This is a post I shared on Facebook for those of you who are not on it.😉
LOVE and FIGHT
Why do I FIGHT for treatments for ALS? LOVE.
What exactly is LOVE? Have you ever thought, do they even know how much I LOVE them?
Does my wife know how much I LOVE her? Do my kids know how much I LOVE them? Do my brothers and sisters know how much I LOVE them?
I LOVE them so much, I'd die for them. If they are sick, I'd take their place, so they don't have to suffer. Have you ever thought that? I often feel that about my kids. They are 30 and 27 now, and I still feel that way. We want the absolute best for them. We don't want them to make the same mistakes we made. My brother Stephen once told me an analogy that he told his kids. He said " Imagine life is like a test. You're nervous and don't know the answers. Well, there's good news! I took the test. I know the right answers and the wrong answers. You only have to ask me. And you will ace the test." We don't want them to have hardships or pain.
When they hurt, I (we) hurt. Again, we do this, because we LOVE them.
When I think about my wife, my children, my brothers, my sisters, my parents, my in laws, my nephews, my nieces, my cousins, my uncles, my aunts, my brother in laws, my sister in laws, and lastly, my friends. The thought of any of these people listed above getting ALS makes me sick. If you are reading this, you obviously fall into one of these categories.
I FIGHT for treatments and hopefully some day a cure for ALS. I don't think you understand how much I LOVE you. I don't want another person to FIGHT ALS. I'll take this and FIGHT for You. That's LOVE.
That makes me think of 1 thing. Who LOVES us that much? God. Did you relate to any of the things listed above? Do you LOVE anyone that much? That's how much God LOVES us. He knew that there should be consequences for our sin. He sent his son Jesus to die for our sins. That's LOVE. He took the test, all we have to do, is ask. Why do we go through hardships, why do we suffer physically? Sometimes it's a tough pill to swallow. We say, why is this happening to me? There is always a big picture. For me, I think it's to show people that in tough times, to lean on God's strength and see his LOVE for me. We don't understand why bad things happen to good people. If our life was so easy and smooth, we wouldn't typically call out to God. We typically call out to God in tough times. I FIGHT every day to make a difference in the ALS community. I LOVE you all that much. I don't want you, or one of your loved ones to FIGHT this horrible disease. I'll take the pain. I'll FIGHT for you. Do you see the correlation between LOVE and FIGHT?
Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of life is Eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." We just have to ask.
I am sure that there will be treatments available some day soon for ALS, and that will someday lead to a cure. I am hopeful that these treatments that are stuck in the FDA process will be available to me soon. But in all honesty, I believe that I am mostly FIGHTING for you.
I often get frustrated in trying to explain that ANYONE can get ALS. We often hear about people that get sick and say...Oh that's sad, but in our minds say, "That'll never happen to me." I can tell you, I would have thought that. No doubt. After all, my family history has nothing. Almost my entire family has lived a long life. Most dying of old age. How did this happen to me? Why did this happen to me? There is a much bigger picture, that God only knows.
When you see the sunrise, when you see the sunset, when you see a rainbow, those are reminders of God's LOVE. What about the storm's? The tornadoes, the hurricanes, etc? These are also a reminder of God's LOVE. He wants us to lean on Him for strength, even though it's not so pretty. A friend once told me, "We all have disabilities, just some are more visible than others."
I'm still FIGHTING for you and me. I LOVE you ALL.
Matty 😉
