Update:
The new exercises that were added on Monday have got some of my muscles
and my shoulder joints screaming at me when I do them. I’m feeling the muscles in my side ache all
day as I bend and twist. Dick Krueger
gave me encouragement to go ahead and work through the soreness and pain yesterday. His prompting got me over the mental hump and
down on the exercise mat. It is kind of
strange to think when I am so near the time when I get my prosthesis that I am temporarily
immobilized by a bit of pain and discomfort.
As I envision what is about to happen, I am going to discover all sorts
of muscles that will be screaming at me as I work at learning to walk. I also assume that there will be some
discomfort initially as I strap on my new leg.
I’ve got to get my head back in the game and focus on the goal.
I am taking these verses way out of context—but mentally they sum up
what I need to do:
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 “So we
do not lose heart… For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an
eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to
the things that are unseen…”
On Thursday night
Karen and I were discussing how she was going to get to work by 6 a.m. on
Friday morning. With the heavy snowfall
and the street already plowed, the mound of snow at the end of the driveway
made it hard to get the car into the driveway after work on Thursday. The way it was snowing, there would be no way
for her to get the car out in the morning.
We talked about asking someone to come over very early in the morning to
clear out the driveway; but we decided against it. She was going to walk to work or shovel
enough to get out on her own. Once again
the feeling of not being able to care for my wife weighed heavily on me. Perhaps by next winter I won’t be so
helpless. Then about 10:30 p.m. on
Thursday night we heard a snow blower in our driveway and figured out that Dick
came down and opened our driveway for Karen.
What a great neighbor! I am so
grateful for all the care and service that has been given me over the last
couple of months. It has been
unbelievable!
Thought for the Day:
“Live long enough and you will suffer.
In this life, the only way to avoid suffering is to die… Suffering will come; we owe it to God,
ourselves, and those around us to prepare for it… A faith that leaves us unprepared for
suffering is a false faith that deserves to be lost” [Randy Alcorn, If God is
Good: Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil].
Faced with the prospect of pain and suffering, people are either drawn
closer to God or they falter and lose their faith. Some folks will have their entire life
unravel around them (tragic accident, devastating physical disability, abandoned
and divorced by a spouse, loss of a job, loss of a home—sometimes all of these
things at once); yet their faith remains solid and their joy increases. Other people will fall to pieces and reject
their belief in God and spiral down into a depression because they feel
abandoned—abandoned by God.
Alcorn says that “Believing God exists is not the same as trusting the
God who exists. A nominal Christian
often discovers in suffering that his faith has been in his church,
denomination, or family tradition, but not Christ” [Randy Alcorn, If God is
Good: Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil].
If you think about it, what we want to hear is that if we trust in God
all of our problems go away. If we have
enough faith, then we won’t get sick; we’ll be financially secure; nothing will
harm us or those whom we love; and we will live happily ever after. That kind of so called “faith” is nothing
more than wishful thinking. Some people
might experience that kind of life—but you probably have better odds of winning
the hundreds of millions of dollars in the lottery than living that kind of
life.
Why is that? Because God never
promised us anything different than what we normally experience. Somehow we’ve gotten this false idea that if
we “trust Jesus” all of our problems go away.
That is certainly not the experience of people believing and following
God in the bible. Very few lived out
their days in comfort. Most every one of
them suffered and many died for their faith.
Throughout history Christians have suffered and died for their faith. Check
out “Foxe’s Book of Martyrs” for accounts of people suffering for their faith. And our current existence validates that
people of deep faith are struck down with terrible life altering events.
So why do we hang onto a false faith?
I think it is because we feel a bit more secure and at peace believing
something that obviously isn’t true instead of facing the harsh reality of pain
and suffering. And perhaps pastors (such
as me) haven’t done a good job preparing people for the inevitable; we haven’t
been clear about difference between future bliss in heaven and a more difficult
life on earth. Maybe we’ve worked too
hard to sell the gospel as a means to escape all of your problems in this world
and not clearly taught the reality of a life of faith?
It would be easy to assume that since faith won’t protect you from
every trouble or disaster that it isn’t worth it. I think nothing could be farther from the
truth. My eyewear doesn’t protect me
from having poor eyesight—but my glasses make a huge difference in how well I
can see. My wheelchair hasn’t restored
my amputated leg (or kept it from amputation in the first place) but it is very
valuable to my current mobility. My
faith hasn’t kept disaster from my door; but it has made it easier for me to
handle what has happened to me. You hear
people say that “Christianity is a crutch.”
My response is that if you are hurt and injured, a crutch is exactly
what you need!
John 16:33 “I have
said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will
have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Notice that Jesus said, “you WILL HAVE tribulation.” He didn’t say that He would make everything
better; instead He said, “that you may have peace.” God promises to strengthen us and remain by
our side during difficulties. He says
that despite the things happening around us and to us that we don’t have to
panic because He will give us peace.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart—but don’t try to
hold Him accountable for things you wished that He had promised, or for those
things that if you were in charge you would have made certain were the ways
things worked. Read the bible carefully
and find out what He said and what He actually promised. You’ll find that He is worthy of your faith
and trust in Him.
Isaiah 41:10 “Fear not,
for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I
will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
2 Corinthians 2:10 “For no matter how many promises
God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the "Amen"
is spoken by us to the glory of God.”
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