Hanging with the Fam
I got to spend several hours with David yesterday while Amy ran home to spend some time with the family and get some rest. It’s a strange thing, spending time in a hospital with someone you care about; I don’t know if it’s the sterile environment or that David wasn’t in his signature camo hat, but everything is just so “off”. David should be sitting on the couch at my parents house or have a PS4 controller in his hand, not laying in a hospital bed in a gown (side note: thank you, David, for wearing pants under that hospital gown). There are so many things wrong about this whole situation.
David welcomed a few visitors yesterday. Irene, David’s sister, got to spend some time with him, and the pastor of Irene’s church, John, was able to pray over David. This was the first day I got to spend time with David and, although the day started out a little solemn, we were soon laughing while watching some YouTube videos and talking about the past and the future. If you’re wondering what got the biggest laugh out of us, it was Ginger Billy on YouTube – this video in particular. It was great to see David enjoying himself, almost as if everything was back to normal. The location might have been different, the clothes might have been different, but David was still David, and that brought a great deal of comfort to me.
Amy and my dad came back to the hospital after 8:00 last night, and it was a little tough to say goodbye. We don’t know how this will all shake out, but we do know who is in control and who will be there for us, regardless of the outcome.
Hey – I know it’s almost cliché, but I’m going to do it anyway and there isn’t a thing you can do to stop me! Below is a quote by C.S. Lewis that has stuck with me – there’s a reason why David has become so integrated into our lives, just as there’s a reason why he’s going through what he is right now (but God help me, I have no idea what that reason is):
“In friendship…we think we have chosen our peers. In reality a few years’ difference in the dates of our births, a few more miles between certain houses, the choice of one university instead of another…the accident of a topic being raised or not raised at a first meeting–any of these chances might have kept us apart. But, for a Christian, there are, strictly speaking no chances. A secret master of ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,” can truly say to every group of Christian friends, “Ye have not chosen one another but I have chosen you for one another.” The friendship is not a reward for our discriminating and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each of us the beauties of others.”