The LOVE of a young boy's heart

Yesterday afternoon as I was leaving Kohl's Department store on South 27th Street, a young black boy was standing just outside the door and called out something to me that I couldn't quite catch so I leaned in closer and he said, "Could I please have 1 or 2 dollars so I can take my mom out to dinner for her birthday tonight?"

I must admit right here that my "red flags" went up. Who is this boy? Is this some sort of scam? I thought. It's unfortunate how naturally it was for my first thought to be one of judgment, instead of mercy.

But then I looked into his tear-filled eyes and I KNEW. This was NO SCAM - this sweet boy NEEDED HELP. He needed MY help right then.

I knew I wasn't just going to hand over some money to him so I began asking him some questions, and was QUITE astonished, humbled, AMAZED - whatever you want to call it, when he told me his story:

His name Is Breoine and he is 11 years old in the 6th grade. He took 3 BUSES from 60th & Silver Spring Drive to the south side to collect some money that a friend owed him - $26.00 to be exact. It was just enough money to cover both of their dinners plus a soda at Old Country Buffet (his mom's favorite restaurant). You see - it was her birthday and they didn't have enough money to go out to dinner. His aunt was due to arrive at 3:30pm to pick them up, but she could only afford her meal, not theirs.

Unfortunately, his friend didn't show up at the bus stop like he said he was going to. And I don't think he knew how to get to his house and he had no phone to call him. Poor Breoine didn't know what to do.........he told his mom he would be back at 3:30p.m. (it was now 2:30pm) with the money so they could go out to dinner.

He knew he didn't want to return empty handed so he had started walking around in front of Kohl's asking people for a few dollars, hoping to collect enough money and get home by 3:30pm. He told me he really hadn't had much luck collecting anything but a few dollars.

And that's when he ran into ME. Remember - I don't believe in "coincidences" so I KNEW I needed to help him in someway. But how?

Well, I immediately went into action. I knew I needed to get him home safely and very soon, with $26 in his pocket. I knew I wasn't about to put him back on the bus, that's for sure. Plus it was COLD outside.

I asked him if he would feel comfortable coming with me in my car; that I would drive him home and give him the money so he could take his mom out to dinner.  I explained how he should never get in the car with a "stranger", but in this case I felt like God, out of His great LOVE for HIM, placed me in his life at the perfect moment to help him. I told him that he could trust me. He agreed probably out of desperation and hopelessness at this point. What other choice did he have, really?

I brought him first to our house to tell Mark what was going on (I must say he was quite surprised at what I came home with this time :)) I also wanted Breoine to meet my family for some reason. I wanted MY KIDS to meet him because I knew there had to be a lesson to be learned for all of us. Naturally, he was afraid of dogs so poor Daisy May had to be put in a separate room. We invited him in to get warm, offered him some food/drink. Mark and the kids chatted with him a bit. What a nice, sweet, innocent boy......trying SO hard to give his momma a good birthday. Doing whatever it took - Wow! -  now THAT is LOVE in action!

Megan decided to ride along with us and off we went. Thankfully, he knew his address and my little lady (GPS) directed me to his house without a hitch.

I used our time in the car to get to know Breoine better. There are a total of 5 kids (ages 18, 15, 13, 11, 6 - 3 boys and 2 girls), plus mom living in their house. Dad comes around here and there. Actually he said there are 2 different dad's that come around. Mom use to work at McDonald's and was going to school, but somehow is now disabled in some way and out of work and school; "she's in A LOT of pain",  he said. So this year he said no one got ANY Christmas presents because there just wasn't any money. He said in the past they've always gotten shoes, clothes, and maybe a board game.

My biggest concern was whether or not he or his siblings were being neglected or abused in some way. I didn't get that feeling. They weren't going hungry, they had a home to live in.....he obviously loved his mom and his siblings a lot. Good, I thought.

BUT then I asked him if they had enough clothes. He said what he had on was all he owned because his cousin had been stealing his clothes and now there was no money to buy him anymore. Oh my! I thought as my heart was breaking. And all along there was Megan in the back seat saying nothing, just listening. What in the world is SHE thinking as she hears his story?

He didn't want me to drop him off at his house because he figured his mom would be upset with him getting a ride from a complete stranger (good idea!) So I pulled into a McDonald's parking lot within walking and viewing distance from his house and let him out.

Before he shut the door, Megan wrote on a small piece of paper my cell phone number. I told him to tuck it away in a safe place, and that if he ever needed anything, or was ever scared or in trouble, that he could call me anytime.

He smiled and I noticed something different in his eyes when he said "Thank You." And then he shut the door. We watched him walk to his house, and just before entering his door, he turned around and waved at us.

Phew! Our drive home was quiet. I was trying to process it all. It was like I had been in a dream. Did this really happen? I wondered. What are we suppose to do with this information now?

As usual with me, I began thinking about the lesson that was suppose to be learned through all of this, for us, for him. Possibly we ALL needed to learn something from what happened yesterday afternoon.

What I do KNOW FOR SURE is that I learned (and hopefully my kids, too):

• How strong LOVE is. How LOVE can motivate you to do anything. It can give you Strength when you have none. LOVE gives you Hope. 
• How far and deep a son's love is for his mother. Any child for that matter.
• To be grateful for everything we have. To be thankful to simply have another outfit to change into.
• HOW MUCH our kids got for Christmas this year, and this family got nothing.
•  When in doubt, always go with your "gut".
•  If you feel Peace, then that's a good sign.
•  You should always try to believe the best in people.
•  Sometimes you just need to take that "extra step" to help someone out, even if it is out of your comfort zone.
•  Prejudice serves no purpose. 
•  I know that I can't save the world, but that I can sure do my part.

I feel appreciative that my kids saw this kind of love in action.
I feel humbled to have been chosen to help him; that I was given the opportunity to extend him grace and mercy because I know that is what I would've wanted if I were HIM.
I am so grateful that I didn't pass him by out of busyness or judgment.
I feel so thankful that we learned, as a family, in a very tangible way about how much we are blessed.

Oh, we have some ideas in the "works" for the Walker family. On ways we can pass along LOVE to their family and to show Christ's LOVE to them even more. To BLESS them, as we have been BLESSED. Isn't that what Life is all about?

May you also be humbled by this story as I have. May you also learn something from his story that will change your life in some way. May you view LOVE in a whole different way, possibly from the view of a young boy who was simply trying to give his mom a great birthday, and the great lengths he was willing to go through to make that happen: to make his mom feel special on her day. Wow!

And to simple see, as I have, that IT IS ALL ABOUT LOVE.

The Glory of It All

Oh the Glory of it All
David Crowder Band

At the start
He was there, He was there
In the end,
He’ll be there, He’ll be there

And after all our hands have wrought
He forgives

Oh the Glory of it all is:
He came here
For the rescue of us all
that we may live
for the glory of it all
for the glory of it all

All is lost
find Him there, find Him there
After night
Dark is there, Dawn is there

After all falls apart
He repairs He repairs

Oh the Glory of it all is:
He came here
for the rescue of us all
that we may live
for the glory of it all

oh He is here
for the redemption for my soul
that we may live
for the glory of it all
oh the glory of it all
the glory of it all
oh the glory of it all

After night
comes the light
dawn is here
dawn is here
it’s a new day
it’s a new day
everything will change
things will never be the same
we will never be the same
we will never be the same
we will never be the same
we will never be the same

Oh, The glory of it all is
you came here
for the rescue of us all
that we may live
for the glory of it all

Oh you are here
with redemption for us all
that we may live
for the glory of it all
for the glory of it all
oh the glory of it all

I am 38-years old and I think this is the first Christmas that I have truly started to grasp The Glory of It All - the true meaning of THIS day - Christ's Birthday: December 25th.

And when I listen to this song by the David Crowder Band, I am humbly reminded, once again, of the true meaning of Christmas Day.

I hope my children grasp this much, much sooner than I have.

Every year at this time I struggle with: How many presents are too many for the kids? Are we spending too much money? Did we do this or that ENOUGH this year in Jesus' name for HIS birthday? How do we keep JESUS as the center of the holiday in the midst of all the chaos? How do I, me - personally, Lori, keep Jesus as MY focus?

I struggle with feeling like each year that we have failed them (and God) in someway. Like we didn't focus on JESUS enough or something. I know it's not about feeling guilty, but it is so EASY to go there. 

Well, this year as I watched the kids tear into their presents (isn't that a crazy sight to see?), I realized that they DO know what THIS day is about. It is what they've heard and been taught all of their lives. They know THIS DAY IS ABOUT JESUS, but they are simply kids, naturally getting caught up in all the "fun", just like we adults can so simply do as well.

What they DON'T GET, at least I don't think so, and what I am just starting to get right now is,  
The Glory Of It All.

He could have shown up in the richest, most beautiful mansion clothed in rich garments, but instead.......God sent His only Son to Earth in the form of a baby under those dire circumstances to RESCUE US because we sure needed it, and God knew it. He was willing to watch His only Son suffer and die out of His LOVE FOR each one of us. That is how much He wants us restored to Him.

It's that simple: JESUS is the GIFT. 

 And it is all about Love.

If we could ALL just grasp that TODAY, Christ's Birthday...It's all about LOVE.

The GIFT of forgiveness. The GIFT of redemption. The GIFT of eternal Life.  The GIFT of peace and calm in the midst of the storms of Life. The GIFT of a relationship with Jesus.

I imagine the Christmas "tag" attached to Jesus's sweet little foot saying:
TO: My Child
FROM: With Love from God

Just like any other GIFT given to us by any dear loved one, we have to accept HIS GIFT into our hearts with thankfulness and gratitude.

And to be willing to CHANGE, or at least try to.


BUT we have to let His Love IN. Love is calling out to YOU. And I believe Love is worth taking the chance for.

You will never be the same; I know I haven't been.

Then you will KNOW that you have never walked this path of Life alone, and that you never will; that you have a Father in Heaven who Loves you beyond measure; One who will never leave you; One that you can count on; One who frees you from your guilt, lightens your load, gives you strength and peace to make it through Life's darkest moments. And to have the security of KNOWING that you are being carried through ALL the hills and valleys of Life.

Wow! What a gift!

So I end this post with a these words for all of my family and friends but particularly for my children: Matthew, Megan, and Luke; and also those I have yet to meet and call Friend:  

That you also may also grasp The Glory Of It All this Christmas Day and everyday, as I think I finally have after 38 years. I guess I'm a work in progress.

As you can see from our "Christmas photo", we are all doing very well and are extremely blessed. We are so thankful to the One who's birthday we celebrate today.

    Merry Christmas to you & your family!

Health update

I saw Dr.Borden (Lyme disease doctor) yesterday and wanted to "update" people who are following me on my health journey.

As I figured, my body is in an ACTIVE state of fighting off Lyme disease right now, more so than ever before. I sort of knew this because of how bad some of my symptoms have been in the past 3 months. It seems every symptom I have has either intensified or changed in some way. Or I have new symptoms now to add to the mix. What is going on with this, getting worse and worse instead of better? I have often thought over and over.

So I reported to the doc that I've been dealing with this awful, chronic pain in my neck/shoulders/back that is a "new" symptom that my current pain medications aren't even touching. It has actually been quite comical in our house lately if you are able look for the humor in the situation: Mark on the floor doing HIS back stretching exercises for HIS back problem, and now me, with mine. If you were a fly on the wall you would definitely think: It sure looks like they are getting OLD in this house.

Dr. Borden says this is a good sign (what?), and a very strong indicator that my body is FINALLY at a place of being able to get rid of Lyme disease.

We've sort of come full circle is what he said. You see, when I first came to him back in May, I had already been taking strong antibiotics for 8 months and getting nowhere. I had already seen 15+ "doctors", I had already "tried" everything. I was at the end of my rope. I went into that appointment knowing he was my last ditch effort. I think he knew it, too, but took on my case with a strong confidence that he could get me well, as he has seen it happen many times before.

But because I, and my vast load of "specialists" weren't EVER treating the cause of WHY I was sick, but rather the "symptoms"......is WHY I couldn't ever get well.

Dr. Borden's treatment approach goes after the CAUSE of disease - period. Even if you have cancer (he & I had a very interesting talk about that, by the way). He deals mostly with Lyme Disease and all of its nasty friends, but is always after the CAUSE of why someone is sick.

In my case, Lyme disease had attacked my whole endocrine system, particularly my thyroid and adrenal glands. The bacteria gets in your body and "attacks" different organs and glands causing major disruption. Taking all the hormones in the world to "treat" my low hormones wasn't ever going to help because they weren't the CAUSE of my sickness. Eating a gluten free diet because I have Celiac Disease wasn't going to cut it either. Spending a year working with a nutritionist to change around my diet didn't help either. Taking every and all different supplements weren't the answer. Repeating and adding on more and more "tests" wasn't going to get me there either.

That is what I've been doing since 2002, but had already felt sick the majority of my life.

Some clarification is probably needed at this point: along with Lyme Disease, it is very common to also get coinfections, that are often WORSE than lyme, mimic a "parasite", come in groups, and are very often missed (as in my case). Plus, the craziest thing is - the blood tests for coinfections are even more unreliable than the ones for Lyme.

The CAUSE of WHY I've been sick all of these years IS Lyme, but because of the coinfections "being in the way", there was no way of getting at the lyme bacteria itself. Get it? I finally got it, once he explained it that way to me.

That's what Dr.Borden's goal was: to get all the other "infections" out of the way so we could directly ATTACK and ERADICATE Lyme Disease - FINALLY.

Well friends..........I am now at that point in this long, long health journey. With so many ups and downs, I can't even count.

I NEEDED to know - so I just asked him, with much trepidation, because I have asked THAT one question thousands of times it seems: How long until I feel better?

He only paused for a second (he's always remained the confident one). Of course, (because it's in my nature, which isn't always a good thing), I didn't wait for his answer. Instead I said again: Please DO NOT tell me years, please. Maybe by next summer? Is that even a possibility?And he said, Definitely. 


I sort of sat there, stunned for a moment by his answer. Are you serious? I thought. I'm only looking at living like this for less than 6 months after ALL of this time? Seriously? Oh my! I don't even KNOW what it FEELS like to feel HEALTHY. Will I even recognize it when it comes? All of these thoughts swirled around in my head as I was paying my bill, gathering my new medications, and wishing him and his staff a Merry Christmas.

I believe God whispered through Dr. Borden at that PERFECT moment exactly what my soul needed to hear, especially at this time of year: HOPE.

Hope that I WILL finally beat this disease once and for all. Hope that there IS a light at the end of this tunnel. Hope that I WILL feel healthy and strong and ALIVE soon. Hope that this journey has been worth it; that I can use what I've learned to help someone else.

Thank you to all of you who have hung in there with me; those who have been there to lean on, talk to, cry to, vent on, whatever....you know who you are and I hope you know how much I appreciate all of the support and encouragement along the way.

Please pray for me if you think of it, that I am able to continue to "hang in there" while I patiently wait for Healing to come. That I stay Hopeful.