Thoughts On A Given Day

I am the second of five children in my family, four brothers and one sister. Of the five children at least four of us had fairly significant head injuries during our youth (some of you that know us best are probably saying to yourselves, “that explains a lot”). If my older brother ever had a serious head injury. I don’t recall it, but being as there are many things I don’t recall, perhaps he did, and I just don’t know it. The others of us all had at least one. I had my first serious head injury at the age of five, I believe, while we were still living in Japan. I was trying to copy what my older brother and his friends could do riding a bicycle. Younger brothers often do that sort of thing. They would ride their bikes down a short hill (it seemed mighty big to me at the time, but I suspect it was a short hill) and make a sharp right turn at the bottom to avoid hitting a fence. I could do exactly what they were doing, except for the part about making the sharp right turn at the bottom of the hill and avoiding the fence. The end result was I crashed into the fence and had to be hauled off to the hospital to repair what was, to interject a small amount of official medical terminology here, “a caved in head.” I made a foolish decision, and I paid for it with hardship.

My sister and my youngest brother both experienced head injuries at young ages. In both cases it was as the result of an accidental fall. I recall that my sister’s fall was on our front concrete steps, and my brother’s was on a stairwell at church, but, beyond that, I do not remember anything else about the incidents. I do, however, remember the head injuries to my brother who was next in line after me. Let’s call him “Knotty Head.”

The three oldest boys in my family were all born within about four years of one another. I was one year younger than my older brother and three years older than my next younger brother, so for three years, apparently, I was the baby, and then I was usurped from that position. If I understand psychology correctly (and apparently I do because once when I was working third shift as a security guard I took one of those “what you should be in life” tests that I knew was a good one because I found it in the middle of a Cosmopolitan magazine. It suggested that I should be either a psychologist or security guard. I thought that was ironic), my younger brother suffered from a bad case of sibling rivalry. I must say that for a few years he lived what was apparently a threatened life. He has turned out to be an excellent man, so with the old adage of give credit where credit is due, I should probably accept some responsibility for toughening him up.

Some of his head injuries were accidents. Others were not. When I shoved him out of the bottom bunk bed, it was not my fault that he was smaller than me and flew so hard into the corner of that piece of furniture. Yes, his head did split open, but it was an accident. When I stood on one side of the fence and threw as big a rock as I could heave at a boy who was standing in front of me on the other side of the fence, it was not my fault that for some unknown reason, instead of going forward, the rock flung itself to the side and landed right on my younger brother’s head. Yes, it leveled him, and the doctor said, if he hadn’t been wearing that ball cap that he always wore in those days, he might have been killed, but it wasn’t my fault. It was an accident. When he was climbing up a rock wall, however, and my hand just happened to reach out and grab his foot and pull it out from the wall, sending his forehead crashing into the wall, and forcing action to be taken to get his head to stop bleeding, that was not an accident. That was deliberate. When we were at the playground together, and he just happened to walk beneath the raised the end of a seesaw, and I just happened to grab the other end and fling it up in the air, causing the end he was walking under to suddenly smash down on his head and flatten him with a vicious blow, that was not an accident. That was deliberate. Knotty Head lived a hard life for a while there.

Eventually, after some years, my parents had two more children, and I went from the position of “middle child” to that of “next oldest,” which is, of course, far better, and that, perhaps, saved Knotty Head from further abuse. He had endured some hardships, though, and it wasn’t of his making. He apparently had a vengeful older brother who was out to get him for reasons of his own.

The Old Testament is filled with stories of people who also endured hardships, hardships that were far greater than a bang on the head. There are many examples, but I will limit it to two. In the book of Genesis Joseph had older brothers who were jealous of him as well, and they desired to kill him as a result of that jealousy. They sold him into slavery instead, not because of any mercy they felt, but simply because that path offered some hope of profit for them. That was a hardship not of Joseph’s making, but he remained faithful to God, and God used that experience for good. In the book of Jonah, Jonah disobeyed when God commanded him to go to Nineveh. God wanted Jonah to give a message to the people of Nineveh, but Jonah had no desire to do so. The entire book tells of the hardships that Jonah suffered because he chose not to do what he knew God wanted him to do.

God does not promise us no hardships. In fact, the New Testament and the history of the early church that followed is filled with examples of the hardships suffered by those who followed Christ. All but one of the original apostles gave their lives in service for Christ. I can’t think of any more powerful testimony than the fact that those men who knew Jesus best were willing to give their lives in his service. Many of the early Christians suffered cruel abuse and death. Martyrs they were called, and martyrs they are now. God does not promise us an easy path, and we should not expect one. He does, however, promise us that he will be with us as we walk that path.

 

Hebrews 13:5

New King James Version (NKJV)

⁵  He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Psalm 46:7

New King James Version (NKJV)

⁷ The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge.

Romans 8:17

Common English Bible (CEB)

¹⁷ If we are children, we are also heirs. We are God’s heirs and fellow heirs with Christ, if we really suffer with him so that we can also be glorified with him.

1 Peter 3:13-18

New International Version (NIV)

¹³ Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? ¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threat; do not be frightened.” ¹⁵ But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶ keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. ¹⁷ For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. ¹⁸ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.