9. Saviour

The world is not accessible. Anyone in a wheelchair will tell you that nothing pulls you up short like a heavy pull door. I can't access upstairs in our house. I can't access the shower as we don't have one downstairs. (Amazingly, my parents put in a downstairs loo a few years ago.) I brushed this off, saying I could get by with simple washing for a weekend. I came home on Thursday night and will go back tonight. 

The first night in a bed put downstairs in the study was fine. Joanna brushed and plaited my hair in my bed which felt very period drama-esque. My younger cousins came for Good Friday and we had a great time in a local park. Then, all it took was one sweaty night for me to wake up early and take back my words, wishing to be properly clean. I had to wait for someone to get me up as I can't take myself to the toilet by myself. I scrubbed myself as best I could. Dad put my clothes on the wheelchair, propping the door open. Of course, my granny walked past. (She was staying with us at the time).

When we then went for a pub lunch with some friends and I got to hold 5 dogs, including 2 dachshund puppies which practically fell asleep on me, that made it all ok. Friends help too. One owner told us her dog was actually a pet therapy dog and I told her about my rehab centre, as we don't have a regular dog visitor there. The pub was very spacious and my wheelchair fitted perfectly fine in it, and I remembered that, increasingly, much of the world is accessible. That evening, we went back to my centre so I could use the gym and  have a shower. This was satisfying as, whilst my family had been having nice walks, I hadn't.

Joanna and I are planning to do a charity walk together on June 22nd. It's a Walk for Water for WatSan Uganda, a charity run and set up by close family friends. The project provides water and sanitation in the Ugandan Districts of Rukungiri and Kanungu. This is an event we have done numerous times over the years. However, this year will be slightly different. Read more about what we plan to do and how to support this project here:

How To Walk A Very Long Way.

Isn't it a relief that the message of Easter, Jesus' death and resurrection, is accessible. This Easter, I have been thinking a lot about the by standers in Jesus' story, the crowd who watched the drama play out.

Imagine you are a young Jewish person living in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus' death. People are pouring into your city for the Passover, the major festival at the time. Your grandma has come to stay from a far-off village and she's raving about seeing a man they call Jesus of Nazareth, who healed people of their blindness and forgave people's sins. She says they call him the Messiah, the 'saviour' predicted 400 years previously in your scriptures. (What Christians use as the Old Testament). You are curious, so when you hear this Jesus is coming into Jerusalem riding on a donkey you go and have a look. They are shouting 'hosanna' ('saviour'), and waving palm branches. You start to smile. Maybe he is the saviour we need, come to free the Jewish people from the Romans, who are occuping the land. Just the other day your father had been mocked in the street by Roman soldiers.

A few days later you hear that Jesus has been arrested for claiming to be 'The King of The Jews'. He must be crazy, the Jews have no king. (He never said this). You go to where the crowd are given the choice: who do they want to save? Jesus of Nazareth, or Jesus Barabbas, a murderous insurgent. (Jesus was a very common name at the time. The meaning is 'rescuer', or 'saviour,') The crowd stat to shout "We want Barabbas!", and to be honest, you'd rather have that man as your rescuer too, so you join in. Better a saviour willing to fight for you.You follow as Jesus of Nazareth is beaten and led to a hill carrying his cross. He dies quite early for a crucifixion, the sky goes dark and they check he is really dead by shoving a spear through his side. His body is placed in a tomb and that is the end of it.

A few days later, you walk past a crowd of people, and a man is teaching them. It is the same Jesus. You scratch your head. Didn't he die? Here he is, bringing healing and talking about forgiveness all over again. Now, is that what it is to be a Saviour?

Snug.