I like many of you grew up going to church, for me it was a United Methodist Church. I participated in Sunday School, Bible School, MYF, and church camp. While in college I tended to drift away from involvement with church and then eventually quit attending unless I visited home and went with family members. My life could have continued on this way forever, but I do believe that God had other plans for me.
In my job as a special education teacher here in Rochester, I had the opportunity to work with some very special students with significant disabilities. One young man, I will call him Ron (not his real name), was unable to move except to turn his head. He also could not speak and no one had been able to develop a system for him to communicate. The belief was that the brain damage from Ron’s accident had so significantly impacted him that he was not able to comprehend what was happening around him. By the time I met him, his physical health was also very poor and eventually he could no longer attend school. Ron was able to receive home-bound instruction through the public schools and I agreed to provide that service three times each week.
So I began my adventure of visiting Ron at home to provide some stimulation in his environment and to attempt to keep him engaged. I had learned that before his accident, Ron had loved to track animals and spend time out in nature. Therefore I decided to spend part of my time with him reading some books by Gary Paulsen (a wonderful Minnesota author of books for young adults). When I would begin to read, Ron would turn his head toward me and appear to be listening quite intently. His face and eyes were so expressive that I felt that he understood something when I was there. It is possible he could understand what we were saying, or he may have just enjoyed the quiet tone of someone reading softly directly for him. Whatever it was, Ron and I bonded closely at that time.
One day he looked at me with such pleading eyes, it seemed that Jesus was speaking to me and telling me that I was loved. Now remember I had not been actively involved with church or faith for nearly 20 years and I certainly was not looking for a message from God. The message was so unmistakable to me and I was not quite sure what to do with it. The first thing I did was to find my Bible and begin reading randomly. I did find some comfort in what I read, but it did not seem to be enough. Two co-workers had previously invited me to their church since I was new in town and I decided to give it a try. Hence my first visit to Christ United Methodist Church. Since then my faith and my commitment to CUMC has grown through many other voices and experiences, probably none as memorable as the message I received through Ron.
Now the rest of the story: I continued to work with Ron until his death about a year later. We enjoyed some times which were very peaceful and some which were agony as his body began to fail him. As Ron went through so much, so do we all. At this time of year when we consider the struggles of Jesus during his lifetime, how can we spend our time complaining? We also can be God’s message for someone else. I am so thankful that God put Ron in my life and I am ever mindful of the small messages which we can receive through the most unlikely source. Praise be to God!
~Gail Flanders
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