Well, for several years, I’ve had a running feud with a bathroom stall door. I know, I know, there’s weird ol’ Papa Jerry jousting windmills or, in this case, a door on a bathroom stall. Maybe I can explain.

We have a fairly large mall south of us two or three miles. It has been owned by several several different mall owning companies over the years. When I first found that Sparky, my electric wheel chair (my electric chair) was necessary for longer distance ambling, I decided that a change was needed in the men’s handicapped stall.

Kinda picture this if you can. There’s plenty of room to take Sparky in the stall. However, modest guys like me like to close the stall door after entering. Therein lay the problem. There were only a couple of ways to shut the door. I could go halfway back through the door and grasp the outer edge of the door OR I could stick my four fingers on my right hand in the crack between the door and the frame.

The first option means that I have to then inch my way back in, starting and stopping repeatedly because the steel footrest on Sparky keeps me from moving the door more than an inch at a time. The “fingers in the crack” option works pretty well EXCEPT when some well-meaning citizen comes running and tries to help. More than once I had my four fingers partially crushed by do-gooders!

Several owners ago, I went to the mall office and requested that an old-fashioned coat hook be installed in the center of the door so I (and other men in chairs) would be able to pull the door shut while remaining completely inside the stall. I made the same request of each subsequent owner and got so many cold shoulders and empty promises from these folks that I felt like I’d spent time in a walk-in freezer.

Well, the mall changed hands AGAIN a few months ago. I made what I thought would be another vain trek to the mall office and made my plea again. The lady said that she’d take care of it immediately. I couldn’t believe it. That was the best response I’d ever received. Oh, how I hoped it would actually happen.

Next time in the mall, I hurried to the handicapped bathroom stall. There in all it’s glory, was a hook! Yes, you read that right! A hook! However, it was at the very top of the door where no one in a wheelchair could ever reach it. It was in the center of the door from left to right. I went back to J____’s office and laughingly told her that we were getting closer.

Next visit, the hook was in the center (top to bottom AND left to right). Perfect. Two days later I had to go back to the mall. The hook was gone. I went back to the office and was told that one of the maintenance guys thought it was a health hazard, so removed it!

J_____ called the man on the radio while I was there and asked him what he was going to do. He replied, “I guess I could put a handle there instead of a hook.” I was assured it would happen “yesterday”. Next time to the mall, there was a handle. However, it was along the outside edge of the door. Could have just as easily grabbed the edge with my hand without any handle or hook.

This time (a couple of days ago), I went to the customer service desk. I agreed to meet the head maintenance man in the food court. I “took him by the hand” and showed him the problem. He hadn’t messed this all up, but knew who did. He went and got his battery drill and asked ME where I wanted the handle. I showed him and he screwed it in. He also told me, as we parted, “If you come across the maintenance man who keeps making these changes, tell him that you’re going to run him over with your wheelchair if he messes with the handle again.” I assured him that I would! (g)

BTW, thanks to the fine folks at the mall who hung in there with me throughout this whole project and didn’t give up. In some ways, I wish everyone could spend one day in a wheelchair. The experience would be quite an eye-opener.

Do you have a story that would further illustrate a problem with communication either with family, friends, strangers or God? Just use the “Leave a Reply” box below and share your stuff with me. You can also share any prayer requests you have.

SOME SELECTED RESPONSES TO “TURN AROUND, JERRY!”

– Well, isn’t that the whole way of the Christian life? We need to follow God’s way, but we try to go our own way, off the narrow path, looking for a shortcut maybe and we end up in the middle of nowhere or worse, and God is calling us back up to the path He wants us on. Turn around, come back! Just seems to me that is what the Christian life is, since we tend to be disobedient, thinking we can “do it ourselves”.

– The only problem I see with the name, The Promised Land, is that it took so long for the Israelites to enter it. Of course, if you definitely have possession of the land you HAVE reached it. The obstacles now are just those of ‘settling in’. And, as you well know, that took/takes time. But, if you’re being led by the Spirit of the Lord, and it certainly appears you are, it will go a lot smoother than it did for the Israelites! Anyway, I got the point and that is where I have been lately.

– It is not an easy or pleasant place to be. The story brought it HOME for me. lol, no pun intended. Well, maybe.

– It sounds as though you have found what you wanted. Though tempted a bit to be jealous, I am genuinely happy for you both! My prayers will continue even after you have finally moved. It must feel good to know where you are going, and almost where you will be. If not, you can always turn around. (g) Everywhere you look in that part of the country seems to be beautiful! I truly hope that it will be all you hope it will be, and mostly that Pat will be able to live a normal life again. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?! I believe I might rejoice as much as she!

– Yes, I have heard the phrase “Turn around D____”, quite often in my life. I go along in life, come to a fork in the road, and guess who takes the wrong road? At times I don’t have to go far to realize that this is not the right road. Other times, I keep going and going on this road, and I do hear God’s voice telling me to turn around, but there have been times when I pretend not to hear, or I am so stubborn, that I refuse to listen. But, thankfully, he keeps calling me, until I do turn around and go back on the “straight and narrow path”.

Please pray for me to “accept”, that my daughter and her husband and my granddaughter (1 1/2) are moving to Indiana. I know that it could be worse, but I am disappointed that they will not be close by. I have trouble at times understanding the “whys” of life. I know a woman, who has 4 children, and 3 grandchildren, who all live in the same area. Guess what, she hates being a grandmother, and does not bother with the grand kids very much. I compare her situation to mine, and I don’t quite understand ’cause I want my family near. I know that I must accept and be grateful for what I have and to dwell on the positive and not the negative.

– Good piece. God gives great directions. We just seem to always be looking someplace else when the turn comes up.

– Don’t forget: God allows U-turns on the road of life. Thanks for a thought provoking and excellent piece.