My Motorcycle Injuries

This past week I held a funeral service for someone who was associated with the church that I pastor. She wasn’t a member, but she and her husband would visit in a worship service once a year or so. She was a very nice person and had fought a disease bravely for many years. Her husband asked if I would be willing to have the memorial service in our church auditorium, along with a time of fellowship with family and friends afterward in our dining hall. It seems like a strange statement to make as I prepare to type it, but the truth is that funeral services involve a lot of work. Family members have to put forth a great deal of thought and effort in order to plan and implement every detail involved. As a pastor I always attempt to accommodate every need according to the things that family members express. In this case, there was a need to prepare the church auditorium (usually easier to achieve, but we were trying to get things ready for Easter Sunday services this week). Also, there was...

The past couple of weeks have been a little more rough for me. Things have gone great personally in several areas of my life and I can hardly count the blessings, but my body has been  (warning: bad pun ahead)  a bit of a pain. It becomes a source of frustration because I will go through periods of time where everything is still a mess, but generally OK. My body has experienced some permanent damage as a result of the motorcycle accident, but at times it seems negligible for the most part within any given day. I often experience a comparatively minimal amount of pain and hindrance. Within the past week or two, however, not so much. A few days ago I actually had to use a hand brace for two days because of the pain in my wrist. The nerve damage done to my hand and wrist leaves me with discomfort and/or pain at all times, but the pain experienced a few days ago went beyond the usual stuff. I woke up in the night and couldn’t get back to sleep because of the pain in my wrist....

One aspect of my motorcycle accident that I never really talk about involves money. My lawyer initially said that my case had the potential for a substantial payout. The other driver was completely at fault, she had insurance, and I had a multitude of injuries. Several of those injuries involve lifelong complications and care. I pay monthly for doctor visits and medicines that are all directly related to injuries sustained through the accident, and I have been told that I will require further surgery in the future. Financial compensation time right? Wrong. I had medical bills from the initial care that made the available insurance coverage amounts seem like pennies in a jar. The problem was twofold: (1) The insurance companies granted payments that included the maximum amount of coverage for which they had agreed to pay within the policies. They did not hesitate at all to pay the full amounts, but their “good faith” payments involved everything for which they had contracted to pay. As ...