Parkinson’s isn’t pretty.
 
Have you noticed what it has done to Michael J. Fox?  
Not only do I have Michael as a case in point, 
there is Billy Graham,  Mohammed Ali  - and ME! 

I wrote this poem as a parody:

I’ve grown accustomed to the shakes;
They always make my day begin …. 
I’ve grown accustomed to the pain,
Accustomed to the strain,
The pills, the spills, the doctor bills:
“Are second nature to me now",
”Like getting up, and moving slow";
Although I am less independent 
Than I was awhile ago;
At least, I’m up and moving,
And I thought you’d like to know:
I’ve grown accustomed to the slips,
The frozen shoulders, legs and hips,
Accustomed to Parkinson’s! 

How does one cope, aside from simply ‘growing accustomed’ to the effects of this disease? It doesn’t help to cry, so I sing my silly song, and laugh about it. I also thank the Lord that He would entrust me with something too big for me to handle on my own. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t enjoy this experience. A trip to Disney World is preferred, but God enables me to pray when I cannot sing, to encourage someone else, even when I need help, too! And when I am weakest, His strength is never-failing. As Lon Woodrum said, “God sometimes gives a grace injection, when what we are asking for is a thorn extraction!”  

Parkinson’s is an inconvenience. It ended years of singing across the nation that I never dreamed would happen so quickly. It separated me from dear friends, from New England to  California. But for all it has done, there are many things it has not done: 

My Dad had Parkinson’s the final years of his 95 year life. He taught me many things in life, by word and example. His life was one of faith and trust in the Lord God. He never waffled, wavered, nor staggered, at the promises of God. He knew God had the power to heal him of Parkinson’s - - or anything else, but he was wise enough to know that, like Jesus, as He walked this “vale of tears and sorrow,” we learn obedience by the things we suffer. 

(Click on the photo above for a larger image of Sammy and his dad)

Just prior to his passing, Daddy didn’t know me, but I knew he still had a solid grip on the Almighty, and that the Almighty had a far greater grip on him.  He began learning ‘how to live’ in 1929 when he gave his life to Christ. In his long journey from the Nazarene Church in Hot Springs, Arkansas that night to his “home-going” April 26, 1999 in South Carolina, he also learned how that, as God gives grace to live, He also gives grace to die!

How do I cope with this momentary affliction? By walking with the Lord, by His grace, and remembering the things that are eternal, and never change. In the Book of God there are these immortal words: “I am the Lord God, and I do not change!” 

Harvey Jordan Poole
November 9, 1903 – April 26, 1999 

Dad was in Heaven, come dawn’s early light,
The battle was over, and Christ was in sight;
The angel of mercy came to his room,
Swept him away from the dark den of gloom. 

Away through the cosmos, beyond time’s dim eye,
He and the angel sailed straight to the sky;
God sent an angel to open the gate,
And ushered Dad in; he would not need to wait. 

He heard the hosannas, and Heavenly choir,
God’s face, sun-bright, radiant like fire;
Ransomed ones gathered to welcome him in,
Redeemed by the blood, saved from all sin. 

He fell at the feet of the Lamb who had bought him,
And glorified God, that His Spirit had sought him;
Gone were the anguish, sorrow and tears,
God wiped them away; gone, too, were his fears. 

His family, though saddened that he had to part,
Are glad, nonetheless, that he lives on in our heart;
Someday, by grace, we will join him again,
And join the glad praises of God: Amen!

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