Living Hell

Ten hours down and two more to go until the end of my shift yet it feels like an eternity, an eternity in Hell. Tears fill my eyes and spill down my cheeks as stare out the window and mentally try to block out the incessant banging, crashing, moaning and barely audible but intensely desperate whispers. My heart has broken countless times; my patience has dried up; my nerves are raw; I am physically exhausted and I have run out of kind words. Yet I am only an observer to the torture this man is experiencing; torture like one hates to imagine. Yet I find myself wondering….
What it must be like for my body to be in constant writhing and uncontrollable motion. What it must be like to feel my leg flying straight up in the air and slamming itself down on the bed with a thud. What it must be like to feel my hips twisting side to side as if on a hinge. What it must be like to feel my head bobbing up and down and shaking back and forth, flagrently disregarding my mental commands to cease. What it must be like to finally find myself at rest in the fetal position but only for a split second for both my feet shoot out and dive over the edge of the bed leaving me half in and half out. What it must be like to find that my toes will not stop tapping not matter how sternly I tell them to be still; to sense my jittery hands tugging and picking at my covers for no apparent reason. There go my legs again and now they are near my face; I watch in bewilderment as they dart out in opposite directions before sprawling awkwardly on my bed. My tongue forces its way out of my mouth like a caged lion and now I am tossing and turning at a high rate of speed. Stillness and peace do not exist in my world. As the seconds of my life tick by so does my body. While my body writhes so does my mind for all my will power and determination cannot quiet this wild beast. This must be a nightmare….somebody help! “Help me, help me” I yell, yet no audible words come out. So I scream louder and more clearly pronouncing each syllable yet only a slight groan escapes.….
I am jerked out of my painful ponderings of this man’s misery just in time to avoid getting clocked in the head by a flying foot. Last time I was not so lucky and took a beating to the stomach. (Sigh) Unfortunately this is not a nightmare, this is a reality. This is a living Hell. This is Chorea in Huntington’s Disease. Sickness, disease, pain and death permeate the world; there is not a single person that has escaped their clutches. Why? Why do people suffer so? Ultimately it is because of sin, not because of a virus, bacteria, genes, toxins, free radical or carcinogens. When sin entered the World in the Garden of Eden so did death and its process. Sin brought physical and spiritual death to humanity. Sin made us enemies of the Most High God instead of adoring children. Sin severed that beautiful relationship that we were created to have with God and left us in a helpless miserable state on our way to the eternal Hell. While we may not be able to escape pain and suffering in this life, if we accept the salvation God has offered to us, He promises us His loving presence and a relationship with Him during our stay on earth and an eternity in Heaven with Him. We may experience Hell in this life but that does not mean we have to live there for eternity.