FOOD FOR THOUGHT
(04/26/2009)
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LIMPS,
SCARS, AND THORNS
Cindy Hong
For
47 years Grandpa walked with a limp. But before all that, he had come
to the U.S. as a teenager with his grandfather. With such choices as repairing
shoes, washing clothes, or cooking chop suey, they eventually settled
into serving chef's specials. It was here that the army drafted him as
a cook during World War 2. At the last minute he got sick and couldn't
leave with his unit. By the next rotation, the army had too many cooks
in the kitchen, so he went to Europe as part of the infantry instead.
Not long after he was shot by a German machine gun, a .50 caliber bullet
ripping through his knee. He was taken to a field hospital where they
amputated his right leg, just above the knee. And for the rest of his
life, he walked with a limp, whether on crutches or a wooden leg. But
he lived, raised 4 kids, cooked enough shrimp fried rice and egg foo young
to feed an army, and even joked about his limp. Whenever I felt sad for
him, he just laughed, saying he was glad to be walking, happy to be driving
his Cadillac around Detroit (mechanics just added an extra gas pedal to
the left of the brake), liked having to wash only one leg when taking
a bath, and delighted that the Army would give him a new leg every two
years. I don't know if it was being in the restaurant business that taught
him to make lemonade when handed lemons, but whenever I look back on his
life, his limp just externalized the limp I walk with internally. He needed
help walking and he made no bones about it. I need help walking, but I
resist any and all help, even God's. Jesus wants to walk with me? I can
go it alone. At least I think I can. But we all know I can't. I need a
walker, I need Jesus, I need his scars, his crucifixion and resurrection
that makes me okay to stand before God and makes walking with Jesus possible.
Jacob walked with a limp, Jesus carried his scars, Paul lived with his
thorn. We all have limps, scars, and thorns, a variety of sadness and
fears, challenges and hardships, injustices and tragedies, yet perhaps
it is during these times that we can truly claim with Paul that His grace
is sufficient for us, that His power is made perfect in our weakness.
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