Humbled as never before

Yesterday I met with my surveyor to go over some property lines and legal descriptions that I need for our Sport Shooting Multiplex, and Smokehouse & Wild Game Processing facility. My surveyor is a tiny man, standing just five feet tall and I doubt he weighs 95 pounds soaking wet, but he has a heart as big as Texas and a love for Jesus that is immeasurable.

I get humbled a lot and being around him yesterday was as humbling experience as I have had and I shall never forget it. I have dealt with this surveyor for nearly two and a half years, but have never talked much with him about personal issues. Yesterday as we rode around the property he began to tell me more about his life. He and his wife who is about his same size have two kids; his daughter is in her early thirties and his son is 27. They both have a very rare disease that affects the command center in their brains. When I say rare I mean rare, it only affects one out of billions and the odds of having two kids with this same condition are infinitesimal. He gave me all of the technical terms, but the bottom line is that their brains cannot effectively communicate with their muscles.

In other words the brain will send a signal to the hand to move and it may not receive the signal at all, or it might receive it two or three times, thus they are not mobile, are somewhat spastic, and have been confined to wheelchairs all of their lives and cannot fend for themselves. Their parents must feed, bathe, and dress them every day of their lives.

Now that the kids are adults, they have grown to about the same size as their parents and as the parents are now beginning to get some age on themselves it takes all of the strength they can muster in their tiny frames to pick them up and perform all of these tasks. And it is becoming increasingly more difficult to care for them.

Most kids who develop this disease die in their very early childhood. His kids have lived longer with this condition than anyone else in the entire world and are currently the oldest living persons with it, (something that he proudly attributes to the miraculous power of God).

Amazingly both of his kids went to public schools and both received their high school diplomas. (One out of three kids without any handicaps drop out of school in this country and never graduate.) This can be directly attributed to the love and dedication of their parents and their determination that their kids are going to live as normal a life possible. He told me that included social lives too, and that is why he opted to place them in public schools. It is obvious that my friend loves these kids with all of his heart, indeed he and his wife’s entire lives are centered around them. Just imagine for a moment how this must affect their lives. How would you feel?

I asked him if he could have anything he wanted, what would it be? Without even having to think about it and with no hesitation he told me that he would like to have a house on a canal equipped with a handicapped ramp that would enable him to wheel his kids out there in their wheelchairs and fish. He told me they both enjoy fishing more than anything else in life.

HUH? Talk about accepting your purpose in life and being content with it. This man did not dream about removing the incredible burden of caring for these severely handicapped kids; he didn’t even think of himself at all, he simply thought of what would make his kids happy.

My friend told me that many years ago for the first and only time in his life he had a direct revelation from God and actually heard His voice. God told him that he didn’t have anyone else to take care of these kids and that he wanted him to do it. He and his wife have answered God’s call to service ever since.

He had both of his kids and his wife in the car with him yesterday. The kids were playing Nintendo on their computers and every member of the family had happy content smiles on their faces.

Although I cannot prove it biblically, I think there are different degrees of heaven and hell. I think the worst of the worst like Hitler will be housed in the worst place in hell and the best of the best like my friend the surveyor will be housed in the best of the best locations in all of heaven. I have faith that he will be given a mansion on the River of Life with the best view in heaven. It won’t need a handicapped ramp into the River of Life because his kids will have absolutely perfect glorified bodies. And the fishing, well it just “don’t get no better than that!”

Today I go for my PET scan and many of you are facing your own trials. I can truthfully say that I am completely at peace about it. I hope you are at peace about your lot in life today. Stop for a moment and think about fully accepting with complete trust and faith God’s will for your life. We were created by God for God and it is His purpose that we must fulfill and not our own. One day the battles will be over and the war with satan will have been won. We will claim victory in Jesus and after ten thousand years we will have just begun our celebration.

Selah

Rev. 21:3
And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”