Josh's Story

This is a nonfiction narrative of something that happened to me while working at a home for people with disabilties

“. . .but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.”  John 9:3

 

Josh was awakened by the abrupt flood of light in his bedroom.  He turned his head away from the brightness and rubbed his face in his pillow.  He squeezed his eyes shut tight as if that might make the morning go away.

 “Hey Josh!” murmured the girl entering the room.  She moved to Josh’s boom box on the little chest of drawers across the room and selected a cassette tape from his New Testament Audio set.  She slid it into the tape deck and pressed play. 

As a deep, tender voice began reading from 1 John, the girl turned to Josh and sat down on the edge of his bed.  She turned back the covers and rolled Josh over to his back.  He opened his eyes briefly but continued to lie still, his face still flushed and creased from sleep.  The girl began to gently stretch Josh’s limbs as part of his daily range of motion routine.  She helped him dress and then took care to stop the cassette before they both left the room to take Josh down to breakfast.

As usual, Josh ate breakfast willingly, but it put him on edge.  The room was unbelievably noisy and it made him uneasy.  It hurt his head and he wanted nothing more than to go back to his bedroom.  His sanctuary.  His quiet place.  He joined in the cacophony of noise to voice his intense displeasure.

The girl sensed Josh’s discomfort and helped him back to his room just after he’d finished breakfast.  She settled him in his brown chair, opened the blinds, and turned him so that he could watch out the window.  Then, just before disappearing to finish her duties in the dining room with the other residents, she selected a Philips, Craig, and Dean CD and started it playing in his boom box.  Then she was gone.  

Josh basked in the peacefulness for a moment, contentedly chewing on his towel and gazing out into the bright morning.  He watched the sun-soaked backyard with interest.

A smile played on the edges of his mouth and he began to let out soft, low-pitched vowel sounds.  Bursting with happiness, he began to bounce his hand, slapping it lightly on his knee.

Presently, the girl reappeared in Josh’s doorway and joy filled her young heart at Josh’s obvious pleasure.    She just watched him for a moment, love swelling in her chest, and then she began to sing along, the wide grin on her face making it difficult to form the words.

She wondered what was going through Josh’s mind.  Obviously, Josh knew peace in these moments with God.  Even if he did not know the Lord as someone named “God”  or what the word “love” meant, the girl imagined that Josh knew these things.  That he knew God was God with the same surety that he knew which Lakeside bedroom was his. 

In the calm and tranquility he felt when he was alone with the Lord, the girl thought Josh must feel love just wash over him.  Of course, he would not tag the sense with the word love, because he did not know about words, but he might know it as a warm presence that encircled his hunched and frail body and made him feel like he might overflow with joy. 

It was in these moments when he opened his mouth and sang in soft, low bursts of sound.  He smiled with all the power his facial muscles could muster and waved his arm.  He could not keep silent.  He could not keep from speaking this unadulterated praise to his Creator.  As she watched, the girl was filled with the delightful joy she saw reflected in this man she cared for.   

  God had brought her a long way since she’d become a Christian three years ago, she reflected as she squeezed toothpaste onto Josh’s toothbrush.  Yet He showed her new things every day, painted new pictures of His overwhelming love for His people all the time.

As she looked into Josh’s wide, ocean green eyes, she saw only the Creator.  Her throat grew tight and she felt as though she might cry with wonder.  She shook her head, in awe of how God could conceive moments like this. 

She took Josh’s hand.  They had one thing in common.  God was the King of both their lives.  The words “fearfully and wonderfully made” came to mind.  She swallowed.   

She had often wondered why God allowed people to live with disabilities.  It didn’t seem like something a perfect God would do, whether it was something a person was born with or the result of an accident later on.  But she could see, in looking at Josh, that he was perfect in God’s eyes.  God loved Josh with a passion that the young girl could not even begin to comprehend. 

A scripture came to her.  She looked it up later to get the rest of the story.  Jesus had met a blind man and the disciples didn’t understand.  They asked Jesus why the man was blind.  Had his parents sinned or had he sinned?  But Jesus shook his head.  He said “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.” (St. John 9:3, emphasis added)

Suddenly the girl felt very, very humbled.  Here she was, being given an opportunity to serve another person, namely Josh.  She had worked with him for years and she had always felt as if she were helping him.  But all the time, she hadn’t even been aware of how God was working through Josh to bless her.  It had never occurred to her that maybe God had given her this Lakeside job so the residents could help her.  It was a sobering thought.  One that made her feel small and powerless next to the God of the Universe.  The awesome reality of God pouring out His power through Josh moved her deeply.  It was just like the verse said, and God was definitely using this man to reveal His glory.

Her mind skipped back to three summers earlier when she’d first started working at Lakeside.  It also happened to be the time that she encountered God on a very personal level.  Now she doubted that this was a coincidence!  She remembered the anxiety, fear, and shame that had plagued her that afternoon cleaning rooms while the residents were at workshop.  It had been that day that God had called her out of death and into life.      

She thought about the subsequent joy and peace that had rushed in when she bowed her heart and asked Jesus to be the King of her life.  She also remembered the struggles; those days when she wasn’t sure if she’d made the right choice, back when her faith was still frail.  On those tough days, she would go and find a CD from Josh’s Christian music collection, and play it while she worked.  It was there at Lakeside that she’d spent many hours as a brand new Christian, as God transformed the dirty scraps of her life one piece at a time. 

Even now, when she came in to get Josh up in the mornings, listening to his Bible with him was one of her favorite parts of the day.  She treasured the peace and truth of those moments with just her, and Josh, and God.  Yes, she thought, Josh had definitely played a part in the building of her faith.  He’d been a perfect vessel for God’s purpose (which was exactly what she longed to be but sometimes she let her selfishness get in the way of.)  She felt very humbled.       

Inspiration churned and blossomed in the girl’s mind.  Later, at home, she went to the little office in the basement, opened a blank Word document, and began to write.  The words poured out, straight from her heart.  She wanted to tell this story.

Presently, she stopped typing and got up from her chair.  On the thin carpeted floor, the girl got down on her knees and thanked God for the opportunity to know Josh and for the beautiful way God had revealed Himself through this precious child of His.  It was perfection as only God could design it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author's Note

How does the third person POV work in this story?
How can I vary my sentence structure more?
I welcome as many comments as possible!

Reviews

[Johnzo]

Third person POV is definitely a good fit. It's a nice change of pace from a lot of the 1st person present/past that a lot of people cling to on this site. It definitely feels natural in this case and gives a good flow to the piece. Nothing stood out to me as feeling over-repetitive (grammatical wise), so no comments as far as sentence structure. Again, there seemed to be a natural flow.

A few other comments:

This line: '“Hey Josh!” murmured the girl' seemed just a bit odd. People don't usually murmur with exclamation points, I'm not 100% sure what this implies.

There were a couple uses of "Presently" which threw me at first because this being a 3rd person past tense piece. I had to double check to be reminded that it also means "in a little while" in addition to "now". Perhaps this a regional usage difference, but not really a problem. ;)

Another line: "She looked it up later to get the rest of the story." seemed to break the flow a bit. So far the story was going through a series of chronological events, but here it sort of takes a skip in time, but then comes back to the current event in Josh's room. I think that paragraph could be reworked a little to keep the momentum going.

Overall, there's not a ton of setting descriptions going on, but since it's a present day piece, the context is understood by the reader easily enough.

Thematically, it's an encouraging piece. Thanks for sharing the awesome things God has done in your life. Though conceptually it does get a little repetitive near the end. But being a nonfictional account, you are entitled to run through all the thoughts and emotions of the given events. To make it a more grabbing read, there could be a little more build up leading to a high point/conclusion. But perhaps that's just my penchant for epic fantasy fiction talking.

Well done!

[billie peach]

the third person POV works. Interesting story.