What it means to walk alongside.

I was thinking about where I am at and how I got here the other day. In explaining the ministry to as many people as possible I have tried hard not to make my "pitch" too monotone and rehearsed but to really speak from the heart. It gets difficult to be original when you say the same things over and over all the time. I didn't like this routine feeling so I thought about what I would say if someone just said "5 minutes...go."

When I was at camp with capernaum kids this summer, me and my buddy Sean got sick on day 3. We woke up around 3am and began to vomit till about breakfast. We ended up spending most of the day in the infirmary at camp and didn't do much. We napped in the bunks there and I made sure Sean was comfortable, as well as myself, so that we could be healthy to enjoy the rest of camp. The next morning we were both feeling much better but still not up to par. At the pool I asked another kid, John, if he wanted to go on the water slide. He excitedly agreed so I unstrapped him from his wheelchair and proceeded to carry him up the stairs to the slide about 3 times before I had to stop because of my lingering feelings of sickness. As I rested in the spa with him he was leaning against my shoulder. As I pondered about the day I saw two teenagers with autism that were a couple. The girl lovingly rubbed a boys back and he reached out to hold her hand.

After all the doubt that crowded my mind in sickness I realized something I saw to be profound in my life...this is it. This is what it means to walk alongside kids. Everything from sickness, happiness, need, joy and relationships. I was being able to live out what it meant to invest in people. I wasn't just volunteering with a special needs ministry. I was getting sick with Sean and riding slides with John. I wasn't just being present, I was being involved. Everything I did affected them and everything they did affected me.

Disconnect only comes when we deny others...when we deny God. We are created to be connected and our feelings of alienation are lies. We are loved by a God who chooses to walk alongside us in EVERTHING. How much more does he hurt with me in my sickness and share in my joy?