Complaining Can Cause Snake Bites

Josh said he had a better day yesterday. Mom and Dad feel like the roller-coaster as gone around a few too many times and feel that sick feeling in your stomach, kind of the way you would feel getting off of a roller-coaster after eating a greasy burrito. Think about that picture for a minute.

Aunt Kakie (she is every ones aunt in Dalhart) called this morning to encourage us and remind us that they are praying. I was reminded how much we miss the people we are so familiar with. We miss being home. We feel isolated because we are in a new city, we don't even know where the closest grocery store is and they park cars in tall buildings and make you pay to get out.

Ilene and I have some routines that many of our friends feel define us. Most mornings we take or dogs for a walk, hand in hand (with each other not the dogs), and talk about our day and our family and what God is doing. Often we walk down into the canyon and enjoy the coolness and quietness of the morning and it give us the chance to connect as we start our day.

For more than a week now we have been sleeping in hospital rooms, eating hospital food, getting lost in elevators, trying to make sense of what each day brings and trying to be strong for our son who has been given a diagnosis that sound more like a death sentence to parents then a treatment plan.

We are being asked to trust the opinion of people we don't even know and to put the life of our 17 year old son in the hands of people who we have just recently met. To make our experience more surreal, yesterday when we went back to the car, we found that someone had keyed the passenger side doors (Dorothy, your not in Kansas anymore).

So this morning I got back from taking a short run and sat down to read a daily devotions (even that routine has been interrupted, our normal seats and even the bible I am comfortable with are 700 miles away) from Lifeway that I get each morning and the title was "Tempted to Complain". I was tempted not to read it because I figured it was about to bite me. The verse was about the time that the Israelites, after coming out of captivity in Egypt started to complain (again) because they grew impatient with the long journey.

In Numbers 21 it says "the people grew impatient with the long journey, and they began to speak against God and Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they complained."

That is truly the way I feel. The food is (hospital food) not what we are used to, the water tastes different, the bed squeeks, all the machines in the room make sounds, the nurses come in at all hours of the night and turn lights on and ... you know what I mean. But even as I write this I should be picking up my feet to avoid the snakes (read the rest of the story in Numbers 21).

It would be so easy to shake my fist at God and say, why did you do this to us, we where doing just fine in Dalhart the way we were. What did we do to deserve this?

Reading that passage in Numbers today gave me a new perspective. Was the situation the Israelites in different and sometimes difficult? Absolutely. Were they uncomfortable with the unknown? Certainly. But was God doing amazing, spectacular and miraculous things around them to show them His power and love for them? Unquestionably.

So this morning before I get bit by a snake, let me tell you of some of the amazing, spectacular and even miraculous things our Father in heaven is doing for us here in Houston. To start with, had Dr. Turner not been so great, we would still be at home, with Josh thinking he was just being a teenager and fighting a flu bug, and he probably would have gotten so sick that he could have died within a few weeks. Thanks Dr Matt for an accurate diagnosis and insisting that we go to the ER in Amarillo.

Next, each step of the way God has expedited tests and the availability of doctors to quickly get us to MD Anderson, even opening up a room for Josh in one of the busiest hospitals in the world. Since we have been here, Josh has had the best of care, and access to the most recent therapy options and diagnosis. The nurses and doctors all love him and go the extra mile to give him the best of care.

How has God provided for Mom, Dad & sister? To begin with, Ilene and Sarah were able to stay at Katie Nelsons grandma's home on their drive down from Dalhart. When they got here, Parker Green's sister (who lives in the Houston area) brought us a wonderful meal with snacks and bottles of water. The next night she came by and picked up Sarah and took her to youth group so that she could get to know some teenagers in Houston.

Then, when we met with the social worker, they told us that there is usually a waiting list to get into the Ronald McDonald house, so we got our paperwork in quickly. We heard back that same evening (about an hour later) that the had a room for us and when we walked in the lobby to check in, they told us that Fuddruckers had brought by dinner and we should eat first.

The room has a beautiful window view and the people are so kind and helpful. They have laundry facilities that the families can use, game rooms for the kids, kitchens with refrigerator and freezer space for each family and they have a shuttle that can bring Ilene and Sarah to the hospital every day (to save on parking) although it is only a 2 block walk. To add icing to the cake, today they have a field trip for kids and their families to the Rainforest Cafe and they will pick up the tab for food (so Sarah is going on that today). All of that for $25 a day.

The hospital food for Josh is really more like room service. When he is ready to eat we call room service and order off of a menu. The first night he had grilled shrimp, then he had a stir-fry shrimp bowl the next night. He is eating a bacon and cheese omelet with breakfast potatoes this morning. The food gets delivered by waiters who wear back vests and look very professional.

Would it be easy to complain about all of the difficulty, frustration, inconvenience and pain that we are going through? Yes, and very tempting to do so. But like the Israelites, if we start to complain, we will miss seeing the amazing things that God is doing, and end up snake-bit. The end of the story is that God wanted them to turn back and look at Him. A short while later, they see the blessings of God and a song is recorded that sounds a lot like the chorus we used to sing "spring up oh well with in my soul, spring up oh well and make me whole, spring up oh well and give to me, that life abundantly".

In case you have forgotten, the verse goes like this:

I've got a river of life flowin' out of me.
Makes the lame to walk and the blind to see.
Opens prison doors, sets the captives free.
I've got a river of life flowin' out of me.

So what will you let flow out of you today? Will the people that God puts in your way see and hear complaining and gripping and all about how terrible your life is? Or will there be a river of life flowing out of you. A refreshing spring that people see that makes them want to hang around you because you are refreshing. Because if you will look up and see the blessings around you, the challenges and difficulties of life may not disappear, but they will dim in comparison to God's blessings.

Tell someone today how God has blessed you and what you are thankful for. You may be the river of life that they need today.