This past week on my day off I went for a walk at a local park in my town. When I want to read a book or find solitude I like to go here because it’s kind of hidden away from everything. To access this place you have to park your car and walk over a pond on a long boardwalk. The boardwalk is surrounded by tall marsh grass as this park is considered a wetland. It’s pretty cool to see beavers from time to time, chomping down this thickened grass. On this particular day the grass were very overgrown to the point that it was overlapping and covering the long walkway. Perhaps the city had forgotten about this park all summer, you literally had to duck or walk through all the overgrown grass that looked more like tall stalks. As I was making my way through this boardwalk I came up behind an older gentleman that was pushing someone in a wheelchair. I instantly felt bad for this gentleman who I assumed was pushing his wife through this overgrown and inconvenient walkway. The boardwalk was so covered that I couldn’t just walk around them, so I patiently walked slowly behind them. Eventually the gentleman noticed me behind him so he stepped to the side and told me to go on ahead. I greeted him and quickly walked past, but as I did I was startled… there was nobody in the wheelchair…? This Sr citizen gentleman was pushing his own wheelchair through the overgrown boardwalk!
As soon as I made it to a bench I just sat there and took that moment in. I was a bit in awe at this older gentleman’s strength to get up and push his own wheelchair because he was at least in his 80’s. Later on in the park this gentleman strolled past me on his electric wheelchair and stopped to talk to me for a couple minutes. Turns out he is a Vietnam war veteran and while serving he jumped out of an airplane and because of wind conditions, he rebounded off the ground and after landing twice, he broke his back. He was only in his twenties when this accident happened, he is now 85 years old. He shared how much he loved coming to this park where him and his veteran buddies would come and chat it up for hours on end. Also being annoyed by the overgrown marsh on the walkway he brought up that moment, and when presented with an overgrown walkway, he mustered up enough strength to get out of his wheelchair. He said that when he stands it’s hard for him to keep his balance, but holding on to the wheelchair gives him enough balance to walk.
After our conversation I just sat there and thought about this man’s incredible story, and I learned a lot that morning. On this journey called life we are often handicapped in some ways or areas of our lives. Depending on what season of life we are in, every season brings it’s own challenges and trials. I speak to a lot of young people that have shared situations, and struggles they are going through at home, in school, at their new jobs, or in their heart. I have friends that are little ahead of me on this journey and not in a counseling aspect but have just shared their hearts with me about struggles and situations they are enduring or going through. I’m looking ahead, and I foresee that in order for me to have a good marriage it takes a lot of foundational work and there will be struggles that Beca and I will have to work through together because we don’t know what the future holds. As I observed this man, he taught me a valuable truth: in life we can let trials, tribulations, and valleys incapacitate us like this gentleman in a wheel chair. But the very wheelchair he sits in also aids him to walk on his feet. In this same manner as we follow Christ we do not desire suffering or sacrifice, but Jesus had to go through sufferings to become Who He is to us today. Hebrews (14.5) tells us that we have a High Priest, a representative that sympathizes with our weakness because He made Himself weak. Jesus came down to our level and our humanity. To truly become like Him there are times when we must also go through situations, sufferings, or make sacrifices; not only to inwardly grow, but also to become like Christ in somebody else’s life. Sometimes that wheelchair is what actually gives us balance to walk. That trial today might be what helps us move forward tomorrow.
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