At the age of 3, he was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Essentially, for those of you that don't know, in Type 1 Diabetes, the pancreas stops making insulin. The patient must take insulin in order to regulate blood sugar, or major complications can set in. In the early 40s, there was no way for patients to take insulin, so my grandparents did their best to control my Dad's diet to help control his blood sugar.
By age 23, complications began to set in, even though medication and some treatment had become available. My father lost sight in both of his eyes.
At age 30, he met and fell in love with my mother and they were married.
At age 32, he suffered stroke. The same week, he and my mother found out they were expecting a baby, and then he suffered a heart attack.
He survived, and early the following year, I was born.
A few weeks after I was born, his kidneys began to fail, and he started receiving dialysis treatment.
In July, 1971, only 3.5 months after I was born, while receiving dialysis, my father suffered a massive coronary and died.
Some other time, I'll comment on how amazing my mother is and how strong she must have been, and the amazing bond that she and I have, likely because it was "just us" for a year or so before she re-married...
But, for now...
I taught this past Sunday at church.
First time.
And, I told the story of my father.
I told the story because I realized that it had something to teach me about the body of Christ -- the Church.
In 1 Corinthians, we read:
14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
My dad's story illustrates what happens when certain parts of the body aren't doing their jobs. First, his pancreas didn't work, so his kidneys tried to make up for it.
They tried and tried, and eventually couldn't do it.
Not their fault.
They weren't designed to do what the pancreas does.
Then, his heart tried to make up for the kidneys and the pancreas.
But, clearly, it wasn't made to do the same things as the pancreas or kidneys.
It tried and tried, but eventually couldn't do it...
Isn't this how the Church body works -- or rather, how it doesn't work? A few parts trying to make up for the fact that the others aren't doing their jobs?
I'm convinced its because people don't understand three things:
- Each of us is amazingly unique
- Each of us is gifted for a purpose
- Each of us is desperately needed
God's plan involves all of us. When we're doing what we've been designed to do, we are fully living -- just as God intended for us!
I love being part of a church body that is working to help people understand these truths.
Thank you, God, for revealing new truth from my father's story.
