By Mike Apodaca
 
Twenty years ago my wife, Debi, and I were camping on the beach in Carpentaria. It was the first time we’d been on a trip without our kids—Nicole (nineteen years old) and Jeremy (twelve years old). It was our habit to call every day to make sure everything was okay.
     But on this day, July 30th, 2004 Nicole was not answering her phone.
    Nicole, tall with long, sunshine-blonde hair, was with her boyfriend, Joe Ribb, driving across Apple Valley Road on Mandan Street. She pulled out, her view momentarily obstructed by a car making a right turn in front of her. Another car, speeding down Apple Valley Road, used the turn lane as a passing lane and T-boned Nicole’s small Toyota truck in the center of the intersection. Her truck was lifted off the ground, rotated in the air, and landed back on the tires. Inside the truck’s cab, everything was chaos.
Nicole experienced a traumatic brain injury, where the denser center of her brain, the corpus callosum, tore through the brain’s neurons like a ball bearing through cotton candy. When the fire fighters and police arrived, she was posturing (pulling into a fetal position), a clear sign she was not going to make it. She and Joe were airlifted to Loma Linda.
     It was an officer who finally answered Nicole’s phone and told my wife what was going on. We left our camping gear to our friends to take care of and fought the Friday afternoon traffic for hours to get to Loma Linda.
      The sun had just set when we arrived, that growing darkness reflecting our mood.
     We found Nicole stretched out on a gurney in an induced coma, looking like Sleeping Beauty. Her elbow was shredded, ribs were broken, and her spleen damaged. Stitches crisscrossed her left temple. But the biggest concern was what we couldn’t see—her brain.
      Nicole had been a founding member of the swing band, Phat Cat Swinger. The band showed up that night and we all huddled (and some of them slept) in the Neurological ICU waiting room, hoping to hear some news about Nicole’s condition. That night, at about three in the morning, Marco Paulo received a phone call saying that his sister had been killed in a head on collision.
     It seemed to be a night where death was on a rampage.
    Nicole spent three weeks in the coma. Debi and I nearly lived in the ICU, visiting at every opportunity we were afforded. And then Nicole had improved to the point where they could bring her out of the coma. They moved her to a normal hospital room. Things were looking up.
    Of course, there were deficits. One of Nicole’s pupils was enormous (a symptom of brain damage). She was unable to talk. She appeared vacuous. The best we could get out of her was a smile and the ability to copy us when we would show her two raised fingers.
     The doctors told us that we might not get any more than this back.
    And then Nicole began failing. She started sleeping more. She appeared lethargic and weak. In days she got to the point where she couldn’t stay awake. Debi and I knew we were losing her.
     I pushed her doctor to do something. He tried to convince me that Nicole had a severe brain injury and that the truth was she was probably dying. I countered that it seemed to my wife and I that she had some sort of infection. The doctor said that she’d been given so many antibiotics that he didn’t want to give her more. I pointed out that that was ridiculous—if she is dying, what could it hurt? When I didn’t back down, he agreed to call in a specialist.
The next morning Debi and I met with the Chief of Neurology and her students in Nicole’s room. The mood was somber as these medical professionals sympathized with us as we were trying to adjust to the fact that we were losing Nicole. The doctor asked if we would like to see Nicole’s brain scans. We said, “Yes, of course we would.”
We were taken upstairs to a small office. The doctor showed us CT-Scan slices of Nicole’s brain. She muttered, “Hmm . . . that doesn’t look too bad,” and “There is some bleeding here, but it is not serious . . .” In the end, she turned to me and said, “Mr. Apodaca, I see no reason why your daughter could not grow up to be a rocket scientist. There must be something else wrong. We’re going to start antibiotics right away.”
     When we left the room, I collapsed in horrific sobs. All the tension of this ordeal was released at once. It was more than I could take.
The next day, Nicole had returned to us. She was where she had been before—bright eyed and lifting two fingers.
     The day after that she was put into rehab where she stayed for two weeks.
Debi and I knew that Nicole would need a lot of help when she came home. Debi quit her job and dedicated herself to rehabilitating Nicole. We tightened our belt and made it work. The doctors had told us that the first year was the crucial one. Most of what she would get back would come in this first year. Somehow, Debi worked miracles with Nicole. She patiently helped her regain her speech, her memories, and her life.
When Debi was taking Nicole back to Cal State San Bernardino, to resume her education one class at a time, I asked her, “You’re there, at the college. You never went to college. Is there anything you wanted to be?”
     Debi responded, “I wanted to be a nurse.”
     “So, start a program, become a nurse.”
    Debi did and for the last ten years she has been serving patients here in the High Desert.
     The effects of Nicole’s accident on me were mostly internal. It broke me—made me far less prideful, cocky, and self-assured. In all honesty, it made me a better person.
Nicole went on to finish college, get her teaching credential, and to teach kids with disabilities in the Hesperia Unified School District. She just finished her twelfth year.  She also married a wonderful man, Mark Bales, who is a first-rate firefighter with Cal fire.
Nicole and Mark have two kids, Cecelia and Owen, our beautiful grandchildren.
Twenty years ago today our life was changed forever. I am so thankful to God that He has made this for us a day to celebrate.

I'm currently taking a deep dive into Galatians in my personal Bible study. In chapter four Paul chides the Galatians for putting themselves under the authority of a religious calendar—the Jewish structure of dividing the year into festivals. He includes also, the pagan practice to do the same, calling them elementary principles. This all comes in the context of Paul explaining that we are now sons and daughters of God through Christ. Mature sons and daughters don’t need babysitters. They are secure members of a family that stand to inherit all. This is our true identity, reinforced in us by the presence of the Spirit in our lives. One of Satan’s chief tools against us is to get us to willingly surrender what we have in Christ for something far inferior, a giving away of our security and dignity, our freedom and power. This is a powerful temptation. We all like to feel that we are part of something. We like to feel that we are led by others we can trust. Both of these are illusions. We are part of something already. We are brothers and sisters of all who are in Christ. We have community on a level far beyond physical families. These are eternal relationships. Also, we don’t need to give away our power to human leaders. We are to call one person Lord. We are only to follow those who are living like Him and when ordered to sin declare that we must obey God and not men. So, in our present age where people are being conditioned to be mindless followers, where media and political parties have such powerful influence, it is crucial that Christians know who they are and to whom they bow their knee. 

Strength keeps us standing against forces that would knock us down, or pull or push us off course. Paul tells the Philippians that Epaphroditus was sick (2:26). The word sick here is the Greek work asthenesen (unstable--here of health). The same word is used for the pliable layer underneath the lithosphere on earth, the aesthenosphere, which allows the earth's plates to shift. Weakness means movable. There are cultural and political forces today causing Christians all over the world to shift away from Christ.
    Christians are called to be steadfast and immovable (1 Corinthians 15:58), calling only Jesus our Lord. We are to grow up in our faith (Ephesians 4:14, Hebrews 5:12-14, I Corinthians 3:1). This requires intense Bible study--not only going to a study once a week, as is the habit of some, but actually plugging into the Bible in the times when most plug into TV shows, music, or video games. The vast majority of our time needs to be occupied with growing in our faith. We are called to put Christ first always. If we are willing to live this kind of Christian intentionality, we will be strong and immovable. We will know falsehoods when we encounter them because our pallet will be tuned to the truth. 

This week Donald Trump created an infomercial hawking a Bible with The Pledge of Allegiance, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution inside. Putting these documents together in one volume creates a sense of parity--equal status. 
     But nothing is to be compared to the Bible. The Word of God is unique. It is where God spoke to mankind, showing us the way of salvation, culminating in His incarnation, ministry, death, and resurrection.
     This same Bible calls Christians to put aside nationalism (Philippians 3) and embrace their "citizenship in Heaven." (Philippians 3:20). The Lee Greenwood, Trump-endorsed Bible is an affront to Christians everywhere. Christian Nationalism is an oxymoron. It's like saying we can be of the world and of Christ at the same time. James makes it very clear that this is not possible (James 4:4).
     Christians need to read and study their Bibles. Understand this new life we were given. Embrace putting aside the things of the flesh and walking in the Spirit. We have only one Lord, one country. Paul calls us to live like it (Philippians 1:27). The phrase here, translated "conduct yourselves worthy" (NIV) is actually, "act like citizens." We are called to live out a citizenship of the gospel, the good news of a new Kingdom inaugurated by our only Lord and King. 

Today is Good Friday, the day people remember the death of Jesus. They bring it to mind. It has not really been on their radar, but this day reminds them. It is like Martin Luther King Day. We honor it, but his death, as tragic as it was, is not on our daily radar. But for Christians, every day is Good Friday. Every day we wake up and declare that we are dead, we have died with Jesus in His death. We do this to remind ourselves that our life before Christ, everything we were in this world and in the flesh, is gone. This is who/what we were in Adam. Jesus' resurrection is also ours. We are new creations, God's own children. Family. We are members of a chosen race, a royal priesthood, the people God holds dear. If we live this reality, our daily Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, then we live in the power and presence of the Spirit, a life that exudes the fragrance of Christ. Happy Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, no matter what day you are reading this. 

Eternal Identity

One of the most important things for Christians to do is to develop an eternal mindset. The Bible tells us that there are temporal realities and eternal realities. The temporal is everything in this life. It includes your family upbringing, your enculturation, your national identity, and everything you think of yourself related to this life. The eternal realities include everything connected to what you have become in Christ by virtue of being born again and in the Kingdom of Christ. It also includes everything you have in heaven (your inheritance, your coming perfection, and an eternity with your heavenly Father and family). 
     The author of The Book of Hebrews reminds us that the things of this realm will be shaken away (Hebrews 12:27-29) leaving only those things of the Kingdom of Christ that cannot be shaken. 
       Our calling is to live every moment according to the eternal things, not the things of this temporary realm. Live only for the eternal and you will be living according to those things that will endure.

Loyalty
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In our political world there are some leaders who demand absolute loyalty. They expect their followers to bow to them, to express how wonderful they are, and to do everything in the leader’s best interest. And to never criticize them or point out their inconsistencies. When any person or organization is considered disloyal, they become an enemy and are targeted for attack. They are delegitimized, threatened, and sometimes actually physically assaulted.
There are two things we can learn from this. Firstly, this total heart-mind-soul allegiance, this complete obedience is how every Christian should respond to our God. Jesus modeled this for us (Hebrews 10:9). As F. F. Bruce wrote, “Wholehearted obedience is the sacrifice that God really desires, the sacrifice which He received in perfection from His Servant-Son when He came into the world.” (The New International Commentary On The New Testament: Hebrews). We are called to follow Jesus’ example of complete loyalty and obedience to the Father. Secondly, we can see why, when we are single-minded in our devotion, only being loyal to God, those other forces that demand our loyalty will consider us as the enemy. This is why so many have suffered since the time of Christ in totalitarian nations. Any country that slides into authoritarianism will demand complete loyalty from all and will attempt to crush Christians who give their allegiance only to God. Be ready for this. As Peter said, it is not unusual (1 Peter 4:12). It is inevitable.

We get vaccines to prevent infections. We wash our hands and use hand sanitizer to keep from spreading germs to ourselves or others. So what are the infections that Christians must guard against?
​       Echo-chambers.
     An echo-chamber is a world created in a bubble. It has its own look, feel, vibe, vocabulary, community, and shared purpose. There are political echo-chambers (Trumpism, Fox News, Right-wing media, and Bidonites, MSNBC, CNN, and their media machine). There are commercial echo-chambers run by large corporations to win allegiance from their consumers. There are racial subcultures, class subcultures, and cliques of all kinds. These echo-chambers reinforce feelings of fear, inadequacy, being slighted, etc. They offer a sense of belonging and identity. They promise to make you someone.
       There is only one echo-chamber that Christians should belong to. That is the echo-chamber of faith, reinforced by our personal relationship with God, the Word of God, our faith rituals, and the fellowship with have with other saints. This is an eternal echo-chamber--the only one that will endure forever.
       We are called to be in the world, but not of it. We are not to be worldly. This means that we are not to become part of any other echo-chamber. We are to stand aside, disconnect, keep our distance from all of these in order to remain faithful to Christ. Only then can we begin to present something of the Kingdom of God to others, inviting them to leave their echo-chamber, which offers life but cannot deliver, and join Christ's Kingdom, an echo-chamber of hope, love, and true identity. Oh, the riches that are ours in Christ!