“Fear not, for I am with you,
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.”
Isaiah 42:10 (RSV)
The Easter season is God’s call to the helpless, the dismayed, the weak and the fearful. Since Jesus died for all of them, the Spirit of God is moving through these weeks that follow Easter, still drawing many hearts closer to Him. I hope that one of those hearts would be a childhood acquaintance who messages me from time to time, from Israel where he now lives. He has been slightly handicapped for most of his life since being hit by a car as a child. The accident happened right on the street that I grew up on, in Chicago. He recovered from the head trauma of that accident, but it left him with a permanent tremor in one hand and a walk with a limp ever since. He was able to finish school and even complete some years of college before moving to Israel. A few months ago he fell and dislocated his shoulder while out of the country on a vacation. The local hospital had no shoulder specialists, but they aggressively tried to put his shoulder back into place, which resulted in permanent nerve damage. As a result, his good arm is now limp and paralyzed, while his other arm has a tremor from his childhood trauma. Sadly, he is now more physically handicapped than ever before, but he manages to continue living on his own in his apartment in Israel. Sabbath hospitality is a top priority to the Israeli people. The sabbath meal that follows a synagogue service, every Friday at sundown, is very important and a family will invite a total stranger to their home for the sabbath meal if they have no where else to go. One family from his synagogue invited him to join them for a sabbath meal at their home last Friday, after the synagogue service. He dressed himself and started down the stairs of his apartment, but tripped and fell down the stairs. He wasn’t hurt but after seeing that his clothes were dirty, he returned to his apartment to change into clean clothes. By the time he made it to the synagogue, the service was over, and the doors were locked. The congregation of people were all gone and he asked some passers by, if they knew where the family lived who invited him for sabbath dinner, but they didn’t know the family. The people passing by invited him to their own sabbath dinner, so he was able to enjoy a sabbath meal with a hospitable family afterall. When he told me this story, he said it felt like God was looking out for him, but after hearing the chain of events and all the difficulties he had, it still broke my heart. I thought of the many other handicapped people in the world who live alone, barely managing their own care, and trying to get where they need to go. God surely looks with compassion on people of all faith backgrounds, whose daily struggle leaves them feeling helpless due to their physical challenges. I assured my friend that I would be praying that God continues to look out for him, with many more acts of grace and mercy. I sent him today’s scripture verse, to which he replied “Amen.” He said that he felt better just knowing that I listened to his story. I’m thankful he was comforted, but I pray that he would come to believe in Jesus, and to have regular fellowship with the one who suffered and died for him. Today, I pray God upholds anyone who feels dismayed or alone and that He will reveal His presence to them. I also pray for those who are living alone with any type of physical disability, and ask Jesus, our risen Lord, to reveal Himself and to uphold them with His victorious right hand, through many acts of grace and mercy. Amen