At the beginning of this week I posted this Monday on my facebook page....
I then headed to do a take off on the potential cabinet job for a chiropractor's office. One of the doctors was standing behind me showing me the area of interest. We talked momentarily and then I stretched out my tape measure to measure the wall beneath the current upper commercial cabinets before me. "BANG!" In a split second, I rose, dropped my tape measure and turned to the right as the uppers, loaded with crocks, glassware, and a host of other things explode off the wall and fall on me! The description of the aftermath from the secretary?
"It was the scariest thing I've seen lately, Bob. I just kept hearing the contents of the cabinet pouring out endlessly!! The image of you holding up the cabinets like Atlas holding up the world is etched into my head! SO GRATEFUL you are ok!"
My tape measure crushed, my glasses thrown to the ground from the blow to the side of my head was greatly reduced because my shoulder took the greatest impact. I stood frozen holding two cabinets up, one 'like Atlas' the other behind me perched on the small refrigerator behind me wanting to fall off but unable to because I was holding it up too. The cabinet broke in two (they were screwed together) as it hit me. I could do nothing until the male doctor held the perched cabinet so I could carry the other half of the upper out of the room, lowering it's emptiness to the ground.
Once the entire office, including me, could collect ourselves, I was given spinal x-rays and immediate examination and treatment in response to the 'trauma'. We all were 'in shock' of the entire event! Now, it's time to fill in 'the rest of the story'.
While being treated, the doctor confessed to hanging the cabinets personally, and yes, he did it wrong. The doctor is a follower of Jesus as I too. He is a wonderfully nice man and apparently excellent at his craft, my soreness and pain levels amazingly insignificant after suffering such a trauma, now two days later.
Here's where footprints and faith hit the path of my life and living...and I hope all you believers are listening! Could I sue this man and his practice for my injuries and win a large sum of money? Absolutely! Will I? Absolutely NOT! Yes, I have been unemployed for over a year. Yes I could use some money to add to my currently underemployed situation. Yet as I engage my God in conversation, and exploration of the response He wants from me, He seems to be telling me to trust Him, and not pursue additional compensation. Really? Yes. Am I bummed? NO!
Our lives lived in faith should demonstrate true faith. My faith isn't in money, or grasping for it. I'm sure the chiropractor is wondering, even though he knows I'm a follower of the same Lord, if I will sue him and his practice for great sums of money. Because of his great character and care, I see no reason to ask for anything more than treatment to ensure my well being from this incident. Not for as long as I live, just for as long as it takes, and something tells me it won't take long considering my current state of pain and minuscule suffering. My God has miraculously protected me from what should have been FAR worse!
As I look at the world around me, it is clear that many things NEED to change. Here's my first point. We need to stop feeling enabled. We also need to stop unreasonable capitalization for non-malicious errors of others. Again, I am confident that I could sue for tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars and appear just like 'everyone' else, even being commended and confirmed by my other believing friends. Or, I could chose to do as my God seems to be instructing me now, to just accept what is needed to get me through and on to the next things He has in store for me, provided by Him. Is it stupid to trust in what my God is telling me? You may think so, but I stand confident in who He is and what He will do to provide for me.
I refuse to live in the refuse that other people selfishly go after. I could seek financial compensation and loose the very thing God is calling me to, sharing His glory, His grace, His humility, His love, and my faith in Him. You can call me stupid, but then again, if you do, you probably think it stupid that God would leave heaven and walk as a man on earth, only to be eventually abused, tormented and killed by those He created. But you think Christ's venture as stupid, you are missing the rest of the story. He did it so we could discover the keys to a fully content life here, and an eternal life beyond this one of struggle.
I refuse the refuse of this life because if I don't, I am refusing the refuge of Jesus. He is teaching me how to live, heading toward the eternity that awaits. While I can't wait, I suppose I have to, until He calls me home, and believe me, I do want to arrive there. Do you? How are you choosing to live? Like the world? Or will you listen to the Only One who will show you how to live, now and forever, with joy?!
