Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ!

Physical pain which prevents you from doing what you want can be rather annoying and just flat out … painful. Let me tell you a story about what happened to me in college.

In attempt to spike a volleyball in a college intramural game (for the game winner of course), a teammate accidently cut in front of me. I was a little out of position, so I had reach out a little farther for the ball. Needless to say, I swung as hard as I could (like I usually do) and I barely hit the bottom of the ball with my fingertips. The result … I first yelled out in pain and then, ended up on the floor in the fetal position holding my right shoulder. Next thing I knew I was in the back of an ambulance on route to the Emergency Room. It was believed that in the swing, I dislocated and popped my shoulder back into place. As a result of my injury, my arm was in a sling for a few weeks and I had to see an orthopedic. That miscalculated swing twisted the ligaments and tendons in my shoulder. 

That swing, heard throughout the gym, would affect my life in various ways.

Over the course of time I have done other things to aggravate and re-aggravate my shoulder injury from my glory days in college. Most recently, back in January, I was crawling around in my crawlspace checking a couple of things. Either in my army crawl from one end of the house to the other, or the getting out of my crawlspace … I re-injured my right shoulder.

Now it wasn’t enough to go to the emergency room. Actually, I waited about a week to a week and a half to go in and see my doctor. From there, I started to my journey to where I am now.

Over the course of the last four months, I’ve done some physical therapy, seen a shoulder specialist and even had surgery. I will say, that about a week after surgery, I couldn’t believe the relief I had. Now, this isn’t to say that the first time I threw a baseball or shot a basket that I didn’t have any pain. While I’ve got full range of motion, I have learned that quick movements of my right arm and certain other movements still hurt.

Physical pain but also emotional, mental, and spiritual pain can be just that … painful. It is something none of us want to deal with. Paul though has something really interesting to say about pain, any kind of pain, in his second letter to the Corinthians. Check out these words.

“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. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
2 Corinthians 4:17-18

Pain hurts! That’s all there is to it. But the pain you and I experience … it is not eternal, it is not going to last forever. The pain we suffer, it is just temporary compared to the glory and the blessings which await us in heaven.

But here is the thing … we don’t suffer alone in our pain!

Actually, our pain is nothing compared to the pain which Jesus suffered on the cross in your and my place! Jesus had the sins of the whole world, even yours, upon His shoulders. He had Satan and others tormenting Him. He also had His own Heavenly Father turn His back on Him. Now if we want talk about pain…I think this is the epitome of it. (And I didn’t even get into the graphic stuff about how Jesus was unrecognizable as a man).

But the excruciating pain of the crucifixion and literally suffering hell on the cross didn’t stop Jesus like it would stop you and me. Instead Jesus’ love for you is what carried Him through all of the pain. He wants you to be with Him eternally and He made it happen through His life, death, and victorious resurrection.

So the next time you are suffering some sort of pain, I want you to remember that Jesus is there with you in the midst of it and He will help carry you through, all the way to eternal life.

In Christ!

Pastor Mike