Lem came speeding in his golf cart over to where I was on the last day of Lifest.
“I get it now,” Lem, a Lifest volunteer leader said. “I thought I got it before, but I really get it now! Your story makes perfect sense now.”
Rewind two weeks before Lifest. The volunteer leadership had gotten together to go over last minute preparations for Lifest. Darrell, my roommate, and I were there to discuss the new accessibility team and how best to help Lifest guests with disabilities. I opened with a passage from Luke 5:17.
As the Lifest group come together as volunteers, I compared them to the men who helped carry the paralyzed man to see Jesus. Luke 5:19-20 When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
Lem’s eyes were wide as he told me about the experience he had on Saturday. A Lifest guest that used a power wheelchair to get around was checking out all that was going on at Lifest. One of the things he noticed was a ride.
Saturday afternoon the Lifest guest had found me and told me about what he had just done. “I went on the bungee cord ride!” he said. I was a bit surprised, but happy. I thought to myself, how in the world did he get up to the ride? I wish I would have seen what had transpired, but I can imagine what happened.
The Lifest guest had spotted the bungee cord ride and saw others go high into the air. He too wanted to try it. A group of people were in the area at the time. The guest expressed his interest in the ride. Lem and the others carefully lifted him from his wheelchair. They lifted him up to the platform. They got him strapped into the harness. The ride operator got it ready to launch.
I asked him if he could see Oshkosh. A huge smile lit his face as he said “Yes!”
Lem and the others had come together to help in what may have seemed an impossible feat.
“I thought I had got your story before, but I really get it now,” Lem said, “Thank you!”
No, thanks to you and the others that helped and continue to.
