thrown down, but we haven't broken – well, at least not much. · Sep 21, 12:28 PM

....and needed 6 stitches to close a wound between two of the toes. Someone had left a box with a new light fixture sitting beside our kitchen cabinets. I got a class of water, took my evening vitamins, and was walking around the corner, headed for the bedroom, and whacked the box with my right foot between the 4th and 5th toes, tripped over the box, spilled the water out of the glass, just managed to catch myself and get my feet back under me (in the water puddle), THEN slipped again on the water with my feet flying out from under me, fell flat on my back with my head at an angle against the wall…and let out a blood curdling scream and a stream of unrepeatable syllables (not a prayer language).

When I got up and hobbled to a chair, my right foot was bleeding and leaving footprints. My son John took me to the ER where I read straight through 75 pages of Florencia Mallon’s postmodern history, Peasant and Nation in Latin America with an ice pack on my foot while waiting for a doctor to clean and stitch my wound (Don’t laugh, I wrote the last 9 pages of my masters thesis in the waiting room while Deb was having surgery).

We must be doing something right…every time we have started a new work we have passed through periods of intense spiritual warfare. I’ve got my foot up and bandaged and I’m cheerfully blogging today!

A passage came to me about being knocked down but not destroyed … I looked it up in the message:

2 Cor. 4: 7-12 If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. As it is, there’s not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we’re not much to look at. We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus’ sake, which makes Jesus’ life all the more evident in us. While we’re going through the worst, you’re getting in on the best!

16-18So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.

thanks for your prayers!

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Comment

  1. OOOOOuuuuuch!
    I can practically feel the pain. There’s just nothing that sends pain more through your body than breaking a toe – well birth-giving ladies might disagree…
    Hilarious, yes. Yesterday I went to remove a small tree from beside the fence. I put the shovel in the hole, worked it around, and pried upward. Once the plant was loose I reached down to grab it out of the hole, leaving the shovel in its prying position. Finding the plant too heavy I dropped it back down. The shovel had slackened and then became a ‘whipping stick’ right into the side of my head. I have a nice scabbed up left ear to show for my “Mr Bean” demo…
    I’m with you in praying for your rapid recovery brother – and with your dear Debbie as she soldiers on. What a precious person.

    Stephen

    — Stephen Hill · Sep 21, 03:33 PM · #

  2. Joseph,

    I must ask for your forgiveness – I laughed out loud while reading about your accident.

    I thought I was the only person who could have such an accident. I once stuck a screwdriver in my eye while ducking under an eve so as to not hit my head! A bump would have healed faster than my eye and it wouldn’t have been nearly as difficult to drive myself to the hospital :)

    Heal quickly and hug Debbie for me, not in that order and know you are both in my thoughts and prayers.

    — Gary Holman · Sep 21, 07:55 PM · #

  3. Joseph, Yes, it’s amazing how intense and, many times, laughable the struggles can be when engaging in new ministries and confronting the enemy in new areas. I chuckled as I read about your mishap. We’re standing with you and Debbie in prayer.
    Andrew

    — Andrew Howell · Sep 22, 04:38 AM · #

  4. Joseph,

    You are amazing! I still remember your story of putting on your shirt one Sunday morning, while it was still dark, only to find it was full of fire ants! The allergic reaction to their bites took you to the ER. But what was even more amazing to me was that you still made it to the church service that morning and delivered your sermon! You da’ man! I, too, must confess that I LOL when I read your recent story. Amazing! My prayers are with you and Debbie; also, please tell her that there are 12 rounds in a boxing match, so there are plenty of “rounds” left in her life here on this planet that we call earth. Love you guys. Randy

    — Randy Reinhardt · Sep 22, 05:52 AM · #

  5. thanks Randy and Andrew… I’m glad you got a lol out of it … it was rather bizarre – I sensed that even in the short second that it was happening …

    — joseph · Sep 22, 08:18 AM · #

  6. J, your latest event reminds me of the Hee Haw line, “ If it weren’t fer bad luck we’d have no luck at all”. I appreciate your ability to get the most out of it. thanks for the quote from The Message. he really captured something there.

    — Dennis & Dee · Sep 22, 10:18 PM · #

  7. Thanks for the scripture. I think it applies to someone I know and will pass it on. See you tomorrow night.

    — Mark Woodruff · Oct 22, 07:41 AM · #

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