I remember it like it was yesterday. We were playing a team twice our size and to be honest, more than twice as good. The score board was agreeing with my assessment early in the forth quarter. It was then that the unthinkable happened to this FRESHMAN. They kicked the ball off to me. At 5' 11'' 156 pounds (that's what we listed me so I would be eligible to play varsity) and scared to death. My first thought was where is the sideline? But this wouldn't end up helping. As I stepped out of bounds, I was hit so hard I slid under the opposing teams bench, dislocating my shoulder. I couldn't get up. My team needed me to play or the game would end in forfeit. They picked me up and all I had to do is stay in the game. We finished the game and then I went to the hospital. Few days in a sling and I was good as new, sort of. I could have taken myself out of the game or the team could have seen I was hurt and refuse to use me.
Sometimes life injures us and we have to "play" hurt. My dislocated shoulder wasn't the only kind of injury I remember from high school. Even though I was a starter on the football team, I felt like no one cared. No one knew because I played hurt. And just as I played hurt in the game, the people we know and love, need us to play hurt in the game of life. 1 Corinthians 12 tells us we need all the parts of our body to be complete. No part of the body is useless. Even when we get hurt, we don't become useless. So stay with it, don't take yourself out of the game.
Maybe you have some hurts. The Bible is filled with ordinary people hurt by the stuff we deal with everyday. If you could use some help with some hurt you're experiencing, let me know.
No comments:
Post a Comment