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I do not like it, but not “liking it” does not have a vote! A week ago I signed up for Medicare. Yep, I had to admit that 65 is coming fast. I love the prospect of health insurance that is more than a catastrophe safety net. I love not receiving a letter from a health insurance company turning me down “because you are not the right shape.” What is that? Weight--okay. Blood pressure problems--nil. Health problems--little. Family history of cancer or heart problems--no. However, “shape” is a problem! Statistically I was a heath risk! Fortunately, Medicare did not care about my “shape.” Yes, I have to acquire a supplemental policy, but comparatively that is an incredible bargain—and I won’t be turned down!
“If the prospect of having decent health insurance is so wonderful, what do you not like?” I do not like what age is doing to me. At least at this point for me, aging is the incredible journey that constantly discovers “what you cannot do any more.” One question I never had to ask myself as an adult was, “Can you do that?” In the past, if “it” needed doing and opportunity existed, I did it. No more! Now everything is prefaced with that awful question, “Can I do that?”
Now my key word at this point in life is “transition.” In the past I told myself, “If I need to, next year I can …” Surely I was aware of life’s uncertainties, and hopefully I took little for granted. However, even with uncertainties I had options and opportunities. Today there are question marks, and they keep getting bigger! Even with life’s uncertainties, I liked options and opportunities much better than question marks!
In this time of transition, I constantly find a challenge that was totally unexpected. “What challenge?” The challenge to faith. As I look over things in my past, I always leave moments of reflection with the same question: “Did I do that because of faith in me or because of faith in God?”
I constantly find myself tested with this question: “Can God use this to accomplish His purposes?” That is not a new question or an age question. Many Christians encounter the same question with a health crisis, a disease crisis, a relationship crisis, a family crisis, a career crisis, or [in fact] a genuine crisis of any kind.
The faith issue for a Christian is quite simple: “Can God use adversity as well as blessing to achieve His purposes in human existence? Or, is adversity blessing us?” Somehow that sounds very un-American. However, it sounds very God-centered. The God who used a cross to provide me a perfect Savior can use my challenges and transitions to strengthen my salvation in Jesus Christ. The focus is not “do I like it.” The focus is God can use any human experience to achieve His purposes.
Ephesians 3:20, 21 "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen."
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Writings of David Chadwell
