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| Earth is really small. wow. And yet we matter. Isn't that a miracle all on its own? | | |
| So I just got back from visiting the Thrash clan (which i must say is one of the coolest families I've ever ran across). Now I'm frust-er-ated with the cluttered-ness of my life! So any encouragement would be most appreciated.
-Jon | | |
| i see although i'm yet still blind
and deaf and lame with fingers limp
and lacking strength for selfish gain
thus honor bound to win the war
against myself to bitter ends
despite the pain and gainless grind
of flesh and blood hard pressed between
a slab of wood and pounded nails
upon the bed that marks my last
a thousand gasps to save the beast
i'll call my past at last at last!
-Jon
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| Dear friends,
A lot has happened since my last blog -- which is partly why it is
so late in coming, apart from those perpetual spells of laziness that
often bear down on helpless teenage souls in the summer -- and
there's so much to be thankful for! We had an amazing benefit
dinner, a couple of hospital stays, a wonderful excursion for my
cousin's wedding in New Hampshire, a superb visit to the Wesleyan
University campus with my class dean, AND a full week of vacation
(finally) on Martha's Vineyard - which included a family reunion
where I met all those "second-cousins-once-removed" that I never knew
before! And as always, life does not cease to contain the excitement
and perhaps the frustration of facing the waves that God allows to
complicate and shake up our simple convenient lifestyle. We all need
to learn how to surf, don't we?
Hundreds of people came to the benefit dinner at Hamden high school.
It felt like a two-year class reunion. There were many, many friends
from my high school class, but also people I hadn't seen in years,
including elementary school friends as well as my first-grade
teacher. A friend from the HHS Christian fellowship sang an amazing
song about perseverance; my acting friend, Chris D'Amato MC'ed the
event; and my former Latin teacher played keyboard (he actually gave
me a holder for my new musical obsession - the harmonica!). All in
all, more than $12,000 -- which included a $5,000 donation from an
anonymous citizen who simply heard of my accident through the
newspapers. It was truly incredible. How are you to react when you
enter a room full of friends and people who care for you...and
they're there to honor you? It was staggering. It must have been
similar to when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. How were
they to react? Pride falls away and all that is left is a humble
spirit in the knowledge of a magnitude of grace. "Wow..."
The week before my benefit dinner, I received a call from the
hospital saying that I needed to check myself into the ER.
Apparently, a urinary tract infection was raging, that I myself did
not detect due to the lack of physical symptoms. "Oh
great...another UTI." However, I had no idea that my three day visit
to the Yale New Haven Hospital would serve as a blessing! At the
registration desk in the ER sat a woman whose entire life had been
uprooted and seemingly scattered with deaths and severe injuries
within her family - her father was upstairs in critical condition
after having careened of a 120 ft embankment in his car, and her
brother had been shot - injuring every major organ in his body - and
was now suffering complications, and not to mention that her aunt had
just passed away. When my mom and I wheeled up to the desk to
register, I began sharing with her how I had come to be paralyzed and
how as a family, we recognized God's hand and his enduring grace in
the midst of a seemingly tragic event. She was overwhelmed to the
point of tears. We had come at the moment of her lowest valley - at
a time when she was questioning her faith in God. "Do you know that
you are as an angel to me? You have no idea how much I needed to
hear what you had to say." So that was why I had a UTI. God does
know what he's doing after all, huh. And this the type of road that
must be paved - an avenue for grace to abound so that God's kingdom
can flourish on this oddly-inhabited planet.
So after three days in the hospital I barely made it to the dinner,
bringing with me my personal IV pump which I promptly dubbed
"Dracula." Not to mention that the week after the benefit dinner I
once again contracted a horrible stomach bug due to the antibiotics
that were used to fight my UTI. And in between these two events I
was able to attend my cousin's wedding in New Hampshire -- which was
marvelous and relaxing for my entire family (I even got to try some
of my wheelchair dancing moves!). Maybe it's not difficult for you
to imagine the kind of topsy-turvy experience we were having with
these contrasting events.
love,
Jon
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| Goodmorning World! I touched down in Hartford CT last night around 11:30 and re-aquainted myself with New England weather...the thought that I didn't need a sweater in my carry-on did not seem to justify itself, even in the short walk to the car. Well, then I drove home, unpacked some things, talked until late about California and India plans then went to sleep. Before this however, I had a really neat flight. My friend Sara Thrash had lent me George Muller's autobiography and had also encouraged me to read John Zumwalt's PASSION FOR THE HEART OF GOD (of which we found a copy in the laundry room before we left Cali) and so I spent a great deal of my flight reading. I had just finished reading a quote from Luke in Zumwalt's book when I felt convicted. Luke 19:41 reads, "As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, 'If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace - but now it is hidden from your eyes.'" And here I was in between Craig and Lin - two people whom I had never met and had very little chance of meeting again - and I was reading...just reading. It was not until I actually began to converse with Lin, who had moved from Wallingford, CT to Las Vegas to play at the Casinos, that I gained the boldness that I had so many times previous lacked. I know this sounds awefully pathetic, and it is; I don't have a BIG problem being a witness in quite gestures and actions. Its the getting-to-know-people-independent-of-them-wanting-to-know-me and then seeking God in how he wants to use me to affect this person that is the real challange for me. In anycase, I found out that Lin had gone to school for sociology and women's studies and that since then, she has not found a place of work whereby she could pay for rent and so forth. Thus the gambling. I shared with her the dependence that George Muller had on the providence of God and his faithfullness to those who love him and do his work - Lin loved to use her gifts to help people, it just didn't pay. I also shared with her my passion for film and my desire to convey stories that challange individuals to live out their lives for a greater cause - to work not out of our own means or strengths but to rely on the grace of God. We had a really good conversation, and perhaps I got her somewhat interested in George Muller if not the whole trusting-God-to-support-you-financially thing. May the seeds that we plant sprout in due time, when the fullness of God's grace resides in the hearts of those that seek without knowing HIM with whom we have to do.
-Jon | | |
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