My elderly father fell. There was a possible broken hip and wrist. I was in Texas attending a conference when I got the call. As his primary caretaker, I got an emergency flight to admit him to the hospital. Once in the hospital delirium, the state of mental confusion that is often experienced by older patients, complicated matters. He became so agitated I finally had to have the nurses sedate him to keep him from further harming himself with his struggles from the confusion and agitation.
The situation continued to worsen as his wife died three days after he was admitted. My mother died in 1997. He remarried after her death and his second wife had been rapidly declining in a nursing home from a massive stroke. Now I had to break this news of her death to him, hope he would comprehend what I had shared in his state of mental confusion and then hope we would be physically (and mentally) able to leave the hospital for her funeral.
Just when it seemed things couldn’t get worse the nurse came into the room saying, “We need to move everyone into the hall a tornado is approaching.” So here I was in the hall with my bedridden father with whom I was waiting for him to gain enough clarity of mind to tell him his 2nd wife had just died and now a tornado approaching. Just then Daddy reached toward me and told me he needed to use the bedpan!
I share all this for a reason. First, never think, "Well it can't get any worse!" It can always get worse. In the midst of these escalating events my first thought was this, “Lord, give me a break! What are you doing to me?” Just being honest with you here! Then quickly I snapped back as the Holy Spirit reminded me that this was not about me. My purpose as his son was to take care of my father’s needs in his time of physical and emotional need. My purpose as God’s child is to reflect Christ in all I do, no matter what the conditions may be. It is not about me at all. Luke 9:23 tells me, as a follower of Christ, I am to deny self daily. Matthew 5:14-16 tells me I am to reflect Christ in my deeds.
I kept my cool and tried to reflect Christ in the middle of that moment. After all there were others who needed to be kept calm also. Our witness often can be the calm in the midst of life’s numerous storms for those around us. The tornado passed a few miles to the north. It destroyed a school, a church and several homes. No one was hurt. All can and will be rebuilt. The nurses cared for the immediate needs (thank goodness for nurses). I ministered to my dad in his growing time of loss.
The next day when his two physical therapists, who shared the frantic hallway with me and the other patients watching our behavior, came to the room they said, “You are a preacher, why does God allow disasters like the tornado?” I then had an opportunity to share about this sin-scarred world where bad things happen to good and bad people and how God’s love and grace is there in the midst of all (for more on this give me a call). As they were leaving the room one therapist looked at the other and said, “That makes sense. I never thought of things that way before!”
Here is the point. In all of life’s events, as a child of God, remember it is never about you! It is always about you being his missionary wherever you are and reflecting Jesus in all you do. So next time you are in the midst of a situation that seems to be escalating from one extreme to the next, don’t fret, God is with you and has you exactly where you need to be as his missionary to reflect his calm and mercy in the image of Jesus. Press on as his missionary.
