Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. John 5:8 (KJV)
Where my rising was not as dramatic as the cripple man at Bethesda, I now have a differing insight into the cripple man’s story. We find a man in John 5 waiting at the pool of Bethesda, after being crippled for thirty-eight years and Jesus told him to walk. From my personal experience, might I say this would be a scary injunction. It was for me and I had not walked for just over a month. Due to the intubation, muscle atrophy had taken my ability to walk from me. My legs were as useless as limp noodles. The thought of them supporting me was beyond my comprehension, and honestly, the thought of trusting my legs to support me again was scary.
The Arjo
I had become accustomed to being moved by someone using a mobility device and couldn’t fathom walking on my own again. The hospitals moved me either in a wheelchair or a lifting device with a sling and crane to lift me and transport me suspended to the place THEY chose to lay me until I needed to be moved again.
On this day, I woke early, had a meager breakfast of unsalted scrambled eggs and toast (this was a standard daily staple), and my occupational therapist dressed me for the day. I was reluctantly dragged into my wheelchair and taken to the physical rehabilitation gymnasium for my first hour of “rehab”. My therapist “Lauren” provided the cursory “morning small talk” and then proclaimed she thought we would “walk” a little. I immediately decided she was out of her mind, perhaps delusional, if not completely insane.
Inside my inner voice screamed, “Look at me, do you seriously think these noodles under me will let me walk?” Realizing this was her job to help me progress and my job to try, I reluctantly agreed to do whatever she wanted to try. After all, if I fall, I can blame her for the catastrophe! Her suggestion was perhaps as bit as incredulous to me as the Lord’s command to the man in John chapter 6 to “take up thy bed, and walk”.
“Lauren” rolled an Arjo (See the photo at the beginning of this blog) up to my wheelchair and proceeded to “hook me up”. The Arjo has a sling that goes across my shoulders and between my legs and is connected to a power lift. My part was to grasp the two handles on the Arjo and she use the power lift to pull me to a standing position within the device, which has four wheels to support the “victim”. She then firmly told me to “see how far you can walk”. As I started across the gymnasium, my legs found the strength to move the Arjo forward and I immediately began living the dream that I could “walk”.
As I moved the Arjo across the seventy-foot tiled floor room, I was filled with a joy that was truly unspeakable. My spirit leaped within me and I began to simultaneously laugh uncontrollably and cry. I began shouting praises to the Lord God that gives “every good and perfect gift”(James 1:17). At some point I became aware of my fellow “rehabbers” had ceased their activities to see the psychopath in the Arjo shouting praises to the King of Glory! His unspeakable joy flooded my soul and I wanted the world to know how good God was to ME. My Arjo excursion lasted maybe ten minutes and I moved perhaps seventy feet, but my spirit was on fire. The therapist unhooked me and placed me back in my wheelchair for the trip back to my bed, but I was overwhelmed emotionally and filled with the desire to glorify God with all my being to anyone that could hear my voice. I purposed that day to stop robbing God of his glory and glorify Him in everything He allows me to do. Since then, I have not ceased to talk about his goodness, for He is worthy of my thanks and praise.
There are many reasons why we don’t have abundant joy. In coming blogs, I plan to show Biblically what steals our joy. I believe we routinely neglect to consider how blessed we are for small things and we forget His benefits to us. I am today (July 13th, 2022) confined to a wheelchair, but slowly using a walker and crutches to “walk”. I have been able to stand in the pulpit and preach on Sunday mornings. When was the last time you thanked God for giving you legs to stand on?
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1 A Psalm of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. 2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: 3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Psalm 103:1-3 (KJV)
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My blessings go back to 1967 when God mercifully saved my soul from hell. But that was only the beginning of a lifetime of blessings. Jesus said, “… I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10:10 (KJV). I have spent my life living outdoors in Eastern Tennessee. I have walked the ridges, waded and drank from the freshwater springs, watched the sun warm the woodlands as I hunted game, and enjoyed the moonlight s I camped in wide-open spaces and never remember thanking the Lord God for the legs that let me use to enjoy His beautiful creation. I have praised Him for many things, yet took the common things for granted.
When we are born again, the Holy Spirit of God gives us joy (Galatians 5:22). So why are we not more joyful? Perhaps God has allowed this trial for me to bring you the message of rejoicing in the good things you enjoy every day. We go through life without thinking about how blessed we truly are. If we were truly thankful for the “benefits” God gives daily, we would certainly be a people that demonstrated joy and glorified the God of heaven.
The Arjo was not the reason for my unspeakable joy but was the catalyst for setting my joy free. I believe the joy I realized in this trial has opened more doors to glorify the King of Heaven than I have experienced in over thirty years of ministry. If I could do it over, I would not have traded this trial for the joy, God has filled me with. God continues to be good to me throughout it all.