ready.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, in these last days in hwich we live.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul