Vacation...

My autistic brother David, who HATES change, loves to go on vacation! I personally think it's because he realizes there is a big world out there that he hasn't seen and he wants to see as much of it as possible.

We are in the planning stages of a family vacation, most likely to Florida. We've done the Disney thing numerous times so we are looking at SeaWorld and Universal Studios for this trip. If all goes according to what we are planning, we will leave for Florida in the middle of February, six months from now.

David is incredibly nosy and has been looking over my shoulder while I'm at the desktop and has pulled the laptop out of my lap to see what I'm working on. If he catches me looking at a vacation related site he'll immediately hold up two fingers in the "V" sign - his way of saying vacation. We've tried explaining to him that vacation is at least six months away, but right now it is consuming his thoughts. He'll come running out of his bedroom and wave his "V" fingers at us because he wants to leave now! The allure of an upcoming vacation has taken over his thoughts and he doesn't care about what is going on now. We try to plan our vacations to "tourist traps" during the off-season. The parks are not as crowded and it's easier to manuever David's wheelchair without hitting someone! It's also cheaper to go during the off-season and we like saving money!

So often as a Christian, I act like David with God. I pray and ask God for something specific and I become so consumed with my request that it becomes all I think about. God's timing may be months or even years away from answering, but I lose all focus of the present expecting God to give me my wants NOW! Right now might not be the best season for God's answer to come, but I don't care because my request has taken over my thoughts.

Although we'll probably never get David to understand the gap in time between planning and actually traveling, I hope as a Christian that I can try to trust God during the gap in time between asking and receiving.

Pain is a good thing...

Part of the challenge of caring for David is the fact that he does not respond to pain like most people. I've always been remotely aware of this, but a few years ago it really hit home when he came RUNNING down a flight of stairs to ask us for something to eat. When he got to where Rich and I were, I noticed his foot was all swollen and bruised. We took him to the ER and found out he had broken his foot. David never cried, flinched, or seemed bothered by his broken foot. Several months later, he broke his other foot, and again showed no sense of feeling pain.

Recently, I've had to deal with some minor sores on David's feet. He came home from his workshop one done with a blister on each foot. Because he doesn't feel pain, he made no effort to be kind and gentle to his feet and those little blisters became much bigger problems. After several weeks of attention and care his feet are doing much better, and all he has is some peeling skin and one little sore that's almost gone.

This morning as I was putting vaseline on his peeling skin, I wondered how much of the work we've had to do on David's feet could have been avoided if David only responded to pain like a "normal" person does. He would have stayed off of his feet, he would have left the bandages alone and he would have healed much more quickly.

Most Christians do not like pain. I've even had people ask me why God would expect them to suffer so much when they are putting their trust in Him. I always say that pain is a good thing. Pain tells us that something is wrong and something needs to be fixed. Prolonged physical pain, with no obvious reason (like walking into a wall) tells us we should go see a doctor. Prolonged emotional pain tells us that we should seek some Godly help.

So often we (I'm talking to myself here, too) try to tough the pain out and just deal with it. That's not always the wise choice. Untreated pain can become constant and can really interfere with our productivity and enjoyment of life. The Bible tells us to cast ALL our care upon Him, for He cares for us. What an invitation to sit down and get some help! Sometimes, though, we need to get some more fleshly help - praying probably won't help you a whole lot if you have a severe fracture and the bone is sticking out of your arm. Don't get me wrong, I think you should pray, but I also think God expects us to use some common sense and go to a hospital and get the fracture set. Emotionally, if you are struggling, get some help. Go see your pastor or Sunday school teacher. Find someone who can help you - all good counselors will point you to Jesus. If your counselor is not trying to get you closer to God, get another counselor - but don't ignore the pain.

Pain is a good thing - let's be thankful that we can feel pain so that we can also feel the healing!