Consider the plight of the PK (preacher’s kid). Always around; constantly providing illustrations about life – positively and negatively. Wise preachers learn what this can do to his kids, if he talks about them too much and learn to back off. That said, there are times when the lesson is just too powerful….
Dennis is a pretty fair basketball player, for his age. Saturday was his last game of the season. Near the end of the second period, an opposing player crashed over the top of Dennis, hitting him pretty forcefully in the head. Dennis crashed to the floor and reacted to the pain. I went and got him at the appropriate time and let him sit with me until he was a little better. Then, I sent him back into the game – still hurting.
Later he came down on someone’s foot during a rebound and turned his ankle. This was real pain. One of the coaches brought some ice, we kept him iced until halftime and the coach carried him off to be with the team. I joined them and put his shoe back on, laced it tight and told him to get back in the game when he thought he could. He just sat on the bench. I went over to him shortly before the last period and asked him to run to the door for me. He didn’t really want to…but he did it for me and saw that he wasn’t hurting nearly as much as he had been. He played the last period with reckless abandon and ended this year having a great time.
What’s the lesson? When we get hurt in this game of life, the time to get back into the game – into serving the Lord – is not when we quit hurting. The time to get back into the game is as soon as we can get up and limp back down the court. When we play through the pain, we get back into the joy – and find that the joy was worth the pain. Are you in the game?
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