Life on Crutches
Ten days ago our 17 year old son, Ty, had knee surgery. While it was arthroscopic, it was still pretty complicated and required an overnight stay in the hospital. It was the directions from the doctor upon leaving that really did Ty in: "You have to be on crutches for 6 weeks, and put no weight on your surgically repaired knee or leg." Wow! He is now doing life on crutches.
Life on crutches really describes how most of us have to go through life. How often do we have situations that require support, help, and encouragement from additional sources in order to get through? My favorite biblical account
of life on crutches is found in Exodus 17. It records how Joshua and the people of Israel
defeated the Amalekites. During the battle Moses watched the action from a nearby hill.
We read in verses 11-13:
"As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered
his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses' hand grew tired, they took a stone
and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up - one on one side,
one on the other - so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the
Amalekite army with the sword."
Life on crutches can be humbling. It means recognizing we can't function completely on
our own. We need help and support. I'm grateful for Aarons and Hurs in my life who I can
rely on, and who help make sure I don't grow tired in the battle. Laura and I are serving
some of those functions for Ty these days - getting ice for the knee, driving him to follow
up appointments, and doing his laundry, but love goes pretty far. I don't think God created
us to be able to do it all ourselves anyway. That's why I love being part of Fair Haven -
where doing life on crutches means we don't have to run alone, but we can walk together!
Together in the Cause,
Tom De Vries
FourPoints: North/South/East/West
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