I have found at least one advantage to having a ruptured Achilles and hobbling around on crutches—handicapped parking.
Yesterday my doctor filled out an application for handicapped parking and I picked up a temporary pass from the local police department.
I used it for the first time today. It was pretty nice being able to park so close to a business entrance. But it felt strange too. Like I was in the wrong spot. Am I really handicapped?
I read the pass. It says, “This vehicle carries a temporarily handicapped person.” So I guess so.
It really is hard to get used to limitations…even if they are only temporary. There is a part of the male heart (maybe in the female heart too but I can’t speak for that gender) that doesn’t like to accept weakness, incompetence, handicaps.
The other night I came home from a church meeting. It was late. My family was already asleep. My wife said to call if I needed help getting in the door. But I didn’t want to wake her up (good husband that I am). And I didn’t want to think that I couldn’t get up two steps into my house. The problem was that I had a backpack, computer bag, and a pillow to carry with me. “I can do this.” Backpack on my back. Computer bag over my shoulder. Pillow gripped against the handle of one of my crutches. As I stepped up onto the second step, I felt my body sway backwards. Thankfully I quickly regained my balance and was able to shuffle into the door. Later, I thought, “That was stupid.” That’s all I need to do is “bust it” trying to get into my house and end up with a broken arm or leg. Wouldn’t that be grand…and stupid!
But I did make it in the door. And part of me thought, “Hey, I did it. I bet I could carry more if I needed to.”
The indomitable spirit of man. It can be a good thing. It enables truly disadvantaged people to conquer great odds and do great things. It has inspired ordinary people to do extraordinary things.
But like most things, the indomitable spirit is a double-edged sword. It also causes weak, limited, mortal people to do stupid things.
We do have limits. All of us are handicapped in one way or another. All of us have weaknesses. There are some things that we simply cannot do. For instance, we can’t make another person change…or love us…or even like us. We can’t change the past. We can’t control the weather, alter the earth’s rotation, or convince Brett Favre to retire. We can’t stop aging, ban sickness, or conquer death. The Bible also says that we can’t not sin. We can’t make ourselves righteous. We can’t love God and others completely and purely. We can’t heal our own hearts. We can’t save ourselves from hell.
We need help. But something inside us hates asking for it. We need a Savior. But for some reason we often keep trying to save ourselves.
Yet when we finally come to the place where we see our weakness… when we reach the end of our self-sufficiency… when we recognize our powerlessness to change… when we acknowledge our need for help… it is then that we find strength, freedom, and salvation.
It is the paradox of Scripture…when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:10). Why? Because only when I recognize my weakness do I seek a strength that is outside myself.
It is the animal that knows its vulnerability that finds its home in the cleft of the rock. It is the child that says, “Daddy, help me,” that experiences his father’s strength. And it is the person who recognizes the emptiness of his heart that receives the fullness of God.
Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God (Matthew 5:3).
In God’s kingdom, the poor become rich. The weak become strong. The humbled are exalted. The hurting find healing. And the handicapped get the best parking spots.
