Rabies and God

I started thinking about rabies today. My parents are thinking of making a trip out to visit us and are starting to get their shots. They wonder if they should get the rabies shots.

A few years ago, Luke, who was 10, died of rabies. I had never met him but his story touched my heart. He and some other kids were friends with some of the homeless dogs around his house. One of the dogs was acting a bit weird. It didn't bite Luke, but possibly licked or scratched him. No one knows for sure. A few days later Luke got sick. He had a bad headache and fever. He started shaking and his throat hurt. His mom got a nurse friend to come check on him. She noticed several symptoms of rabies right away.

Luke's family lived close to a hospital. In fact, his dad worked at the hospital. But this was a small town and the hospital didn't have anything to help him. They suggested he make the 6 hour drive to Delhi. All the way to Delhi his parents were sitting with him as he got worse. He was acting violent at times and his dad had to hold him still. They knew there wasn't much that could be done for him anymore, so they talked to him about heaven. They told him that soon he would get to be with Jesus. In Delhi, the hospital said that the only thing they could do is lock him in a room and his parents could watch him through a window. They gave him some sedatives. His parents chose to go back to their small hospital where the staff loved Luke and they would have him die there. So they drove another 6 hours. Luke was given more sedatives to calm him down. He had a lot of anxiety, a lot of pain. Soon Luke died.

As a parent, thinking of going through this with my son, I know I would do anything to take his pain on myself. I would take the rabies, I would die. It would be so heart wrenching to watch my son die with so much pain. This thought made me think about mankind and what God must feel. He watches us, his children, with so much pain because of sin. He would do anything to take it on himself. And that is why he came to earth as a man, to take all our sickness upon himself and be the one to die in our place. A painful death. But he loves us so much that it was an easy decision.

I'm sure Luke's parents wish he wouldn't have played with the dogs that day. And I'm sure God wishes we had never chosen to sin.

TV comedy writer

I just read some instructions on how to become a TV Comedy Writer and I think I should make my blog my practice place. I want to get a job writing for "The Office" or better yet, acting in it. They look like normal people. And I wouldn't even need to get paid a lot. It just looks like so much fun. I looked at some bloopers on Youtube and people are always laughing. Wouldn't that be great to have a job that makes you laugh all day long?

I think there needs to be an episode focused on Oscar that isn't all about him being gay. Or maybe one on Kevin that isn't all about him being slow. I will write one.

Frustrated

Nothing for dinner. Again. What to make? I have spaghetti noodles. So I could go to the store and buy sauce. Oh, and a can of corn and bread. There ya go. Instead Steve offers to go to the store. I told him the list (3 things) and said either the imported sauce or the yellow box of tomato paste. Off he went. Well I guess we are still not communicating too well even after counseling. He came back with cereal, spicy indian spaghetti sauce, peanut butter, juice with a free glass, no bread and no corn.

So I made the spaghetti. While I was boiling the water for the noodles I looked through the cupboards to see what else there was. There were two jars of oatmeal. So I decided I could make granola. I found a recipe that only called for 4 things; peanut butter, oats, brown sugar and oil. I didn't have oil, but I did have ghee, so I went for it.

By the time I mixed the granola all together, the spaghetti was done. I toasted some bread to go with it and called it a meal. Our mouths burned with the spice of the sauce. Then I started cooking the granola. My stupid oven doesn't work right so soon smoke was coming from the oven. My granola was burnt. The parts that weren't burnt didn't taste good either, because with only four ingredients it isn't anything special. So that was a bust.

The straw that broke this camels back was not having my camera. I wanted to take a picture of my granola. But yesterday I loaned the camera to a friend "for a day" and it was the second day and still no camera. And the friend said he couldn't bring it back yet. So I was kicking myself for loaning something to someone. I get burned. Like my granola.

Bully Fish, Good Fish, Gold Fish, Black Fish

Our fish, Sucky, died a few days ago. He was a sucker fish. The kind that are suppose to clean the tank. I think our tank was too clean. So he just died. Then there is the Angel fish who was picking on the goldfish. We would take him out of the tank everyday and put him in time-out. Then Goldy would be able to swim around freely. And he/she sure knew when it was safe. The second Michael (Angel) was out of the tank, Goldy would come out from hiding and swim.

Well yesterday was odd. Goldy was actually chasing Michael. Michael was running away from Goldy. What changed? Today they are swimming next to each other as friends. I guess they worked it out.

More back problems

My househelp lady called this morning to let me know she isn't coming today. So all those dishes that have been piling up, waiting for her, will have to be done by someone.

From what I understood from Bimla (househelp), she got electrocuted from the cooler somehow. The shock knocked her backwards and she hurt her back. Sounds bad. I think she also said she is burned on one side of her body. Talking Hindi on the phone is hard for me. I think I need hand motions to understand more.

I really can relate to the back pain now and understand she needs rest. I can't imagine doing all the work she does, with a hurt back. I don't even think I could squat to use the toilet like she has to. I hope she gets the rest she needs.

Achy, Breaky Back

I am feeling older than my age. Like maybe 58 years old. I am walking around all bent over and slow. You see, on Saturday morning I threw my back out. I don't even know what that really means, but I think what I did is what people mean when they say it.

I was the only one awake and so I made my chai so I could sit and spend some quiet time with God. But then I saw all the laundry hanging on the rack and that would disturb me, so as my chai was cooling in the kitchen, I started folding the laundry. As I reached down to grab Steve's boxers off the bottom rack, a sharp pain crippled me. I couldn't move because of the pain. So I was left squatting. That hurt my legs after a while so I made it to the ground and just laid there.

As I was on the ground (and remember, these are hard, marble floors, not carpet), I kept thinking of my chai which was getting cold. Should I yell for Steve to come help me? No, I didn't want to scare him. So I just stayed where I was. Finally, about 20 minutes later, Steve came out. I said, "Hey there". He was shocked to see me on the floor. I told him I hurt my back and couldn't move, "could you bring me my chai?" It was cold by then. I got myself into a sitting position so I could drink it.

Eventually I got up. We had a baseball game to go to and I really wanted to go. So I slowly got dressed and got ready for the game. I was able to walk slowly and hunched over, looking quite old.

The cool thing is that I got to watch Micah play baseball. He even caught a fly ball. He slid into third and was safe. He hit the ball into outfield. It was all worth it. So even with an achy back, I loved watching him play baseball.

Fish

I wish the pet store owner would have told us that Angel fish and goldfish don't get along. Our Angel fish is torturing our goldfish now. We had to separate him into a bowl for a time-out.

Rats!

I went to visit my friend Kusum the other day. She lives in the neighborhood next to us. I met my coworker and we walked together. Kusum lives in a one room (I guess you could call it studio) apartment. There is room for a double bet and a cot. We entered in the groundfloor apartment and asked if Kusum was home. That lady walked us up to the second floor and yelled to Kusum that she had company. Kusum was sleeping on the cot with her daughter, but she got up quickly to greet us. We sat on the bed. So Kusum went outside the room to the little kitchen area and started making chai for us. She had to send someone to the market to buy some snacks to give us too. So as Rhonda and I sat on the bed, we discussed what we wanted to talk about with Kusum. Rhonda was memorizing a story in Hindi and I suggested she try and share it with Kusum. It was the story of Jesus calming the storm.

While Rhonda was practicing I noticed a movement on the floor out of the corner of my eye. I'm use to seeing mice so I thought that was what it was. Sure enough, I saw the little guy. It was white, which is unusual. Then Rhonda saw what she thought was another one, but was actually the same one that moves fast from one place to another. I started thinking that maybe this was a pet since it was white. So I yelled to Kusum to ask her. She came in and called for "Kichi" to come. She grabbed the little creature and put him on the bed next to me. Normally I would freak out, but I kept my cool. On closer look I decided that this wasn't a mouse, but a rat. And I remember that rats are actually quite clean creatures and don't bite. I learned that from a pet store. So I picked up the rat.

I thought about all the diseases we could be getting. Why am I holding a rat? I put Kichi back on the ground for him to run around. He went in some bowls and cups, looking for food. He climbed on some clothes on the floor. I wonder if those bowls get washed well and disinfected? I wonder about our chai cups and if Kichi had had chai out of them before? Kusum put him back on the bed and he smelled our snacks. Rhonda was quick to pull him away and tell him "no Kichi!" Then we ate and drank our chai.

Rhonda got to share two stories with Kusum. She first shared Jesus calming the storm and then the woman at the well. I asked Kusum to tell us the story back and she did great.

Why do we do the things we do? Why do we drink water that could make us wake up with the runs? Why do we eat on plates that a rat ate on? Why on earth did I hold a rat? Just so we can share these stories with Kusum. When we were preparing to leave, Kusum told us her husband was sick and I told her we would pray for him. And as we walked away we rejoiced that God's word was shared and that He will use it in Kusum.