The point in all this is to say – that at some point his employers may conclude that he has no future there (or no near future) and they may decide to drop him. That will mean a loss of medical coverage. Once again, it's tragic that in the flawed American system one's access to health care has all too often been tied to employment. This has made people vulnerable and in some cases it has effectively enslaved people to their employers as they live in fear of losing coverage. This is all the more true in the case of those that have chronic conditions and need regular care or rely on expensive medications. One can safely say the whole system is a mess and yet the primary driving factor of that mess – is the profit system. It's all the more egregious in the context of human health and suffering as it preys on fear and desperation.
If he is dropped, and still unable to drive, he can either
find another type of job (which probably won't offer coverage anyway), or he
can continue to recover and apply for Medicaid while he finishes his
recuperation. And yet if the Right has its way, this program would be made more
restrictive and difficult to access. Ultimately they want to eliminate it, but
that's seemingly a long ways off and they're more likely to keep working on it
incrementally, dismantling it piecemeal and making it dysfunctional so that it
collapses on its own. At that point a privatised (and for profit) alternative
can be forced on the public. One way or another you're going to pay – whether its
tax to a non-profit state entity (with all of its problems) or by means of a premium
to a for-profit private company (with all of its problems) is still being
contested. For my part with all the problems of state-run bureaucracies, they
are when it comes to essential services, preferable in every case. And in
theory state run bureaucracies can be reformed. They may be inefficient and
poorly run but that's a cultural problem not something intrinsic. Profit based
models are like the shark that can't stop swimming. Even if profits are good
they have to continue to find ways to streamline and squeeze out more, but in
this case it's at the expense – the pain and suffering and even death, of
people, human beings made in the image of God.
While these are real issues and frustrations connected to a
deeply flawed system, we are nevertheless thankful that we've even had access
to such care. For good or ill, we live in the Western world and some of us are
old enough to remember the days when there were many older folks about – people
from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, who did not have access to
such care in their youth. As a consequence, there were many people out in
society who suffered the physiological consequences of injury and disease –
people with twisted legs and spines, people with terrible scars and ailments
connected to earlier days. You don't see that as much anymore. Many have
forgotten this and many of the younger people have grown up in a world isolated
from these realities which still plague much of the developing world. If it was
1922 and my son had survived, he might have lived his life with a twisted spine
and been a hunchback (or something like it) at an early age.
Modern medicine is flawed and in some cases dehumanising.
Much of it I reject and yet when it comes to things like this – to injuries and
trauma, there is much they can to do and much we can be thankful for. This is
common grace at work. For some it will come back to bite them so to speak. Given
a second chance, given healing, they did not give glory to God and thus will be
judged for taking it all for granted or giving the praise and honour to the
creature rather than the Creator. In other cases we can rejoice that even in a
fallen world and an evil age, there can still be some healing for broken
bodies, and though people hate Christ they (driven by their own motivations and
often eclectic ethical systems) can produce a relative 'good' that even
Christians can benefit from. But it would be a terrible mistake to believe that
the Church hand-in-hand with these forces can (by combining Christian thought
with their science and intellectual paradigms) collectively build the Kingdom
of God or make it manifest in a cultural sense. That would be a sacralist
reading of Common Grace and it always results in syncretism, confused thinking,
ambiguous allegiances, and ultimately error and apostasy.
The eschatological realm of the Holy Spirit is closed off to
the lost. They cannot see it or experience the righteousness, peace, and joy
that it offers. It is only manifest in this age through the work of the Spirit
– applying the eschatological to the temporal through the life of the Church –
our lives and in the rites of the Church which proclaim the doom of this age, and
in defiance of the principalities and powers that rule it.
The creation groans and this life is valle lacrimarum, a vale of tears. And yet in the midst
of all that there is joy, hope, and love.
We're not out of the woods as they say, but the prognosis is
good and we do rejoice. God be praised and I thank everyone for their prayers.
In the meantime we continue to have good discussions. As a father, it's a
blessing to sit at your son's bedside in a hospital and have him (while in
excruciating pain) tell you about a Scripture passage he was reading the other
day and thinking about.
Job comes to mind and we've certainly discussed him. It's a
book I didn't appreciate as much when I was a young man, but it's one I keep
returning to as I get older. We aren't always privy to knowing why God does what
He does. There is a plan – that we can be sure of and find comfort in. As far
as meaning, and how this all fits in with His plan, we may never know. Or
perhaps we may know in part and yet the knowledge may not come for many years.
My son may look back thirty years from now and understand this turning point in
his life and he may actually be thankful for it. We don't know.
My hope is that his long hours of recovery will lead to some
growth and wisdom, that the time can be redeemed despite his severe
limitations. It's humbling for him – to have to be helped, to rely on others to
such an extent, to learn patience, and understand that others are being patient
with him.
One can ask 'why me?', or one can realize that we all deserve
death and we're told to expect suffering. So instead of 'why me' in terms of
the injury, one can ask 'why did I survive when others did not?', or 'why
wasn't I paralyzed?'
Why was I spared? Why me?
Again, the answers may come in overt terms, or upon
reflection, or perhaps they won't be found in this life. Maybe this will knock
his life on to a different path and because of that, he meets his future wife,
and then his son (or grandson) goes on to become an important missionary or
Church leader – or someone who helps or save such a person from some calamity.
Who can say? The possibilities are endless and as such even in the midst of
suffering, anguish, and all that has accompanied this still on-going episode we
can find and retain a degree of wonder and be driven once more to worship and
give praise and glory to Almighty God.
In the meantime we can also rejoice in the kindness of
others, and in the power and mystery of collective prayer – God's will effected
through means. There is light that shines in the darkness of this age and yes,
pain can remind us this isn't our home. Unlike this land of lies and decay, in
our country there are no tears, no pain, no sorrow and no death.
Even so come Lord Jesus.