John 20:29 “Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” I chose this as my life verse. I’ll get to the reason for that by the end of this article.

When we last left me (see previous post) I had had two operations in less then a 48-hour period. No matter what the reason that is tremendous wear on anyone’s body. After the second operation the doctors realized that I was leaking spinal fluid. The best medical solution was another operation. However, the doctors were convinced I would not survive if they did this procedure. Thankfully there was another option, though not guaranteed, that was to do a spinal tap. Though I admit I am not at all educated in what that entails; I can tell pain was involved; by this time pain and I were beyond a first name basis we were closer to meeting each other’s relatives. Fortunately the spinal tap did allow the needed healing. My hospital stay was a total of seven days. I was ready to return home heal the physical damage and return to my regularly scheduled programming. That’s not exactly how it worked out.

We (my parents and I) were about to get a rude awakening. When I got home to recover. Two things happened right away that told us something was not right. The first was I could hear sounds that no one else could. No, I am not referring to voices in my head! These were noises of movement, household appliances, and things. It’s hard to explain, but it was if someone had a megaphone by my ear; and was shouting. The second was I had zero energy. Sleeping could easily account for 12-16 hours of my day. Certainly my parents had no idea how to describe what was happening.

There happened to be a second component to this whole ordeal. That would be the company that had hired the dump I hit chose to come after our family for the accident. They insisted that I was at fault.

In the briefest of moments our family went from knowing what the future would be to literally (within seconds) everything completely turned upside down. Without a clear understanding of what it was that was going on. You talk about our faith in God being stretched; that would be an understatement!

This brings me to why John 20:29 as my life verse. Contrary to what I have heard in my years as a Christian I do not believe that it was Thomas doubting. I believe it was Thomas asking a question with conditions. Before you start questioning my Christianity please hear me out. Imagine with me if your pastor, or other spiritual mentor in your life suddenly died. Then your friends come, and tell you, “hey we saw so and so at the mall today…” This being after going their funeral; weeping with friends and family and seeing them put him/her into the ground! Would you instantly take them at their word? Myself I couldn’t do it. Lets also remember that early in the story the other disciples didn’t believe Mary Magdalene about His resurrection. Mark 16: 11 “And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. “ What does that make Thomas? HUMAN… He put Jesus in a preverbal box. He proposed the conditions on which he would believe. In this particular case Jesus met his proposal and so much more.

Back to question why this verse; its because of Jesus’s response, “…blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” Ladies and gentlemen that is a profound statement! Within the story I am unfolding with you I know what happens next, but do you think for a moment our family unit had a clue? Worst-case scenario my parents would be planning a funeral; best case I would be a disabled invalid the rest of my life. We didn’t know. “Blessed are they that have not see…” Does that mean we were perfect faith abiding Christians through the entire ordeal? Not a chance the tears, frustration, anger, and worry happened many a time but; to know God recognizes are faith in Him when we do not know where the journey will end is priceless. All he asks is that we believe in Him, and build a personal relationship with Him.

So, where does that leave poor Thomas; according to India historian William Dalrymple, and others Thomas started a Christian church in India. He continued to be faithful to God and His Word.

If we seek Him to find the truth God will hear and answer through prayer and His Word! I completely understand how hearing something like this during a time your struggling may seem of little comfort. Think about it this way you have someone (God) who is willing to just listen. You ever need that in your problems. Not a fix, not responsibility that needs taken care of, not another doctor to give you treatment options; just someone to listen. That’s God! Plus if you seek Him He can heal you, he can comfort you, he can provide encouragement, and direct you. He can do both either or, and so much more. Seek Him for yourself! (John 3:16)

So, that ends my take and application of Thomas’s story. What about mine you may ask? Keep following my blog at dontmindme130.com, and you’ll find out. Thanks for your time this week.