Blessed Insurance

Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up...-James 5:14-15

I should start by assuring you all that no one is currently sick (feverishly knocks on wood).

But

Young people do tend to get sick or fall down in a structurally unpleasant way, so I’ve been looking around to see if I can get health insurance for the big kids. The rest of us don’t have this problem because we are fortunate enough to have social security numbers. The big kids are on student visas rather than immigrant visas, so the regular channels for insurance are closed to them. Further complicating matters is the fact that they are young. Colleges have special insurance programs for foreign students but middle schools don’t. I looked on the internet, I called local hospitals, I contacted social services – anyone I could think of that might know something.

The state people were particularly helpful; they sent me an application for Medicaid (on the front page it says, “Be sure you have your social security number ready”) and a voter registration card. Wow. Way to completely misunderstand everything I told you.

For the moment, our insurance policy is James 5. If you are any kind of rational human being, you are probably also thinking that that is no way to live. If one of the kids comes down wrong on their foot while playing soccer in the yard, we’re totally screwed. That’s just crazytown!

This is either Jesus about to heal the sick
OR
Mitch Hedberg doing to killer stand-up

You may have noticed from previous blog entries that I am a pretty religious woman. I <3 Jesus.

But

Now that I am backed into a corner and forced to put the health of my kids and our family’s financial future solely in the hands of God, I find my faith would feel a whole lot sturdier if I had some insurance. Which is basically the same as no faith at all.

I am a Christian! I believe in healing and miracles! You know, for other people.

I always used to give the ancient Israelites such a hard time for their lack of faith. Come on guys! Why all the doubt? Didn’t you just see, like with your very own eyeballs, God’s salvation? He released you from slavery and you freaked out at the Re(e)d Sea. He parted the waters, and you freaked out about the desert. He fed you heaven-o’s, you drank water out of a freaking ROCK and not ten minutes later, you freaked right the crap out about fighting giants.

Seriously guys? Why can’t you remember for two consecutive chapters how great and mighty God is?

Yup. Now I get it. I totally understand.

Didn’t I just see God move heaven and earth to get the kids their visas in the first place? Didn’t He, only a couple months ago, miraculously provide a dentist willing to donate over $3,000 worth of work for Gabriel’s mouth? These aren’t stories on a Sunday school flannelgraph; I have touched, I have experienced, I have seen the wonders of God Most High.

So why is faith so difficult?

Maybe this is why Jesus tells us that even a teeny weeny mustard seed-sized faith can accomplish the impossible. Don’t worry about shooting for the XXL version, just faith it up as best you can.

Do you know what Jesus was doing in Matthew 17 when he talks about moving mountains by faith? He was healing a boy of epilepsy.

How ‘bout that?