Why Getting Sick is Fun.

     Isn't getting sick fun?  PSYCH!!  No, it really isn't.  In fact most sicknesses are absolutely miserable and prove even more dreary when you can't do what you were planning to or wanted to do.  Thus was the case with me for the last couple days.  My bed was my home, and I was confined to the camp the group was staying at.  I wont go into details,  but I had a rampant stomach ache and a fever.  Not too bad, and to make it even better, the sickness was called "amoebas."  How neat is that?  Pretty neat.  The actual bad part about it was that I couldn't be with my group as they ministered to kids and helped out in some feeding center in some beautiful mountain region of Guatemala.

    Now if I was in good ole 'merica things would be different.  I could go eat a Frosty and watch Hannah Montana all day long while I lay on a comfortable pool raft.  But instead I was laying on a board thinly veiled by a poor excuse for a mattress.  All alone.  By myself.  Without any friends.

    But enough with the pity party!  Instead of moping for the day, it was nice to amble around the camp and look at the beautiful scenery that consisted of stunning mountain views and trees that I don't recognize.  It was in these hours that I came to a realization.  Comfort is overrated in your walk with God!  I would have much rather not been sick and out in the field with my group.  I would have preferred not having my stomach rot away on an uncomfortable bed with some unknown disease inside me.  But truly, if serving Jesus means following him to the ends of the earth, and if living for God means moving mountains in his Son's name, and if submitting to the King of Kings means doing his will, then where do you draw the line between the comfortable and the uncomfortable?  Where would you get it you retreat back to the familiar every time God challenged you?  Surely your faith would be dead.  

     After realizing this, my mindset changed.  While I didn't want to be sick, there was stuff for me to do to honor him at the camp.   I prayed.  I prayed alone with God, I prayed for the people on the trip, and I enjoyed God's creation around me.  To be honest, it was one of the most strangely refreshing days I've ever had in my life, even if it involved throwing up a little.  God has a plan for everything, even things that seem absolutely miserable at the time.  And that's why getting sick is fun. Ta-daaaa!

God bless!

-Tim Scheller