Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Why Must The Past Come Up Again


Arriving at my house after work is usually the highlight of my day...but not yesterday. As I was walking up our steps yesterday Elijah, my 6 year old happen to find a rusty roofing nail...with the heel of his foot. The nail stuck in so far that I had to pull pretty hard to remove it. The nail was no doubt leftover from earlier in the year when we had our roof replaced. The entire ordeal of bleeding, hold pressure and soaking in betadine was no doubt leftover from years earlier.

In an attempt to provide some source of comfort and maybe help Elijah understand that I identified with him, I shared my story about doing the same thing. It actually seemed to help him a bit. Then Brook, my wife, shared her story about doing the same thing. How weird is it that we all have to face certain pains in life and that we all have to move on past them?

As I was talking to Elijah and holding pressure on his foot I told him something that is very true..."Buddy, if I could take the pain for you so you didn't have to hurt I would do it in the blink of an eye"...and I would have. I had not yet completed the thought, much less the sentence, when I saw the beautiful irony and reminder. It seems that someone else once had a nail driven into their foot...and their hands. It was as though I could hear Jesus whispering through the ages straight into my ear..."that's what I thought too and I did take the pain".

What a great reminder...unfortunate circumstances, but great reminder of how the Creator of heaven and earth cares enough about us all to pick us up, remove our nails and help us heal? And how amazing is it that the whole time he is loving on us we can know that He is willing to take it away and carry the load himself? God continues to be more than I can ever ask or imagine.

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