Ugly Scars
Scars are funny things. Some people want to hide them and others wear them like badges of honor. Most guys like showing their scars and telling the great stories behind them. I’m no exception.
I have several unique scars and a couple unique stories behind them. One scar on the bottom of my right foot goes from the edge all the way accross and to the arch. It was a painfully nasty event. I was about 11 and was enjoy the delights of summer, running barefoot and having fun. I was up at the school playground, we lived very near the school in Leverett’s Chapel, Tx for a number of years (up through part of Jr. High). I say school, because in Leverett’s Chapel, there is one school, K-12. We had about 500 kids, K – 12.
Anyway I was running and playing and decided to go down the slide, and when I hit the bottom, there in the sand was a half of a coke bottle and I landed right on it. Now I dont remember every seeing that much blood! Freaked me out a little. Then I realized I was alone and how do I get help? That freaked me out more. I sat on the end of the slide for a moment and realized I was developing a pool of blood in the dirt. I took off my shirt and wrapped it around my foot. That seemed to slow the blood and then I set off toward home, hoping on one foot. Home never seemed so far away! . . Don’t worry, I made it home got a few stitches and moved on with life.
The scar is mostly faded now and hardly noticeable if you are not looking for it. I remember hobling for a few weeks as the cut healed and then for years I could see the scar. Many years have past and now that whole experience is a mere memory. There is no more pain and hardly any evidence that it ever happend. And of course no one would ever know unless I took off my socks and shoes to show you!
Why tell you that story? It’s about healing. When we are wounded, initially there is a great pain, a big mess, and some fear. Once we get bandaged, or stitched, the wound is closed, but it is sore and very tender. As time passes and the body does its work, the skin seams up, the tissue bonds together and toughens. On the really big wounds, we typically develop scars. Some are painful for awhile, but as time passes, so does the pain. Eventually even the hurt and memory fades a bit.
God’s ability to heal our emotional wounds is just as great (even more in my opinion!) as the healing He equipped our bodies for. At times we can feel broken, almost beyond repair, seemingly at our end. This is where I like reading the Psalms David wrote. In particular, Psalm 18, in the sixth verse David says “In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.” and then later in the that Psalm, he says “He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters. He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me.”
I love the phrase, “He brought me out into a broad place” at times emotionally I feel narrowed in, almost as if the walls are closing in on me. But when I call out, He never fails to take me out back into the broad place, where I can breathe and see again. And over time that thing fades, and becomes just another scar.
How are you today? Do you have any gaping emotional wounds? Things that haven’t healed? Hurts that still tinge with pain? Call out to God. Yep, God can do it. When we feel up against it. Call out to Him. He awaits to rescue and save.
Saving the Best til Last!
Life is interesting. There is a story in the New Testament, where Jesus goes to a wedding (John 2:1-11). Now weddings in those days aren’t like the weddings we have today. They were often week long celebrations with lots of eating and drinking. During this wedding that Jesus was at, the family ran out of wine (which at that time was a bad thing!) Jesus’s mom found out and came and told him they were out of wine. I love what Jesus said, “Mom, why are you bothering me with that” I love even more what his mom did, she just turned to the servants and said, “Get him whatever he asks for”. I chuckle a bit at that, because his mom didn’t take any lip from Jesus, but just moved forward with expectation that he was going to take care of the issue. And he did. He asked for some pots of water and whala, they poured out wine from them.
When one guest took a drink of the wine, he basically yelled, “Stop the party!” “This is unheard of, most people put their best outfront and save the worst for when we are drunk and tired, but you my friend (speaking to the groom) have saved the very best for last”
I like this story because it speaks to me. I feel like that groom. That wedding is my life. The party is going on and things are rocking. Then wham, I am out of wine. And then Jesus amazes me and the crowd by taking the plain and turning it into the extraordinary. And that thing not only affects me, but those around me.
What has Jesus done in your life lately? Experienced the extraordinary? If not don’t loose hope. Jesus isn’t done yet! Look for the what is coming.
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