A Well-Used Bible

Most weeks are relatively similar with not much change. However, big changes can occur quickly as well and make us stop and reflect.

In late November 2019, as most Americans celebrated Thanksgiving, my family finished funeral plans for my last living grandfather. Since then, I have had both of my grandmothers remaining for guidance from their generation. On Wednesday morning, my mom's mother passed away at the age of 94.

Grandma lived ten years after grandpa died, having been married for 63 years. She has looked forward to moving on from this world into her heavenly home for a while, and gave instructions for her relatives on memorial plans.

Therefore, my mom and I have been looking through hand-written notes, with excellent penmanship, of Bible verses and other items. All of these small pieces of paper are contained in a very well-used Bible. Many pages are crinkled and the cover, held together with packing tape, has likely been long detached from the pages it contains. I learned that grandma got another copy of Scripture just a few years ago so the font would be larger and the book more presentable for group study.

It has been said that a well-used Bible lives in the home of a studied Christian. Grandma did know Scripture well, and I can imagine how many hours, likely years, were spent in this copy of God's Word. Through good times, she likely read Psalms of praise, but also gained strength and guidance during troubling situations.

With books available in electronic forms, many people now reference Scripture with the swipe of a finger or clicking a few keys. The text is the same and it continues to offer training and assurance just like printed Bibles. However, something is different and it cannot give the same visual confirmation of use. Living the quad life, I do utilize electronic versions of Scripture, but still look forward to my nightly reading of physical copies and getting my "hands" in God's Word.

Giving part of tomorrow's eulogy is an honor that I had hoped to be blessed to give. However, I give thanks for the life of a Godly grandmother and that she now fully experiences what God told her through a well-used Bible.

Inter-Generational Witnessing Training

Since 2016, I have been volunteering at the Gospel Outreach/Ark Encounter booth at the Iowa State Fair. Each year, I have had the same caregiver come with me. She has become very familiar with the routine and we know what to do. This year, Sara was gone for surgery recovery and I thought I would not be able to volunteer. Thankfully that was not the case and I got to go for two days, but with different helpers.

Friday the ninth was my first day at the fair and my intern nurse, Brenda, came as my assistant. She has helped me some during the spring outreach event, but the fair is an entirely different situation and much busier. As she always has, Brenda adapted very quickly and figured out how to setup my microphone and then volunteered to help put dinosaur sticker tattoos on kids. 

Our three hour shift went well including our restroom break in unfamiliar surroundings. We likely talked with over 100 kids showing that dinosaurs were made on the sixth day of creation week, along with Adam and Eve. I talked with many parents about the Ark Encounter and confirming God's Word as real history. When our time was up, we took a couple hours to explore and I tried to show Brenda a sample of the Fair for her first visit.

Tuesday was my second day and the day that my dad helped. Dad has helped me do many things throughout my life, but a gospel outreach has barely been one of them. Unlike Friday, it took us nearly 45 minutes just to get into the fairgrounds and then to our booth a few minutes late. It took more instructing, but he also figured out my mic system and how to fill my hands with gospel tracts. Dad was a little more hesitant on helping with sticker tattoos, but he also helped and at one point was one of three people applying tattoos to throngs of waiting children.

Therefore, my first day was training someone that could be my daughter (if I had been blessed with kids in late teens/early 20's). The second day was working with my dad, so two different generations helping with the same task. I'm thankful to be able to live an active quad life and all the help God has given me. It was also nice having younger legs for a day that didn't mind going up large hills.

Next year, I don't know what God will bring or what situation I will be in. Whatever the case will be, I hope to continue to serve and doing more outreach.

When Online Meets Reality

For the past few months, I have been going through an online course about expository preaching. I have completed my three book quizzes and observations of the assigned text, but it is now crunch time. I need to write my sermon manuscript and get it evaluated so I can preach it on September 1 for my final assignment and hopefully complete the course successfully.

The weeks have gone by quickly and I am feeling much more stress than usual in preparing this message and covering all the required points. Therefore, for breaks while I'm flat, I have been watching someone who goes by the name "FarmerCurt95." Curt plays various games on the Twitch platform and provides some humor, as well as occasional annoyances. If he or his friends get out of line in their speech, I'm usually the one to point it out and correct them. I have watched Curt, and co-horts, for a few years and we somewhat know each other.

Curt lives in South Dakota, but comes to my area of Iowa for a few days every year to watch sprint-car racing. Last year, we concluded that we should try to meet in person sometime when he came back. Well, that happened on Thursday at a local coffee shop.

Meeting with someone you've only previously known virtually is somewhat fun and awkward at the same time. Most conversations relate to whatever game is being played and offering helpful hints, like slowing down and not running vehicles into objects. Other topics do arise though and the group knows I'm a Christian and quadriplegic with extra standards and challenges.

I was somewhat concerned about what we could discuss in person, but I talked more about my history and heard what Curt and his girlfriend do in their area. I was not silent about faith and gave them a few comical gospel tracts that also present the need for repentance and trusting in God alone. I was prepared for an in-depth conversation, but they took everything well. As this blog comes out, Curt and his group of seven should be heading home.

Living the quad life often means few friends or social interaction. However, utilizing various forms of social media have expanded possibilities. I pray I can continue to be a Christian influence in any circumstance and share enjoyment in some activities. Now, it's time to return to sermon preparations.

Do I Decide when to Wake Up?

Living the quad life means relying on various service providers. It seems that most, if not all, require regular question sessions. For my night nurses, their company supervisor visits every 60 days to go over my medical needs. The same happens with the person that officially supervises my day-time providers, who also comes every other week for monitoring. This past Thursday, I had my annual interview with the Medicaid representative.

No matter the length between sessions, very little tends to change. My medications may adjust slightly, but that's about it. Therefore, it would make sense to primarily copy the previous answers from my last interview. Unfortunately, not much in the medical field goes with common sense and the same questions are asked almost every time.

Thursday, some of the inquiries were about how much I do for household chores. I have yet to figure out how to roll up to a window and have a long enough stick in order to clean it. Vacuuming is also a job that power wheelchairs have yet to master. I suppose that a battery powered suction unit could be attached as well as a place to hold debris, but I haven't gotten around to inventing it. Therefore, I had to say that I don't do any household cleaning.

This particular interview also seemed to ask a lot about my mental abilities. I'm not sure if they think I'm old enough to start losing my acuity, but it was a source of several queries. One question was if I choose when to wake up. That morning, I had to have my night nurse get me up before he left and I did not have anyone during the day. Getting up at 6:30 in the morning what isn't really what I would have decided, but it is what was necessary.

After an hour long interview, everything was complete and the answers will be evaluated to determine what level of care I need. Hopefully nothing will change, or I may end up like last year with a decrease in hours that then needs corrected. Thankfully, I should have about a month until my next evaluation. At least they don't require much studying before hand!