What we can learn from a sick child

Good day to my two faithful readers!

     Happy belated Valentine's Day!  Sorry for the short hiatus, but it was a bit of a busy weekend, yet very rewarding.  The best part of the weekend: I was able to spend it with my fiancee, Christina and my daughter, Ellie.  We had one of her nieces come stay visit Saturday night and then ventured to Madison on Sunday to celebrate a family birthday and anniversary.  It was super-nice to have the family time together.  One thing that we have learned as we get closer to tying the knot is we still have quite a few items left to do.  These were other items that have been taking up our weekends.  Lately, it has been finalizing the invitations and guest list.

     So, I hope you all had a very relaxing weekend.  While mine was quite enjoyable, it also had it's "down" moments.  My daughter woke up Sunday morning running a fever.  After debating about taking her to Madison or not, we went and she was pretty lethargic for most of the time.  She did get good rest, though, at her great-aunt's place and also in the car.  Sunday night her fever got worse but ended up breaking around 1:00 am.  Monday morning, it was back, so Christina took her to the doctor for me.  Turns out she appears to have bronchitis.  Yuck!  I felt horrible for her.  Christina got the prescriptions picked up and we started doping her with some antibiotics.

     As I was coming home last night from work, I started thinking about how my daughter's illness is a lot like our illness.  This is the point where you shake your heads and say, "Dude, you must have been eating too many of those yummy candy hearts.  I'm as healthy as a horse!"  Well.....OK.  So you may physically be a specimen that modern science marvels at, but spiritually, we are all born with an illness.  Since the moment Eve decided to snack from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, we all have been born with the illness of sin.  Let's look at the comparisons.

     One item is being lethargic.  My daughter has not had a whole lot of energy over the last few days.  She has been either sleeping or wanting to sit on a bed/chair/lap and just watch a little TV or get a book read to her.  Sin keeps us lethargic, too.  Now, if you are reading this and thinking, "Finally!  I have an excuse for wanting to sit on the couch and watch re-runs of 'Lost'!", that is not what I am getting at.  Sin keeps us lethargic from doing God's will.  We know the will of God from reading His Word.  Sin will do everything it can to keep us from the Word.  It will envelop us into the ways and objects of this world to keep us from doing anything to further the kingdom of God.

     Another is the up and down fever.  Ellie's temperature will be fine, but then it will spike up.  She'll take medicine and it will go back down....but before long it spikes back up.  What I have noticed in my life's journey is that sin does this same thing.  Sin has a way of making me feel good about myselves for a short time.  I will relish "being in the moment" of the sin, but after the act is finished, a wave of shame and guilt come swarming over me.  It is a terribly frustrating thing!  I wouldn't ever think that I am in the same league as the apostle Paul, but I understand his frustration when he proclaimed, "Why do I do what I do not want to do, and do not do what I DO want to do" (emphasis mine).  The truth is that Christ's death broke the bond of sin to my life (thank you Jesus!), but for whatever reason, it can be more comforting or more fun to try to grab a hold of what had previously had a hold on me (can anyone say "Stockholm Syndrome"?) than to embrace what is now freeing to me.

     The final comparison I'll make is to the lasting effect of both illnesses.  If Ellie ends up not going to the doctor and I don't give her any medicine, the fever would be running rampant through her.  Her body temperature would certainly have spiked into dangerous levels that would have done irreparable damage to her young body, even to the point of eventual death.  That is a very sobering thought and makes me thankful for the knowledge God has poured our on some individuals in the area of modern medicine.  The same is true with sin.  The longer it has us in bondage, the more damage that is caused to us.  Sin leaves awful scars (if you don't believe me, see the hands, feet, and side of Christ Jesus).  With me coming to know Jesus later in life, I know for a fact there are scars on my heart and soul from being imprisoned to and tortured by sin for so long.  If I were to have not come to Christ, and He not saved me by His grace, I would definitely have been dead.  I might still be walking on the earth, but I would just be biding my time until I was commanded to take an eternal dip in the lake of fire.  But the blood that Christ sacrificed for us is the "medicine" that our bodies needed.  Through His propitiation and resurrection, we have justification, immediate transformation, and eventual glorification. 


     Well, I hope this entry has been thought provoking to you.  At the very least, I hope you didn't fall asleep reading it.  For you J: thanks for reading to the bottom.  Daily bread, eternal healing, and daily strength (and a shout out to Jel: feel better my Princess!)