A 39 year old prayer
Last Friday afternoon I felt it starting. My nose felt like it was under 10,000 pounds of pressure. Blowing and sniffing brought no relief. I started my routine of added fluid, meds, vapor rub and wet towel over the eyes at night. Saturday morning my self diagnosis was proven to be tru
e. It was my old nemesis allergies. The pressure in the nose and sinus area grew and grew. Blowing and sniffing was as useful as a fork in a bowel of tomato soup. By mid morning my right eye was pouring water like Niagara Falls while the left became as dry as the Sahara Desert. I fought back as hard as I could with meds, fluids, rub, and whining. By the time evening arrived the final member of the band arrived, the pounding head. I was so happy.
Sunday morning arrived. It was Baptist Women's Day at church so I did not have to deliver a message so the thoughts of staying home and continuing my war on allergies crossed my mind. I have a speaker coming to share about his ministry on Wednesday night and I was sure I could move him to Sunday night. As the head beat harder and harder the thought sounded better and better. There was a problem though. It was Super Bowl Sunday. There is an unwritten rule in the ministry that states, "Thou shalt not miss Super Bowl Sunday unless thou has taken thou's last breath." As a Youth Minister I had to miss Super Bowl Sunday with a stomach virus. I watched less of that year's game than any other because I didn't have a TV in the bathroom but I caught grief over it for a year. Not grief like, "Your going to be fired if you miss another Sunday" but grief like, "Yea, I bet you were sick. (wink, wink)" I even had deacons coming to me the week before the next Super Bowl asking if I felt Ok or did I feel another bug coming on. So I wasn't going to break the rule. So I took my eye running, nose not working, scratchy throat, head pounding self to church. As the day went on I started making some waves in my war on allergies. After the evening service I was off to a Super Bowl Party feeling almost normal.
I was expecting to wake up feeling good on Monday but my allergies would have none of that. So after making a visit I went back home to finish this war. I took extra meds, drunk extra fluids, put extra rub on my nose and tried to sleep it off. I made some good headway and was feeling alive again by the time evening rolled around. I thought I was about to defeat my arch enemy. Tuesday morning I awoke doing something I hadn't done in days, breathing through my nose. I was able to put my contacts back in. Besides a runny nose every so often it looked like the war was over. I went to bed fully expecting to be named the winner on Wednesday morning.
Then I woke up this morning. The allergy army must have brought in recruits last night because both eyes are dry as the Sahara but still leaking like Niagara Falls. My nose is under 100,000 pounds of pressure and my head feels like Muhammad Ali's speed bag. So as I sit here at my desk I bowed my head, closed my eyes and prayed a prayer that I have been praying for 39 years, "Lord, please take my allergies away so I never have to go through this again." Now some of you will be quick to point out that I am 44 not 39 and you would be right. It is 39 years because I have been praying this prayer since I was in kindergarten at Asbury Elementary school in Lincoln County.
I remember it just like it was 39 minutes ago. It was day 4 or 5 of the allergy war and I was growing tired of the other kids asking what was wrong because they thought I was crying. I had to explain to each of them over and over I wasn't crying I had allergies. Some understood while others had no idea what allergies were so I had to explain. Allergy is defined as "an abnormal reaction of the body to a previously encountered allergen introduced by inhalation, ingestion, injection, or skin contact, often manifested by itchy eyes, runny nose, wheezing, skin rash, or diarrhea." I am sure that is not what I told them. It was probably something more like I would say today, "It is an awful experience when your nose doesn't work, your eyes can't decide if they want to be dry or watery, your throat doesn't hurt but if you could get a back scratcher down to it you would, and your head feels like piñata at a kid's birthday party." I was tired of explaining, tired of looking like I was crying and sounding like Rudolph with that black mud on his red nose so at recess I quickly found a place on the playground were it looked like nobody was at. I found my sanctuary in an old set of monkey bars or at least I thought I did. There was another kid that was hanging around there. I mean hanging around, he was hanging upside down off the monkey bars. He asked the dreaded question, "Why you crying?" I will first like to apologize for my actions to the boy and to you the reader. I did not do what Jesus would do. Instead I yelled, "I am not crying!" Then I pulled the poor surprised boy off the monkey bar onto the ground. It was during the time I was sitting on the ground beside the teacher during the rest of recess I bowed my head and prayed, "Lord, please take my allergies away so I never have to go through this again."
Now I want to be honest. I do not have extremely bad allergies. I do not have to take medication every day or shots like my daughter does or my sister and mother did. The allergy war usually only takes place two or three times a year. It usually lasts 3 or 4 days and hardly ever over a week. My allergies are not a 24 hour a day thing. I have moments when they come and go even on my worst days. There are times like Sunday night when I got up to preach that they seem to disappear entirely for a little while. Even when the war is bad, like this time around, I know that it is not going to be a forever kind of thing and when you stack my allergies up against all the sickness in the world it will be very close to the bottom of the list of serious illnesses. But I still pray for them to leave me. For 39 years I have prayed they would leave me. So why hasn't God taken my allergies from me? Because for 39 years God has told and showed me that His grace is sufficient.
Would I ever say my allergies are as bad as your cancer? Nope! Would I say my time going through the allergy war is worse than what your going through? Nope! Would I say my misery is worse than the misery you are feeling because of a loved one that passed? Nope! Would I say I am worse off than you are after losing your job? Nope! What would I say? God's grace is sufficient for what ever you are facing. From allergies to cancer to death to divorce to loss of job to car wreck to broken bones to having a bad day to not know which way to turn God's grace is sufficient. If you don't believe me ask Him. Try Him. Tell Him what your are going through and ask God to give you the grace you need to continue on. You will be amazed at what your body can handle with God's grace. When you say I can't do this anymore or I can't take it anymore remember you don't have to. God's grace will take care of it. It worked for Paul, it works for me and it will work for you. Don't grab a bottle, a pill, a one night stand, a material thing or what ever quick fix the world wants to give you. Grab a knee and turn to God's grace. Then be ready to be amazed at what God will do.
Parting Thought: You have to go through darkness to know He is the light at the end of the tunnel.
e. It was my old nemesis allergies. The pressure in the nose and sinus area grew and grew. Blowing and sniffing was as useful as a fork in a bowel of tomato soup. By mid morning my right eye was pouring water like Niagara Falls while the left became as dry as the Sahara Desert. I fought back as hard as I could with meds, fluids, rub, and whining. By the time evening arrived the final member of the band arrived, the pounding head. I was so happy. Sunday morning arrived. It was Baptist Women's Day at church so I did not have to deliver a message so the thoughts of staying home and continuing my war on allergies crossed my mind. I have a speaker coming to share about his ministry on Wednesday night and I was sure I could move him to Sunday night. As the head beat harder and harder the thought sounded better and better. There was a problem though. It was Super Bowl Sunday. There is an unwritten rule in the ministry that states, "Thou shalt not miss Super Bowl Sunday unless thou has taken thou's last breath." As a Youth Minister I had to miss Super Bowl Sunday with a stomach virus. I watched less of that year's game than any other because I didn't have a TV in the bathroom but I caught grief over it for a year. Not grief like, "Your going to be fired if you miss another Sunday" but grief like, "Yea, I bet you were sick. (wink, wink)" I even had deacons coming to me the week before the next Super Bowl asking if I felt Ok or did I feel another bug coming on. So I wasn't going to break the rule. So I took my eye running, nose not working, scratchy throat, head pounding self to church. As the day went on I started making some waves in my war on allergies. After the evening service I was off to a Super Bowl Party feeling almost normal.
Then I woke up this morning. The allergy army must have brought in recruits last night because both eyes are dry as the Sahara but still leaking like Niagara Falls. My nose is under 100,000 pounds of pressure and my head feels like Muhammad Ali's speed bag. So as I sit here at my desk I bowed my head, closed my eyes and prayed a prayer that I have been praying for 39 years, "Lord, please take my allergies away so I never have to go through this again." Now some of you will be quick to point out that I am 44 not 39 and you would be right. It is 39 years because I have been praying this prayer since I was in kindergarten at Asbury Elementary school in Lincoln County.
I remember it just like it was 39 minutes ago. It was day 4 or 5 of the allergy war and I was growing tired of the other kids asking what was wrong because they thought I was crying. I had to explain to each of them over and over I wasn't crying I had allergies. Some understood while others had no idea what allergies were so I had to explain. Allergy is defined as "an abnormal reaction of the body to a previously encountered allergen introduced by inhalation, ingestion, injection, or skin contact, often manifested by itchy eyes, runny nose, wheezing, skin rash, or diarrhea." I am sure that is not what I told them. It was probably something more like I would say today, "It is an awful experience when your nose doesn't work, your eyes can't decide if they want to be dry or watery, your throat doesn't hurt but if you could get a back scratcher down to it you would, and your head feels like piñata at a kid's birthday party." I was tired of explaining, tired of looking like I was crying and sounding like Rudolph with that black mud on his red nose so at recess I quickly found a place on the playground were it looked like nobody was at. I found my sanctuary in an old set of monkey bars or at least I thought I did. There was another kid that was hanging around there. I mean hanging around, he was hanging upside down off the monkey bars. He asked the dreaded question, "Why you crying?" I will first like to apologize for my actions to the boy and to you the reader. I did not do what Jesus would do. Instead I yelled, "I am not crying!" Then I pulled the poor surprised boy off the monkey bar onto the ground. It was during the time I was sitting on the ground beside the teacher during the rest of recess I bowed my head and prayed, "Lord, please take my allergies away so I never have to go through this again." Now I want to be honest. I do not have extremely bad allergies. I do not have to take medication every day or shots like my daughter does or my sister and mother did. The allergy war usually only takes place two or three times a year. It usually lasts 3 or 4 days and hardly ever over a week. My allergies are not a 24 hour a day thing. I have moments when they come and go even on my worst days. There are times like Sunday night when I got up to preach that they seem to disappear entirely for a little while. Even when the war is bad, like this time around, I know that it is not going to be a forever kind of thing and when you stack my allergies up against all the sickness in the world it will be very close to the bottom of the list of serious illnesses. But I still pray for them to leave me. For 39 years I have prayed they would leave me. So why hasn't God taken my allergies from me? Because for 39 years God has told and showed me that His grace is sufficient.
Parting Thought: You have to go through darkness to know He is the light at the end of the tunnel.
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