Shalom Existence

There was a time when I admit I scoffed at the idea. I really thought that people who called themselves by this name were liars, worse sinners than I for trying to feign spirituality. I now know that my own cynicism was the worst of the whole idea. Remember me writing about judgment?? Yeah….

God draws us to Him. Our prayer life is contingent on our own willingness to either respond or seek Him out in the desert. Lately I have felt that perhaps these prayer warriors were seeing right through me to the cynicism, praying me right out of it. I say all this quite wordily to say that lately I have been more convicted than ever to pray for something, and surprisingly it has nothing to do with my life or the education system, curable diseases or minorities. Perhaps this is because these things, my passions, are all desirable to be prayed about, but I can act on them, so somehow this excludes them from “warrioring.” I know this makes little sense when written out, but I am being honest. This is how my mind works.

But now I am encountering a situation that I feel on my heart, night and day, to pray about. Friday I went to the school where I used to work full time. Although I ocassionally still work there I had not spoken with a certain friend of mine in several weeks. Last year this woman taught me, helped me, and steered me, sometimes forcefully, into teaching better. We collaborated and found solace in being the put- off-grading, do-something-crazy in the classroom teachers. She taught me, most importantly, to have high expectations for my students while remaining realistic, a hard balance I might add. I began to pray for her as she sorted problems in her marriage and tried to remain a mom to four, one of whom was planning a wedding. In the case of her seventeen year old, she was planning for a bright future. This is a kid I knew. A kid who was honestly, as cliche as it sounds, a good kid. He would laugh at my stupid jokes and comment to me about the music on his Ipod (straight rock by the way). He was an avid wrestler as well as taking Honors and Gifted courses. His plans were to join the army and attend military school when high school was over.

One day he had a seizure. Two days of tests in the hospital proved inconclusive and back to school he was sent. Two days later I saw him in the hallways looking for his mom. His sentences were jumbled, incomplete, and virtually incomprehensible. Back to the hospital, more tests, more random seizures. This seeming random seizure quickly turned to a serious brain injury. Cognitive function was…and is, significantly impaired. Transferred to a pediatric hospital with more tests and some hypothetical, but never conclusive, reasons.

This was nearly eight months ago. He spent all summer in the hospital and now lives in a rehabilitation facility. This would-be senior never completed his junior year and spent his summer chained to a bed. For most of it, he rarely spoke and was easily angered. Finally, now, there are slow progresses. He has begun playing games and can write short messages, albeit in a kindergarten like script, without capitalization or punctuation. All this I had seen, and prayed for at times.

Then Friday, sitting in front of me, I asked his mother about it, and she started “He made a 720 on the Math portion of his SAT, did you know that?” And then tears welled up in her eyes. And tears welled up in mine. And I realized, this was effecting not only her, and her family (especially her younger daughter who is a rockstar in every aspect of her personality) but his future and all their dreams as a family. With NO explanation, and no doctors giving them any hope or promises for the future.

And, I felt like I should pray for them, and fervently, and because this conviction was so strong, I felt that I should share it, because I do believe in miracles and recovery and the power of prayer. And this young man, he still has everything to live for, and he has a family that is very confused and losing steam on the toll on their lives (each parent switches off days spending til after work to bedtime with him). But I know his mother has faith, and I know who he is without the brain injuries, and I just feel I should pray. Will you please join me in praying for this family?

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