Thorns
This disease makes you appreciate the average, lack-luster days in life. When I start getting fevers, life stops. I lay in bed for hours on end with the covers wrapped around my body. At times, my eyes begin to burn so much that I cannot even watch television. Just getting up to go to the bathroom becomes a challenge because my body becomes fatigued and weak.
When healthy, you do not think about the simple tasks in life. This experience makes me think about the transformation into old age, and the inability to independently perform daily routines. Last night, I struggled just taking a shower. At several points, I needed to put my hand up against the wall or squat to stop the dizziness. When I finished my shower, I even had to sit against the wall while brushing my teeth.
Lately, I have been exchanging emails with a good friend who returned from Iraq in December. After our first year at OSU, he decided that his heart was not in academics. Since 9/11, he felt the call to duty to serve his country. At the age of 19, this bright, funny well-liked guy picked up his life and left to serve our country. Eventually, he scored at the top of his class and became an Army Ranger.
Over the past few weeks, I have had many people say that I have been an inspiration to them. I am thankful for all of those comments. I am thankful for the ability to touch the lives of others. But for me, my friend is a true inspiration.
During his time in Iraq, he patrolled the slums of Baghdad. While going through this experience, he used scripture from II Corinthians 12:9-10 to get him through the tough times. In the scripture, Paul notes that he has been given certain "thorns in the flesh" which he calls "messengers from Satan." These thorns are meant to humble him as well as give him the opportunity to rise above his hardships.
To my friend, the passage meant that sometimes being a Christian requires hardships and sufferings. These hardships are not meant to be merely endured, but to give us an opportunity to maintain a positive attitude and our love for God. At the beginning of the scripture the Lord says, "My strength is made perfect in weakness." Paul ends the scripture by saying, "For when I am weak, I am strong."
When healthy, you do not think about the simple tasks in life. This experience makes me think about the transformation into old age, and the inability to independently perform daily routines. Last night, I struggled just taking a shower. At several points, I needed to put my hand up against the wall or squat to stop the dizziness. When I finished my shower, I even had to sit against the wall while brushing my teeth.
Lately, I have been exchanging emails with a good friend who returned from Iraq in December. After our first year at OSU, he decided that his heart was not in academics. Since 9/11, he felt the call to duty to serve his country. At the age of 19, this bright, funny well-liked guy picked up his life and left to serve our country. Eventually, he scored at the top of his class and became an Army Ranger.
Over the past few weeks, I have had many people say that I have been an inspiration to them. I am thankful for all of those comments. I am thankful for the ability to touch the lives of others. But for me, my friend is a true inspiration.
During his time in Iraq, he patrolled the slums of Baghdad. While going through this experience, he used scripture from II Corinthians 12:9-10 to get him through the tough times. In the scripture, Paul notes that he has been given certain "thorns in the flesh" which he calls "messengers from Satan." These thorns are meant to humble him as well as give him the opportunity to rise above his hardships.
To my friend, the passage meant that sometimes being a Christian requires hardships and sufferings. These hardships are not meant to be merely endured, but to give us an opportunity to maintain a positive attitude and our love for God. At the beginning of the scripture the Lord says, "My strength is made perfect in weakness." Paul ends the scripture by saying, "For when I am weak, I am strong."
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in my weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
II Corinthians 12:9-10
posted by Chris at 7:02 AM
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