Ouch! Ouch! Uncategorized Pain And God's Love

PAIN IS ONE OF THOSE THINGS

Ouch! Pain is one of those enigma things. Its good and bad. Kinda like that date you had in college and frankly, you didn’t tell anyone-ANYONE about it. Only pain can sometimes show up and seem like it’s never going to leave. It might even live with you for the rest of your life. Kinda like your dad’s ‘cousin’ who, according to your dad, is ‘just in a place of transition,’ apparently from prison, and experiencing freedom via your house for several months, all while using your bedroom.

But pain can wear us to a nub. It’s there when you wake up, it’s there when you go to bed. You are now past acetaminophen and are now trying almost anything to make is stop. You would be happy if it just eased up for a while.

I think we can all name someone who is in pain. Chronic, long-term pain. Yes, mental anguish qualifies, but I am talking mostly about physical pain. Pain which, when given time, rolls up on your brain pan in such a way you are dwelling on it each and every day. And in your mind, all you want to do is anything to make is stop.

And Satan smiles.

We sometimes blame a loving God….

We sometimes blame a loving God for our issues. I do-so that means ‘we’ means you too. Along with hating to row a boat alone, when I say ‘we’ I am looking for company. I think I have been in some type of pain since high school. Sports in high school were high impact sports and then there was some in college and continued abuse of my body to try to keep it in some type of boyish figure continued for years. Now, in the downhill ski slope of life, I have started to tend to it with therapy, chiropractic, changing from running to biking, holistic vitamins, and last week, cold plunges.

I still say ouch.

I am still sore. Still tired. Still worn. Now, my wrist hurts. Why the heck would my wrist hurt? You should see me when I get up in the morning. Three steps. Yep. I need three to four steps to get up and walk upright. Like that silhouette of the Evolution of Man from fish to me naked. Slowly the creatures change and boom! Homo-Sapien! All just to go to the restroom in the middle of the night or coffee in the morning or getting out of my truck!

But I am lucky.

There are others who have to have knees or hips replaced. Others who are having epidurals or blocking meds. Others whose hands and limbs become deformed from the diseases making them look like gnarled tree limbs.

And Satan smiles.

A friend of mine, John Lynch, is a Christian evangelical preacher, traveling and writing about the love of God. He is funny, poignant, a truth teller, extremely entertaining, broken, reassembled, and loves Jesus. He is one who needs a new hip. I have seen him in pain to the point walking, let alone walking upright, is only a dream. But it is here, each of us, in the middle of our own storms, can see God and our faith in Him allows us to see-today, the beauty outside and in our life. Lynch writes-‘He overrides that lie and shows you new mornings where the pain is not the same….’

Could God really change the mountain….

Can this be for us? Could God really change the mountain I am on and allow me, well, hope? You’re damn right He can! And does!

When you think about it, and I am sure you have heard it said, we live in a contaminated world. Have you read the label on a package of hotdogs? Not the ones at Costco. That dog and drink for a buck and a half is almost the most perfect food group. I’m talking about the store bought, store brand? Maybe from a store which also sells coffee and fertilizer. Yeah, that label is just a piece of the extent of the contamination. We, as a race, actually walked out of Paradise. Adam and Eve-walked out after breaking one and only one rule. I would like to think I would be different. But I wouldn’t. I would like to think I would be different in the crowd when Jesus was convicted. But I wouldn’t. I would be screaming just like the rest.

I WILL PAY HIS BILL, THANK YOU

But three days later, after that conviction, the story changes. Satan wasn’t laughing. He knew the war was over. He lost. I won-only because someone said ‘I’ll pay his bill, thank you.’

I will be in pain, in one form or another for the rest of my life. But some days, like today, I can look out the window and see a new day with new hope.

Now, go enjoy the ride.