My brother in law and I took our wives, both of our mothers, one of my sons, my sister, and a cousin to dinner this evening to celebrate Valentines Day. The Outback Restaurant on Laguna Boulevard in Elk Grove was crowded, but we had called in the day before for a quasi reservation.
The lady had told me on the phone that Outback does not do reservations, but that by calling I would get some consideration if we got there before 6 pm. So we arrived at 5:25 pm and were promptly seated. Bad economy? Not at this location tonight. It as packed.
We had a fine dinner and lots of laughs. I should mention that my son, who I have written about before, is 23 years old. He was born prematurely and has cerebral palsy, is legally blind (but has functional vision), and functions well but not at a high intellectual level. He does live with a roomate with support from Creative Living Options, a non profit agency located here in Sacramento.
On the way out of the restaurant a young couple approached our group of nine. The young gentleman stated that he had noticed my son walking with a cane and he felt compelled to come over. He asked if he could say a prayer with my son. We thought it was a bit strange here in the parking lot at Outback, but agreed anyway. He then asked AJ, my son, that if God could cure him so he could walk normally, would he want that? My son, who has a habit of not answering questions the way you and I might, stated, No. This setback did not stop our prayer leader. He then asked AJ if he could pray with him. AJ said yes.
The gentleman then prayed for a few moments with AJ and then we all said thank you and parted ways.
We had a good discussion later about this situation. Some in our family felt that it was ridiculous for this man to presume that AJ needed fixing. Who was he to judge that God had not made AJ the way He wanted? With so many problems in the world, and AJ not one of them, why was he wasting time on this when others may have real fixable problems. AJ's condition cannot be helped, but some homeless man nearby could use some real help. Was this man just seeking to feel good about himself with his semi-public prayer but doing no real good?
I have to admit, being the father of a handicapped son, it may be nice to have a prayer said for AJ, but I have not seen a prayer answered for him in 23 years that came close to "fixing" him. My wife and I accept AJ for who and what he is and work every day to make sure his life is as full and rich as our other two adult children.
Feeling sorry for someone that you do not know is not any type of help. Saying a prayer may seem nice, but I am not sure what it does for someone like AJ. My suggestion is to actually do something for someone, such as volunteer work, donations, or your life work for pay. Those are real solutions.
Happy Valentines Day!
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