Parable of the Knee, Glimpse #4

It’s been an amazing week with God. He’s pouring out so much from His Word that I feel as if a fire hose has been directed at me. The analogy breaks down a bit though because the stream isn’t hard-hitting or damaging. It’s just full on, powerful and totally drenching. I simply can’t take in all that He’s showing me.

As a matter of fact, the problem is becoming so severe that I’m beginning to think that I may need to post more than once a week. Maybe I need to continue on with the Parable once a week and post one of my new lessons once a week. At least then I might have a hope of keeping up and keeping things straight.

Right now I want to take the next step in the process of addressing the weakness and pain in my knee. Having decided that the list of negative consequences was long enough to warrant serious attention, I turned my focus to seeking medical care. I’ll try to make this phase much shorter, sweeter and easier for you than it was for me.

I had decided a couple of years earlier that I needed to find a new primary care physician, but Maine being Maine I spent several days over several months to no avail. That meant that I had to start with the Nurse Practitioner whom I had been seeing. After a brief chat she assured me that the problem was not related to the bone. She informed me that since it had to do with soft tissue she would like me to see an orthopedist. Since the orthopedist would need to read any MRI films she let me know that it wouldn’t do any good to schedule such tests at this point. She then left the room to get me the contact information for a couple of orthopedists she recommended.

Curt was with me during the “examination” and we commented about her wizardry with diagnoses since she hadn’t even touched my knee but could rule out any bone problems – not to mention that she had immediately nixed the need for any x-rays. And all within about 15 minutes. Even though we were in awe of her expertise [a little sarcasm there], being the cynics we are, we affected a measured response. I graciously received the referral information, but assured her that I would contact the physicians directly and didn’t need the assistance of her office. We wanted to move our medical care to another hospital’s area of service anyway. So took this as a final stepping off place.

The next day I spent over two hours on the phone with our insurance carrier trying to find a physician, either a primary care or an orthopedist. May God bless the office person who carefully went through name after name to find someone within the proper geographic area who was covered by our plan. I ended up with two names to pursue that led me to make appointments with both an orthopedist and a primary care physician. The orthopedist appointment happened much sooner than the primary care, but that was fine with me.

Dr. M chatted with me about the original injury. He seemed a bit surprised that the Nurse Practitioner hadn’t ordered x-rays yet was able to diagnose that the problem didn’t have anything to do with the bones. [Curt and I shared a knowing look.] He examined my knee quite extensively and then, not to our surprise, ordered some x-rays. Evidently they do have a purpose in the world of medical diagnosis. Since there is an x-ray tech on site, the pictures were taken and we waited for the results.

Dr. M came back in and pushed the x-rays under the clip on the lighted board. He inspected them closely and said that the only problem appeared to be a bit of “wearing” on the inside surfaces of the __________ - you know, the knee bones. J I guess that was in order for someone “of my age.” Since bone problems were definitely ruled out, Dr. M let us know that it was most definitely a soft tissue problem and probably something to do with the meniscus. That’s the padding between the _______ upper leg bone and the _______ lower leg bone. He directed me to have an MRI done to confirm his suspicions.

Frankly, I began to wonder if I was going to have to wait another couple of months to get one of those special procedures scheduled. I know how much the MRI machines are in demand. Thankfully, the new hospital is quite efficient and my knee would be able to be photographed three days later. I am so thankful that God has given me a flexible schedule!

The staff at the hospital was wonderful. I was able to bring my own CD to listen to during the procedure. I chose Carry Away by Shane & Shane and it truly did carry me away. The noisy clunking and buzzing was over before I knew it. If anything, it reminded me of a dryer with a dozen pairs of sneakers bouncing around in it. It wasn’t too bad, but I was glad when it was finished. Now that I’d done my part, I was looking forward to Dr. M's report. From the first orthopedist appointment until the final diagnosis was only going to be one week. I was pleased!

As I report on this phase of the process through which God was bringing me, I can see the repetition of so many situations in my life, maybe even life itself. I’m faced with a nagging problem and I choose to disregard it and continue on with what’s in front of me. I make adjustments and think everything is fine while the underlying problem continues to have its far-reaching affect. This process carries on until I can no longer ignore the buried issue. Then everything else stops while I finally address it.

I’m sure you’re right beside me in realizing that if I’d just taken the knee seriously at the beginning I would have avoided a lot of things. I would have saved myself a lot of distress, inconvenience, pain, etc. I’ll go a step further and admit that everybody around me would have been spared a bunch of disruption as well. [Sorry, guys!] Who knows what other effects I’m unaware of that would not have occurred if I hadn’t tried so hard to sidestep the obvious. [pun intended]

Suddenly I’m reminded of my life before Christ. No, I’m not that old. I was born in the A.D. calendar not B.C. :-) I mean the time before I came to recognize and receive the gift of eternal life Christ offered me through His sinless life, crucifixion, death and resurrection. There was a nagging problem in my life that kept me off-balance and in pain. I was in distress and I knew it. I wasn’t able to function properly and it was obvious to me. Yet, I chose to disregard it and continue on with what was in front of me. I made adjustments and acted as if everything was fine while the underlying problem continued to have its far-reaching affect. This process carried on until I could no longer ignore the buried issue.

On that great day in 1972 I put a halt to the hiding, the avoiding, the ignoring. I called out to God to end my weakness and pain. The sin in my life was overwhelming before this Holy God. I confessed it and felt the sweet relief of the truth found in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Looking back over the time leading up to my conversion, I’ve come to realize that just as with the process of seeking medical care for my knee, God was leading me all along the way.

God allowed and even caused the weakness and pain and its affects on my life. He used everything at His disposal to draw me unto Himself. Just as He took me slowly, purposefully through the justification process, He is leading me through the various, less-than-perfect situations in my life. He does what He needs to in order to get my attention and He takes me where I need to go, to be. The glory of it all is that no matter how painful or endless or hopeless it all looks, God is right beside me working it all out for my benefit. Romans 8:28 Oh, I am so thankful!

So what was the final diagnosis, you're wondering. Well, I’m not ready to divulge that information. There are still a number of chapters to go in this parable and I don’t want to rush ahead. Please do check in again to find out what Dr. M had to say about my MRI. Until then, may God bless you with your own glimpses of who He is and how much He loves you.