Climate change

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Isaiah 52:7 NIV

Traveling for work is always an opportunity to meet people and hear interesting stories. This week has been one of those weeks. I met a couple who were both in their 70’s. They told me about some of the places they have lived. He is a pastor and she is a pastor’s wife, each of which carries it’s own calling and challenge.

It is interesting, the majority of doors I knock on never get opened, people just are not home. Sometimes the doors open but the house stays closed to me. It is part of the job. Some interactions are simply a transaction, people either buy or say no. In some cases though, the people who open the door see me as the opportunity.

They asked questions. They also took the time to just encourage someone they did not know. They ministered. The story behind one of their destinations is on my mind tonight. He negotiated with God. His pitch went something like this, “God, you know me. You made me. I can’t do a cold weather state. I’ll go anywhere else though.” Maybe God still gets a kick out of that story every time it gets told. But off to Wyoming in was. I found it interesting that he said he learned to love it there, a place he did not ever think he could enjoy. I sort of wonder what the bargaining session sounded like prior to moving to Kansas. But God changed their natural climate multiple times.

A lot of their conversation involved their grandson and my son. We have an 18 year old son with autism who was diagnosed at just shy of three years old. They have a grandson just shy of three years old with the same diagnosis. We had a lot in common.

After I left their house, I was thinking about our son. He was home sick with an ear infection. He has been feeling like crap to be honest. My wife took him to see a doctor who has known him for most of his 18 years. Ironically, it was probably the last appointment he will have with her. He is sort of aging out. Mary did not want his first appointment with his new doctor to involve checking his ears. That would be a bad way to start.

Checking his ears seems like such a simple thing to say. It’s not simple. He has sensory issues and they almost all center around his ears – touch, sound, even barometric pressure. I can tell you about it but it won’t be an adequate picture. I can tell you we have used as many as five people to hold him still, one on each limb and either me or Mary holding his head still. It is not fun and has not been that often, but sometimes you have to. We ended up using a literal body length Velcro wrap that held him motionless. It sounds weird but he actually was more calm in it. He likes pressure and it did not involve people he did not know literally clamping him down.

I just re-read that last paragraph and it does not do it justice. I remember once when our doctor was in tears after it. Here is the beginning of climate change for us. The doctor from today clearly loves being a physician. But she has gone way past that. She has worked and inched her way straight into that sensory driven heart. Probably a 15 year journey of tiny steps led to today. She pulled out the tool she was about to use. He snatched it from her hand and stuck it into his own ear. I just re-read that sentence and my wife was in the room and saw this happen and I still have a hard time believing it. He put it in his own ear for her and then sat still while she checked his ears. Our daughters both had normal experiences with this type of thing and I know it sounds so simple but a straight miracle is how I would describe this.

If God had told me ahead of time what my life would be like, where He was going to send me, I may have said something like my new friend said today. “God, you know me. That sounds too hard for me. I would rather not have to go through all that.” The climate would have sounded too harsh. I would have accurately felt that I was inadequate for it. The future would sound too uncertain, and it still does sometimes to be honest. But I am so glad God would have chuckled at my hesitance. My family has problems like everyone else. We have some challenges that are ours alone, but my house is the most beautiful climate I have ever seen, even though it would have sounded like defeat at times.

What is the biggest thing you worry about God asking you to do? What is the smallest thing you worry about God asking you to do?

Why do we fear moves designed by an undefeated creator? You’ve heard the saying “no job too big or too small.”

Challenge: Imagine God like the physician who took the time and had the love to be patient. Be willing and watch Him work.

Rick Claiborn