The Town and Dark Colors

My father's family lived in a small town along the river in West Virginia. My Grandmother still lives there and when we go to visit we get to hear about the people from the town. This is always extremely humorous to Jessie, my mom, and myself. The conversation will go something like this:
Well, did you hear that John Doe, you Know, Karen's sister with the one eye because she got stepped on by a cow, its her middle son, he had the three younger sisters who barely escaped the fire, and the three older brothers, one who died in the war, one who left when he was twelve and they never heard from him, and the other whose workin' for the legislature, he just had his fifth child with Annie Sue Brown Doe. The first two were mute, the third had a tail, and the fourth was deaf and blind, but plays a mean harmonica. This one seems normal for now, except that he weighs 26 pounds and was born last weekend.
Now, I exaggerated it a bit, but not as much as I wish. It has seemed to me that if you lived in that town, trouble was bound to happen to you. My Dad is 50 years old and already more than ten percent of his graduating class has died. It is really weird and very sad. I used to tease Dad about what weird thing he was hiding or what weird thing would happen to him. About a year ago my Dad was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, a heard of but fairly uncommon disease. The disease affects your nervous system and leads to the most noticeable symptoms of uncontrollable shaking. My Dad is in the beginning stages and seems to be doing pretty well, but this is a trial he will be dealing with the rest of his life. As easy as it is for Dad and my family to get discouraged by this we do our best to look at the positive. Lately, when I've talked to my Dad he has been telling me about different conversations he has been having with people while walking through our community. He has been walking to help keep himself limber as a way of fighting the disease. Knowing a lot about my father's heart I can imagine that he had prayed for years for the Lord to give him opportunities to let his christian light shine in his community and to his neighbors. God answered my father's prayer and gave him Parkinon's Disease.
You might tell me that God doesn't give people horrible diseases, but thats your opinion and I would disagree with you. This thorn of the flesh that God gave my Dad has given him opportunities to encourage, love, and share with people from our neighborhood. Many of my high school friends have seen Dad walking and have walked with him for close to a mile just sharing with him about their plans for life. I can't help but think that God has given this to my father as a gift. Yes, this will be a rough trial to overcome, but it reminds me of the deleted scene from Bruce Almighty. God shows Bruce, Lance Armstrong( Tour De France winner of like 7 times and also Cancer survivor) and tells Bruce to paint a picture like that sometimes you got to use dark colors. Some dark colors have been added to my father's picture, but they are there to paint a beautiful picture for God.