God's power

It is times like this where God's power becomes greater and more evident.

God is quite powerful :-).
Hoorah

Jesus, My Strength, My Hope

Jesus, my Strength, my Hope,
On Thee I cast my care,
With humble confidence look up,
And know Thou hear’st my prayer.
Give me on Thee to wait
Till I can all things do;
On Thee, almighty to create,
Almighty to renew.

I want a sober mind,
A self-renouncing will,
That tramples down and casts behind
The baits of pleasing ill;
A soul inured to pain,
To hardship, grief, and loss,
Bold to take up, firm to sustain
The consecrated cross.

I want a godly fear,
A quick discerning eye
That looks to Thee when sin is near
And sees the tempter fly;
A spirit still prepared
And armed with jealous care,
Forever standing on its guard
And watching unto prayer.

I want a heart to pray,
To pray and never cease,
Never to murmur at Thy stay,
Or wish my sufferings less.
This blessing, above all,
Always to pray, I want,
Out of the deep on Thee to call,
And never, never faint.

I want a true regard,
A single, steady aim,
Unmoved by threat’ning or reward
To Thee and Thy great Name.
A jealous, just concern
For Thine immortal praise;
A pure desire that all may learn
And glorify Thy grace.

I rest upon Thy Word;
The promise is for me;
My comfort and salvation, Lord,
Shall surely come from Thee.
But let me still abide,
Nor from my hope remove,
Till Thou my patient spirit guide
Into Thy perfect love.

I want with all my heart
Thy pleasure to fulfill,
To know myself, and what Thou art,
And what Thy perfect will.
I want I know not what,
I want my wants to see,
I want—alas! what want I not,
When Thou art not in me?

-Charles Wesley

Crippled in NYC

After a pretty crappy day and finally accepting the fact that my left knee is out of commission for God knows how long, I spent today trying to learn what life is like here as a cripple.

Here are some things I've noticed from today...

1. NYC is not cripple friendly. Going up the stairs of a bus is difficult. Good luck finding escalators or elevators in subway stations. And people don't care if you're limping, just get out of their way because you're going way too slow for them.

2. It affects work. I can't walk around the office, freely run and get my cord, keep up with my coworkers going to lunch, or even get water without paying for it with pain. Some people say, "oh let me get that for you," but you know it eats into their work and their productivity and you feel bad.

3. You have less time. Walking home takes twice as long and it's twice as hard, putting on pants, socks, and even climbing into the bathtub takes a bit more time, so...you lose a bunch of time which is what New Yorkers apparently value most, secondary to money

So this is a bit negative, and I must admit, I feel pretty negative because without my leg, I feel like I've lost a bit of my livelihood and vitality. But here are good things that I learned today

1. NYC may not be cripple friendly, but it's beautiful watching the dynamics of the city when you're not part of everything else. As I was walking to work and attempting to get off of the bus, I felt like I was invisible amongst a flurry of people zooming by. It was kind of beautiful looking at NYC from a different perspective. Try it next time. Walk slowly :-).

2. There is hope in this world because most people are nice to you and try to make life a little bit easier for you :-).

3. You spend more time doing everyday tasks, but you appreciate each task because you start to understand how much brainpower and muscle control each activity actually requires. It's not like pushing a button anymore, you're inquiring within and with your body to figure out the next best approach to do something you thought was easy.

So cheers to you, my knee, for teaching me to appreciate life in NYC.