Wednesday Bible Blurb 10-6-2021
Life was not going so well. Dad had died a horrendously painful death from cancer at age 40. My mother and I were both hospice and long-term care as we lived out in the desert far from helpful facilities. I fed him, injected his morphine into him, bathed him, read his Bible to him and helped him in the bathroom. Cancer has a death smell to it which has never left my mind. The smell of death. Not a great senior year of high school for this 17-year-old. Death was a blessing to him and a disaster of emotional health for my mother. Two weeks after dad had died, she left our desert California home for her family in Montana and was gone for three months. Alone. I was alone in our home. I was cook, maid, laundry professional, banker, grocery shopper, lawn mower and alone. I paid the bills and was up by 4:45 every morning for swim team practice at 6 A.M. I attended all my classes in high school. Could it have gotten any worse? What I remember is on the last night of his life, my dad sat me down and told me he had taught me all he could. Now, he said, “Go do the right thing.” Then he was gone. I pitied myself and was sorrowful for my young life.
A short six months later I had the opportunity to head up to Northern California to see some friends. Driving along I-80 near Sacramento, it was hot that day. I read 104F on the giant roadside thermometer. Windy, dusty and I had a headache. Boom, the tire literally blew out from under my car. My headache was getting worse, I had no aspirin or water in the car. My head was throbbing by the time I got pulled over to change the tire. I pulled out the spare and the jack to lift up the car. With my throbbing head I could not figure out how to use this new-fangled jack on the 1976 Chevy Nova. I have changed many tires, it was now 105 F, windy and I was thirsty. My head throbbed. I was 18, alone with a car jack I could not figure out how to use while I was on the side of the freeway. I sat down on the spare tire just behind the car and as my migraine headache increased in strength, my pent-up emotions started to come out. I was 18. I sat on the tire and cried. I was missing my dad and with my throbbing headache, I wondered how it could get any worse? I believe God has a sense of humor, for as I wondered how it could get any worse an 18-wheeler hauling cows went screaming by. Cow hauling 18-wheeler trailers have hundreds of air holes to keep the cattle cool. These wonderful air holes let air in and also let out cow manure in little droplets. As I sat there on the spare tire trying to figure out how to use the jack, in the 105 F heat, thirsty with a throbbing migraine feeling sorrowful and pitying myself, I found I was now completely covered in cow manure. I was having a really bad day.
Paul and Silas were illegally jailed by the government while in Philippi. They were beaten and thrown into prison and put in stocks They were having a really bad day. What did they do?” But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.” (Acts 16:25 All verses NKJV). They neither pitied themselves nor were they sorrowful for their bad day. While in prison, beaten with whips, legs in stocks in a dark dungeon, they sang and praised God.
Jesus had a bad day too. He was illegally arrested and tried by the government. In John 19 we find He was “scourged” (Whipped so brutally that skin and muscle would be ripped off of His body), a crown of thorns was pushed onto His head, they struck Him. The crowds yelled out “Crucify Him, crucify Him”. Jesus was having a really bad day. Finally, He said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” (Luke 23:34). Jesus neither pitied Himself nor was He sorrowful for Himself. Instead, He pleaded for God to forgive those who harmed Him.
I was hot, my head was throbbing and I was covered from head to toe in cow manure droplets. It was a defining moment in my young life. I prayed to God for His help, as all I wanted at that time was my dad. I was truly wishing he was there with me in my pain. My real Dad, God our Father in heaven looked down and showed a pitiful sorrowful young man His grace and mercy. Paul reminds us, “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.” (I Thes. 5:24). Paul also wrote, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. (I Cor. 10:13). On this pivotal, hot, migraine headache, manure covered day of my life, God showed mercy and grace to me. I was able to change the tire and continue on to my destination.
In our daily lives we all suffer trials and temptations. Praise God for those days. (Matt. 5:11-12). While tortured, Paul and Silas sang hymns and prayed to God. The jailer and his family were saved that very night. Jesus reviled no one while on the Cross. He gave His life for the salvation of the world that day. God has faith in us and we will never be tempted beyond what He believes we can handle. What a blessing for us that God is there with us, through every trial. When we are having a bad day, praise God, sing, pray and shout out His mercies. Like Paul, Silas and Jesus let our “really bad day” be a light of God’s love on those who witness our distress.
