Concussion or Divine Intervention?

I was in the middle of writing a new post last week about the study leave Cruise I went on the week before - and then Son #1 got a bad concussion playing volleyball. Someone spiked it and it hit him square in the ear -- who knew how dangerous volleyball could be? A sprained ankle and now this. He had enough alarming symptoms that the nurse taking the after-hours calls said we needed to call the paramedics. He barely remembers going to the hospital in an ambulance, but he does remember his younger brother offering to get him a glass of water. He never got his glass of water because the paramedics arrived and said he could not have anything to eat or drink. About every 10 minutes for the next 24 hours Son #1 asked if Son #2 was bringing him a glass of water! We were all so relieved when Son #2 came home from school the next day and brought him a glass of water--several in fact. No glass of water ever tasted so good.

The brain is an amazing wonder--it does everything we need it to without giving it a second thought--but jolt it up against the skull and it all goes haywire. We were mildly freaking out since Son #1 was displaying symptoms that my in-laws did before they died --one from a brain tumor and one from dementia. The similarities were scary and a reminder that all of us are close at any moment, to losing our right mind for any number of reasons.

It also made plain what Martin Luther called "testing the spirits". Son #1 was convinced that God told him to change his name to "Steve". When asked what God's voice sounded like, he said, "Morgan Freeman." Good answer! But when he returned to his right mind (his ct scan was clear and it took rest and time), he couldn't figure out who Steve was and didn't remember this supposed divine intervention. Although we laugh at it now, it does remind me that we do need to test the spirits--when someone is being led by God in a certain decision or behavior, is there an affirmation coming from someone else as well? I am reminded how easy it is to not be in our right mind. How do we clear our mind to hear the Spirit leading and guiding us? For starters, I am sitting further away at future games involving any type of ball.