Yesterday I spent lunch with Dorren, Fareet, Neda, Elias, John and Yen at Pita Inn.
Fareet shared a couple stories I’ll try to share here.
Gary Ministry
Over the course of five months he’d traveled to Gary, IN to purchase cigarettes. Each time he prayed for the vacant buildings on his walk to the gas station.
On one trip the weather was so stormy Fareet could barely see the buildings. He was sad that he couldn’t make it to the gas station for his cigarettes, but the Holy Spirit inspired him to ask. So he raised his hands and commanded the storm clouds to part. In less than 30 seconds a corridor of clear sky appeared between the metra stop and the gas station!
Returning home full of joy at Jesus' love for him, Fareet felt compelled to lay his hands on a church with a collapsed roof and prophesy that it would fill with people for the Lord’s glory. He felt a sensation like a shockwave, and rejoiced as he continued to the train.
On the train, Fareet saw a 60-year-old woman with bad knees that he’d noticed at the gas station. He asked if she had faith in Jesus' love for her and if he could pray for healing in her knees. She said “yes,” and “do it,” but her husband was skeptical. Fareet prayed and returned to his seat.
A moment later, the Holy Spirit nudged Fareet to look back at the woman. She was dancing in the walkway like a young girl!
The last time Fareet traveled to Gary, he rejoiced that a repair crew was fixing the church roof.
Healing Cessation
When Fareet first met Jesus, he was compelled to pray for healing upon finishing the Gospel of Mark. A pastor of a local church learned of his new faith and invited him to join their congregation. Fareet arrived and shared some of the amazing healing stories he’d witnessed. The pastor attempted to tell Fareet that the gift of healing was only for the early apostles.
While the pastor was debating with Fareet, the Holy Spirit said to Fareet, “go pray for that woman with the bent back.” Fareet apologized to the pastor for the intrusion, then walked over, asked permission, and laid his hands on the woman’s back. She was immediately healed. Fareet returned to the pastor and politely asked him to continue his explanation!
Many thanks to the Lord for His love and presence and healing touch.
Bummed that I couldn’t go sledding over lunch break, but it was for a good cause - some high school students created a snowboard drop and pipe. So, even though I’m disappointed, it’s the respectful kind.
I'm standing on two picnic tables stacked on top of each other to form the drop. Genius.
Graham’s latest foray is the “op’opal karse”. He’s built about a half-dozen obstacle courses in the last couple weeks, below is one of his most elaborate. He and Royal have a fabulous time running the course and, surprisingly, neither have been seriously hurt.
Starting Christmas Eve, both Royal and Graham incurred hand-foot-and-mouth. Then we had less than a week of semi-wellness before they both developed new coughs and runny noses that have lasted to this present hour.
Royal’s sleep has been hit-or-miss, and the combination of sickness and sleeplessness has made him the crabbiest toddler-terrorist I’ve ever witnessed. He’s hit, bitten and slapped Graham and Amie, thrown full cups of hot chocolate on the kitchen floor, and cried incessantly for hours with no means of satisfaction.
Royal: “I wan dis!” (translation: I want this. Pointing to a cup)
Amie: “Ok, here you go” (hands Royal the cup)
Royal: “No!!!” (Takes the the cup and throws it violently at Amie, hurting her foot and shooting milk across the floor. Then throws himself on the ground and wails for an hour).
(Pause for five minutes, then start over)
Graham and Royal have scarcely been at school, either because their classroom was closed by DHS or because we were waiting for a negative PCR COVID test. And we’ve been waiting for negative PCR COVID tests every week. So the biting and screaming scenarios happen on every day and at every moment that one of us looks away from them for longer than ~30~ ~15~ ~5~ 2 seconds.
The “respite” in all of it was that one week, Graham was home and Royal was at school, then they swapped places the next week. There was more peace the few hours they were away from each other, but it kicked up the minute we brought them home. And Amie, although she enjoyed the one-on-one time with them both, was unable to accomplish anything she set out to do because of their constant interruption.
That’s all horrible by itself, but each day there’s something more.
We’re getting medical bills because our doctor thinks we have an insurance carrier we’ve never heard of and can’t bill our actual carrier until we’ve confirmed the correct insurance (again).
I open the refrigerator for the tenth time today, only this time a glass drops from the top shelf and shatters across our kitchen. Immediately, Graham wants to see and loses it when he’s warned that he can’t go in the kitchen until we’ve cleaned up the shards.
Graham’s PCR COVID test is negative, but there’s no means to deliver this news to his school except to drive forty minutes to the office, pick up a printed copy of the results, and physically deliver them to the school.
Oh yeah, and Graham takes hour-long naps at school and can’t sleep until 9:00 p.m.
Where are the public online forums where people explore disciple-making principles and share ideas? Or entrepreneurial four-fold bottom line startup concepts and examples? Or leadership perspectives and personas? Or their convergence? Are they private, or do they not exist at all?
So, Graham is moving. To a firetruck-red house. With a Christmas tree that we can help decorate. And a big cake with candles so high you need a crane truck to put them on. A giraffe named Lanky is his neighbor. He’s going to have a BIG party for all his friends. He sleeps on the roof with his pillow (the tree is on the roof too). And his train set is inside where Royal can’t boom it.
Yesterday was one of the most deeply disappointing days on record.
Amie and I had anticipated a Tuesday morning spent at brunch to enjoy one another’s company and consider our goals for 2022. But when Royal woke on Monday with a cough it sent us into a tailspin of disappointment.
Perhaps if it were the first time sickness had killed our hopes, it wouldn’t have been so discouraging. But that coal-black chain has abruptly jerked us back into the gloom of survival-mode living until our neck bleeds and our bones ache.
But it’s not sickness itself; it’s the persistent, abrasive friction of living in a society that crushes parents and despises children. Never would I spend three hours at an urgent care for a mild cough, but I am left with no alternative if I want Royal to return to school this week. That’s not counting the additional three hours we spent in search of a saliva test because DHS had made it the only acceptable test (not anymore, after a call to the school), with the calls with nurses who didn’t know what a SHIELD test is and suggested we “do more research, perhaps google it.” After a precious day lost wading in bureaucratic bullshit (and not the first day lost this way), we won’t have Royal’s return-to-school pass for 48 hours.
This is what I think of the self-righteous, maternalistic pricks that equate policed obedience with love. I think you’re terrified of losing the regard of your fear-blinded neighbors and constituents. You justify your cowardice with charts and platitudes, but you’ve abandoned reason and love. You claim Martin Luther King Jr. as your champion, but you would never join him in his humiliation, you lukewarm leaders. Be courageous and defend the downtrodden. Protect the rights of the unvaccinated minority, both adults and children, and live for more than the cheap regard of your fear-blinded peers.
My mom returned to Salina a couple days ago. It was great having her, though it seems like it was only a few hours!
Her return flight was canceled just hours before takeoff, but we drove partway there while we verified that it was truly ended. Rather than wait for the airlines to select an alternative, she bought an Amtrak ticket. Amie took her to Union Station in the afternoon and she was traveling the countryside shortly thereafter.
In this season where most in Evanston have drifted into paranoia and fear, it was a happy experience to have my mom and our friends around the table. And the boys especially are blessed to spend time with new people - a rare occurrence these days!
We’ve had a glorious time sledding and having snowball fights yesterday evening and today.
Yesterday was our first try with the new intertube sled. It worked way better than most I’ve used, and it was fun to share with Danilo, Andrea, Evan and Nike.
Andrea started the snow fight, and soon there were snowballs flying everywhere. Ok, I may have egged it on a bit. When Amie and Memaw brought Royal out, even he joined in! We were having the best time; one of the greatest snowball fights I’ve been in.
Today Graham was ready to go start another fight. Two more children about Andrea’s age joined in. We ganged up on Danilo, who pulled snow into a sled and got us back.
Royal and I picked her up from O’Hare yesterday morning around 10:00 a.m. The news has been full of cancelled flights because critical numbers of flight crew are quarantined with the omicron coronavirus variant, so I’m grateful that didn’t happen to hers.
The past two weeks have been an exhausted blur as Amie and I have been caring for Royal and Graham in their hand-foot-and-mouth illness. We’re less prepared for guests than the last visit, but Amie did a magical job preparing our home while we picked up my mom. The boys are the focal point anyways, and they’re absolutely loving my mom. Everything becomes fresh and new when there’s a new person to share it with.
The forecast shows 5-to-9 inches of snow today, so it may be a snow-day! Graham will be so excited - our family bought him a sled this year (shhhh, he doesn’t know that yet ;) ).
