This is a difficult post for me. This past week Olivia had a dr's appointment to test her hearing. Hearing loss is hereditary in my family, my mom has it, my older brother and myself both had hearing loss. When my brothers kids were born, and as they have grown up they have been repeatedly tested for hearing problems and all of the tests have been good, none of them have hearing loss. This week at Olivia's Drs appointment we found out that she has moderate hearing loss. To give you an idea I have severe hearing loss. Profound hearing loss is completely no hearing. Olivia will have to wear hearing aids her entire life.
Now I want to make it clear, I love my daughter tremendously, and that love has not diminished. And hearing loss is not the end of the world. I've had hearing loss my whole life and I think I turned out pretty good. But there will be struggles she will have, things she will have to over come. She will learn that people are not as accepting as they pretend. And unfortunately she will learn that there are no groups she will fit in with when you talk about discrimination (I've posted before on this issue). But now our world is changing here at home, we are trying to figure out if there is any way to afford hearing aids, and what that will look like. We are praying that all of this will be solved. My prayer is that she never has people stand in her way. The thing is I'll be man enough to say what I feel right now, I'm hopeful because of the way my life turned out, but I'm also scared because of the way people can treat people who are different. Nothing to do now but to love and pray.
Well yesterday I bought three new Cd's in preparation for our Disney trip at the end of the month. I got the Hair Spray soundtrack for Olivia, who absolutely loves the movie. I also got Boston's greatest hits which I'm still listening to and I have to say I'm really enjoying. I remember my dad being into Boston and I never had any interest in them until lately. Like all bands I get really into I've bought a greatest hits album first and then may buy more as the fancy strikes me. The final CD I bought was No Line on the Horizon, the new U2 album. I was patient in purchasing it, we didn't have the money until recently. Actually like most U2 albums I've found the major song that's being pushed "Get your Boots" is actually not the best song on the album. I'm still listening to it and I'll write a post soon enough on what I think is the best song, suffice it to say that I am enjoying myself quite a bit now listening to all the new music :)
Last week I went to Washington to meet with the General Board of Church and Society (GBCS). Which was very fund in and of itself, however I also had a free afternoon on my own in Washington, so I ran (almost literally) over to the Smithsonian Museums. I didn't take a lot of time in the museums because they were so packed with kids. There was one thing that stuck out majorly when I was noticing all the kids around, the majority of them were on cell phones about 90% of the time. They were either talking or texting the entire time. I started to remember when I used to go on field trips and from what I remember(as if it was that long ago) was how much it was about hanging out with my friends. I actually became a little sad at this. I guess I fear that a lot of kids are trading real interaction for plastic ones. Not only that but we trade real experiences for fake one. Maybe I'm just getting old :)
Ecclesiastes 4:4-6 4 And I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man's envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 5 The fool folds his hands and ruins himself. 6 Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.
Its taken me now almost three weeks to write anything on this chapter in Ecclesiastes. I’ve been busy. With Lent going on and Easter now just over the horizon I have found less and less time to do things like visitation, and meditation. When I sat down this morning to look at one of the verses in chapter four that I had underlined I hit upon these verses. This is a great reminder in times of running around that sometimes we are better off stopping and making ourselves relax. It is difficult to do, and in fact sometimes it seems down right contradictory to getting more done. But it is a necessary part of our life. I think the Teacher in Ecclesiastes knew this well and maybe that was part of his intent? I don’t know, I’ll need more time to reflect on that.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
This verse contains an important lesson for someone like me. I’m one of those individuals who need to plan things out. Even if I know the event won’t happen like that or that the plans will change I still need to plan things out. I long to have the answer of what will happen before me, I long for stability, I long for that sense of eternity. I’m not saying I long for death I don’t think that is what the Teacher had in mind here in this verse; I think its Gods plan. But there is reality, I don’t know, I can’t know what is going on, it’s just not possible. Even if I take the book of Revelation literally this verse makes it clear that there is no way for us to understand what is going to happen neither in our life time nor in the life span of the world. I believe that this lesson is part of good Christian living. This is a lesson that all of us need to learn. In some way shape or form all of us strive to control our environment, or life situations, heck even our church, but ultimately God is the one who knows the plan and we have to be ready to let go of our plans and all him to lead us.
I decided today I will do a double post. A lot of things have been happening here in Allentown, both in the church and in my personal life. One thing from my personal life I can't post yet but I'll do that soon enough. One of the top items is that one of my hearing aids was destroyed. The dog got a hold of it. I can laugh about it now but when it happened the dog was luck I didn't get rid of it. So for the last week I have struggled to find out how to get hearing aids. They are not covered under the conference health insurance, renters insurance didn't cover it either. For those of you that don't know (which is most people) the average set of hearing aids is 3,000 dollars, that means the dog had a 1,500 dollar snack. Also the majority of insurances don't cover hearing aids so that means your on your own. The only way Katie and I figured I could get a new set was to get a second job, which of course is against the discipline but I had to try. When I talked to the DS I got the answer I expected, I couldn't get a second job, however she offered to talk to a few people and see what she could find to help. Long story short she talked to the chair of BOM and they have decided to purchase me new hearing aids. I cannot thank them or God enough for this. If this wouldn't have happened I would be without hearing aids for some time which I can't do (I only have 30% total of my hearing so if I'm missing one...you do the math).
The other thing that has happened is there was a real heart to heart last night at my Ad Council meeting. One individual brought up that we have been struggling with attendance and we can't be doing that. I basically countered with "should we close the church." Everyone said no, thankfully because I don't want to, but I needed them to face these questions and realize that I can't do everything. This is a is a sign of the much larger work that God will be doing with Emmanuel, my hope and prayer is that the people will start to take a more direct interest in their church and in the future of their church.
One last note, I started another blog www.devotionsforstudy.blogspot.com this is for my churches bible study and Sunday school. All of the post are my own little devotional writings on what we are studying so feel free to check it out.
Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 24 A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?
This is one of the passages in Ecclesiastes that is quoted by a lot of different biblical figures, including Jesus. Everyone who quotes it has a dislike of the statement. The Teacher in Ecclesiastes is the only one who offers an alternative. Enjoy life! This is a message not expressed enough in the church or by well meaning Christians. The facts are we don’t know anything about what happens when a person dies. We have faith that there is a bodily resurrection and that we spend eternity in Christ’s presence. That being said we need a healthy dose of what the Teacher has to say. Eat and drink, enjoy life because in the end this maybe all we have. The Teacher sees this as a gift of God, when you realize that you need to actually enjoy life, I would add while holding on to your other faith elements. The end of verse twenty four and verse twenty five lend themselves to the idea that not everyone gets this. In fact the Teacher is claiming that this is a gift by God. I’ve heard people understand this as predestination, so that would again mean there is no point to this activity. I don’t think that is what the Teacher is expressing here. The fact of the matter is the people who figure out how to hold onto their beliefs and enjoy life come from all areas of life, rich, poor, wise or fool. Being one or the other doesn’t guarantee that you will ever figure this out or actually put it into practice. We need to remember that God has given us this life, and while we may not understand why things happen or why the evil succeed and the good are oppressed. Sometimes we need to remember that we need to take a step back and remember this life. Eat, drink, and enjoy.
