My Back And I Are Back

by Bruce Brady

The more I pushed myself, the more trouble my back gave me. My plan was to ignore the pain and press on. After all, I had a thousand things to do and only I could do them. So I scheduled several sessions with the Chiropractor and filled the rest of my calendar with “Honey-dos.” However, my back had other plans. And my adjustments and activities just made it worse.

I decided to just give my back a rest while I rested in God. Naturally, that did more good than any treatments I’ve had. Except for the occasional pang, my back is completely normal. As for me, I’m not sure I’ve ever been.

In all this, God re-taught me a valuable lesson. I knew it already but lost sight of it in my self-sufficiency. He reminded me that He can do all things, not me. I can do all things, but only through Christ who strengthens me. The key here is He, not I, provides the strength.

So why the back injury? I really needed to slow down and refocus on Him. I had slipped into my all too familiar mode of “Bruce Almighty.” I needed to be sat down. I often do. I was raised to be self-sufficient. My mantra was, “If you want something done right, do it yourself.” Paul had his thorn in the side, this is one of mine. Yes, I need several to keep me in line.

God uses many things to get my attention, this time He chose physical aliment. I could have become bitter but knew it was for my own good. Even in tough times, He is still God and I still love Him. No the pain wasn’t pleasant. It was excruciating at times. Had it been tolerable, I would have ignored it, and Him. One of the most valuable things God teaches us is who we are.

If you find yourself hurting, ill or troubled, don’t ask, “Why me?” Instead, ask God to show you why? Sometimes the answer is just that we over did it or we just caught the latest illness going around. But sometimes He is trying to get our attention to keep us from traveling the wrong road…one that would do us much more harm than good.

Did You Ever Have One Of Those Days?

Ever have one of those days when you start out raring to go and then one distraction after another seems to suck the day away from you? Well, that is the kind of day I had. After my prayer time and Bible study, “things” came up that kept me from doing what I intended. And when I finally felt I had time to get started on my “to-do” list, it was time for me to start dinner. Maybe I’ll just escort my beautiful wife to the car, brave the rain and cold and take her to our favorite restaurant.

Hopefully your day went better than mine. But it seems that if you live anywhere in the U.S., you probably didn’t have a great weather day either. I do hope you asked God to direct your day and were able to accomplish what needed to be done. I thought my goals for the day were His but I may have misunderstood. Apparently He wanted me to learn how to exercise patience in the midst of chaos. I believe I did pretty well and pray I did well enough to avoid another lesson in patience tomorrow.

One thing He did lay on my heart was the lack of good news we get in this country. The news media seems intent trying to depress us by only sharing the worst humanity has to offer. And most do it with a decided editorial bent. So, we should show people that there is goodness in this world. We should show the world that there is a loving, caring God Who will help anyone who comes to Him.  He wants me to share stories of mankind’s acts of goodness. But not just my stories, He wants your stories too. Therefore, if you know of anyone who has done anything good for others without expecting a reward, please share that with me. Post your stories in the comments and I will publish those that best fit the goal.