Sunday October 16, 2005

Sunday October 16, 2005 Zack slept in his own bed last night and woke up on his own at about 9:00. He came upstairs hungry so I decided to teach him how to make pancakes. He ate two before I had any ready for Logan and I asked him if he wanted another one. He said he did but he didn’t want me to have to make it. He is much more considerate. I took Zack to the High School worship service today. The youth minister acknowledged Zack and then asked where his friends were the night of the accident and the weeks preceding. He challenged all the teenagers there to hold each other accountable, to be brave enough to tell their friends when they think they are doing something wrong. It is a lesson that all of them needed to hear and I hope they learn it well now that they can watch Zack live it. They passed out puzzle pieces and each person had to go on stage to add their piece to the puzzle. As Zack walked across the stage he turned a grinned at everyone and I couldn’t help thinking how uninhibited he is now. He doesn’t worry about being cool but he does want to be normal. He didn’t want me sitting with him even though his friends don’t care. It doesn’t hurt my feelings (well maybe a little bit) because I know he just wants to be like everyone else and none of his friends have their mother hanging around. After church Scott took him to hit balls and then play golf with Andrew and Trey. Scott told me he was watching him on the green laughing and goofing off with his friends. It was a scene he thought he would never see again and it made him cry. Zack didn’t play that bad but he played much worse than he did before the accident. I think it is only a matter of time a practice before he gets his golf game back. We pray that he is able to try out for the golf team next year since his baseball days are over. He takes a nap when he gets home. Brittney and Kara meet us at our house to ride with us to church for the Vine service. Zack is excited that the girls are riding with us and then asked me if I had to sit with them (get over it!). The sermon was good and the music was perfect. I was afraid that it would be too loud and the lights too distracting for Zack but he loved it. I asked him if the music was too loud and he said no, he liked the music. He sang and I saw him watching the screen. I asked him if he could read the words and he said yes. It would be just like our awesome God to take away all the obstacles for Zack to read in order to worship him. Some songs he already knew but others were new and I could tell he was reading the words off the screen. Zack saw people raising their hands in worship and said he liked that. It was great to be there with him and we saw many of his friends. When we got home Tiffany had stopped by and we ate pizza. The girls went through a little photo album I had put together of Zack and his friends (to help him remember their names) and talked about school. Zack told Kara that he was definitely going to the Winter Ball. He said he might be going with her but he wasn’t sure. He also told her that he was going to be back in school with them soon. We talked about his accident and I reminded him that he had snuck out of his bedroom window. We discussed how you shouldn’t hang around with people older than you because you can end up in trouble. I’m not sure he believed me on the events leading up to the accident that night until the girls chimed in. I also explained that he could never smoke or drink because of his head injury or he would have seizures, but it was still OK to kiss girls. He agreed that that was a pretty good trade off as long as he could still kiss girls. It is obvious that he doesn’t remember the accident or the consequences of his actions that night. I told him he would have to sleep on a mattress in our room for the rest of his life if he didn’t agree to not sneak out of the house. He kept asking us then, “What am I not supposed to do?” Then he would repeat after us “No sneaking out of the house”. I hope many teenagers and preteens realize the decision that Zack made that night, to sneak out and go for a ride with a boy 3 years older than him, is why he is missing out on some of the best times of his teenage years. There is nothing out there worth three months of your life, your memory, your reading skills, your Junior retreat. Those that stay tucked safely in their beds at night are guaranteeing themselves a future. Learn to live the promises of God in scripture. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. Jeremiah 29:11
Pray that through Zack’s struggle many teens will learn to be content with the boundaries their parents set for them. Please pray for Zack to retrieve his reading skills and for a complete recovery.