I awoke this morning with a sudden, severe pain in the low back. I realized it was there the moment I tried to turn over and worse when I tried to stand. I tried to remember if I had done anything different to trigger this; but, could not remember anything. It comes from time to time; fortunately, not too often. Perhaps a reminder of an old injury in which I had been violently kicked in the low back. To add to my dilemma, I awoke with a mind that is blank. Perhaps it would be a writer’s suicide to confess, that I write my post the morning of my posting it. Oh, many times the scriptures on which I will be writing have been playing day and night in my head as I spend the hours in prayer—waiting for a word, a thought, and a whisper from God’s Spirit within me. When the post is ready to upload; often, I have failed the final edit (lack of time) as I scurry off to my day job. Yet, that is the reality of my life. Perhaps the reality of most lives. We could wish that we were more polished, the perfect post which has been reviewed and refined. We wish we never had the blank mind when our friends ask for advice. We wish we weren’t bogged down at times by the pain of an old scar, an injury that tears at our heart.
As we move now into the final chapter of John in this series which we began back in August, we find Peter fishing. Jesus had appeared to the apostles twice before. Yet, neither time had Jesus brought up the one thing pressing on the mind of Peter—the denial. Had he been forgiven? What were they to be doing next? So, in the meantime—Peter had gone to do what he knew best. He went fishing. He did not sit idle while awaiting his assignment. He went about the business of fishing. This way he could provide for himself, his family and even to help feed the apostles. Life continued. Now they knew that Jesus had risen from the dead and they had yet to be commissioned to spread the gospel. Still life on this earth goes on. So what do we do when pain makes every movement difficult? Or when doubt tries to fill our spirits? Or when, our mind is blank awaiting that next inspiration?
Continue reading “How to Face This Pain, Today With Strength and Hope”
