by Tad Lindley
Fun things to do idea #491
Go around your town or village and observe all persons walking. Keep a count of those who walk with a limp, and those who do not. Make sure that you do not double count anyone. When you are done, divide the number of people that limp by the total number of people counted. This will give you a percentage of people who limp.
On our way down to the boat harbor, my daughter and I came up with fun things to do idea #491. We spent the next couple of hours monitoring the population of Bethel from the safety of our vehicle. What we learned is alarming.
The frightening results
Over fifty percent of the forty-one men in our study were found to walk with a limp! I am almost wondering if YKHC needs to develop a new department, the Limping Therapy Group. Folks this is very serious. The young men in our study who are limping in their teenage years will no doubt develop much more serious back problemslater in life.
Let the real limpers unite
We did witness older men who had obviously sustained some injury and were forced to hobble around. Something happened in their younger years that forever changed their gait. My concern is with all the wannabe limpers.
Perhaps you have witnessed a young man who is walking quite normally, when suddenly he sees a group of young ladies approaching. Instantly he goes into limp mode. It is as if he thinks that they will find him more attractive if he is crippled.
Get your own limp
One young man that I interviewed explained his fake limp to me. He was copying a rap star who claimed to have a legitimate limp. The rapper’s limp was alleged to have come from being shot in a drive by shooting.
The most famous limper in history
There was a man who had a real limp in ancient times. He was so famous that there is a modern country named after him. His limp was real. It came from God.
Jacob was born able to walk normally. He got married and had a large family. He was not a godly man. Jacob believed in God, but he was prone to cheating people. It was not until one night as a middle-aged man he met with the Lord in prayer. “Met” is the wrong word. He “wrestled” with the Lord in prayer (Genesis 32:24-32).
Throughout the night Jacob wrestled. At first it appears that he is wrestling a human. At the end it is apparent that it was God, for he says, “I have seen God face to face, and my life has been preserved” (32:30).
Jacob was hanging onto the Lord, refusing to let go. As morning came, the Lord told Jacob to let go. Jacob refused to let go until the Lord blessed him. It is at this point in time that two things happened to Jacob. The first is that his name was changed to Israel. The second, the Lord touched his thigh so he would walk with a limp the remainder of his life. Whenever people saw Israel limping, they would know that it was a result of the fact that he got a hold of God and wouldn’t let go.
Is your limp fake?
When a person really gets a hold of Jesus through repentance, prayer, and fasting, they will walk different. They will not go some of the places that they used to. Their attitudes and behaviors will change. Unfortunately, this type of walk can be faked. Just like the young men that put on a fake limp in the presence of women, Christians all too often have a fake limp in the presence of the preacher. In church we may know exactly when to say, “Amen”. We may shout at the right times, and cry when we should cry, but the important question is, how do we walk when it is just us and our family? How do we walk when we are alone? Am I a hypocrite, or a Christian?
Israel’s limp was deep inside of him. The Lord literally touched the hollow of his thigh and caused the sinew to shrink (32:32). His walk never changed. Even when he was in private, he still limped. Even when it was just him and his kids, he still limped. Let that be our testimony as well: our walk changed by God always the same, headed toward the strait gate.
Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, Alaska.
