Oct 23, 2013 - (its long and Im sorry, but Ill thank you if you read to the end)~ It’s two o’clock in the morning and I’m having belated midnight snack...a bowl of cereal. I like cereal. I can eat it in the morning. I can eat it for a snack. I can eat it for dinner. I can eat cereal most anytime of the day. In my older age, I’ve gotten to where I like to mix-n-match flavors and brands just to spice things up. Sometimes I’m just crazy and mix Capt’n Crunch with Fruity Pebbles. Other times I’m more reserved and health conscious, mixing All-Bran with some granola. I ate cereal yesterday… Frosted Mini-Wheats. I ate the same thing the day before. I may just eat it again tomorrow night. What can I say? I like it. I guess what makes cereal so appealing to me is that it’s so easy to make while satisfying my most primal urge of survival (with its sweet and immediate gratification). Most of us guys feel hunger pangs and we’re ready to eat NOW. I’m no different. Problem is, ouch! I’m hungry. Quick solution? Cereal. Who knows how to cook? ME! Pour the LIFE out of the box and add some cool, delicious, vitamin D and in less time that it takes to make minute rice, I’ve made dinner. If I were in charge of feeding the house, cereal is what we would eat. It’s basically all I can cook. And rest assured we’d mix it up (now boys, not too much Fruit Loops mind you) and make them eat some Grape Nuts in the mix every-other-day, for fiber’s sake. While I guess you do get your allotted days resource of niacin and riboflavin when eating cereal, you don’t get too much else. That can pose a problem when you have small children to feed. They need more of the government’s choosemyplate.gov represented in their daily intake, so that they’ll grow to be fine, upstanding, healthy and productive human beings in society. Too much Count Chocula—although fortified with 8 essential vitamins and minerals—will never produce our country’s next presidential hopeful. I need to be more responsible for the welfare of my kids, so I know that I can’t feed them cereal like I like to feed it to me. Which leads me to a story in the bible about Christ and a miracle he preforms outside of Jerusalem. You’re thinking, what? What does cereal have to do with Jesus?? Hold on and bear with me... As Christ was walking along the road, 10 lepers call out to him from a distance to have mercy on them and their situations. Leprosy was an awful calamity to have in those days, and people who contracted it immediately became outcasts in their society. They were ostracized to live the rest of their days in a community of Lepers, far away from all that they knew to do and those they loved and lived around. Eventually parts of their bodies dropped off and were lost. It was a major trauma in their lives. So the story goes that these ten lepers were asked by Christ to go and show themselves to the priests and they did. But while doing so, all ten were healed of their leprosy! The point of the story is not so much the healing of the leprosy of the men, but more so the fact that as the story plays out, only one of the 10 came back to Christ to say thanks to him for their miracle that they received. Not too long ago (before we came to know major trauma in our own lives), I posted something in my personal Facebook about helping somebody and, in turn, waiting for some sort of thank you in return. Im going to go out on a limb and say to everyone who reads this that I was an idiot. What was I thinking (or not thinking). I dont think that I fully understood what it means to be thankful... whats involved with the thought process and the humility that comes with it. I don’t think I understood the part of thankful where a person would gladly and boldly give away their own life as proof to others that they truly meant what they were saying and that they were so grateful for the efforts of kindness of others to them. As we been walking on this road that weve been lead to travel, so many times it seemed like we couldnt take another step. Dealing with the overwhelming feelings of being crushed is a debilitating process. Since the accident and until recently, Amber hadn’t cooked very much. Who has the time? Which brings me back to the cereal that I love so much. You see, I don’t cook. Where would we have been had not so many people reached out in the generosity of their hearts and skillets and made my family a home-cooked meal? I’ll tell you where we would have been… we’d have been at McDonalds, Popeyes or even Piccadilly (we’d have to eat some vegetables, right?). Basically, we’d be eating cereal. So many people have given so many blessings to my family (including the food) and we are overwhelmed with the love and support we have received. People whom we dont even know have come out to be a part of our lives. We’ve received cards and letters from all over with thoughts of good wishes, encouragement and the best presents of all… their prayers. We received the most cozy pillows and blankets for our initial days of the accident. We’ve seen donated money delivered in envelopes to our home and to the website and the church. We also recognize the people who gave their time and effort by leading fund-raisers for us. There were calls to personally tell us to hang on and that they had our backs. We’ve received the obvious meals that I spoke of (and on a regular basis) that have kept the boys and I fed and nourished with real vitamins and minerals that weren’t infused by a man in a lab coat into a cereal box. I guess I have to believe that you guys had a sixth-sense that I was just a dumb man-mal with the minimally limited spiritual gift of the cooking skills needed to feed and properly provide for a young, growing family. There was and is my place of work (who have supported us from the beginning). There was the young man who volunteered to cut our grass while we were away – for the summer it turned out. There was the wonderful Ronald McDonald house and the Erlanger trauma team. There was my brother-in-laws and sister-in-law who basically sacrificed their entire summer (and then some!) and still continue to give, keeping our boys in our home so that they wouldn’t feel too lost in the hub-bub of this crazy new life we’ve been blessed to be living. There was the special gift from a special artist (the ‘energetic butterfly’ artist of which I will elaborate more about in a future post). And don’t forget our beloved, who stayed with us in the beginning and helped us filter and get through the start of the trauma. There were all those who were with us in the most difficult times before moving to Shepherd in Atlanta (a place with whom we also are so blessed to have gotten to know each and every one of you and become a part of something much bigger than us). Have I forgotten someone? Yes... probably, and I am sorry… there were so many and my brain holds so little these days. I want you all to know that we are ripped to the core… torn down…broken, earthly vessels… humbled and brought low to earth. But also that in so doing, we (ME) were able to roll back over from looking at your feet and were now gazing up into the bright light of the faces of love. I think we understand it now and what it means to not only say the words, but to think and live the bigger concept of the words ‘thank you’ too. You see, I dont think that I really did understand what it meant and what it means to be thankful. I thought I knew, but in reality, I didn’t. How, after all of this, can I look somebody in the face and tell them thanks—of the grateful heart that swells within me—so that they know that I truly mean it, understand it and will live it in my heart from today forward? Somehow, on the other end of all of this craziness, I want everyone to know—beyond my words— that I am so thankful to them, to you personally. I may never see your face or thank you in person, but you were and are a blessing to us. Please, if you are reading this post, believe it. Forward it to anyone and everyone who has been a part of this journey with us… I want them to know too. From the very steps of the first day at Erlanger to this day today (as I gratefully ate a heart-felt, Meal-train bowl of soup and not another bowl of Raisin Bran for dinner), the fog is slowly and seemingly starting to lift. I shout to the heavens ‘my God, I thank you for loving my family and me! Thank you for giving Scout back to us for a time. Thank you for not letting that car flip over in that rain-swelled ditch. Thank you for letting the other girls live! Thank you for bringing my family closer to each other and for waking us from the slumber of status quo. Thank you to my friends and loved ones who have loved us, thank you all! I have come back to you from the road where you sent me, and I’m falling on my face at your feet! I want to be the one who came back and said thank you. I want to be the one to give you back all that you have given me and then give some more—with all that I have to offer—a gracious, humbled and thankful heart. On this day and forever more… I (and I am sure, my family) will continue to live and be love to your children… to your people... with all that we have. I swear this oath of thankfulness to you… my friends… my God.’ Selah~
Posted on: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 07:21:17 +0000
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