May 2 – “Just for the good of mankind”

I had quite the introduction back into water therapy yesterday.   Oh, it was nothing official or anything like that.  In fact only three of us were around to even hear it.  But it was kind of fun anyway.  And I needed “kind of fun.”  It was really hard to get motivated to even go to the class.  Josh and Christi were still here.  Cailyn was coming over for us to take her to school.  Not to mention I was still pretty tired.  Not exactly as exhausted as I had been, but really tired nonetheless. 

I arrived at my usual time and went into the bathroom to change.  And as I entered I realized right away that I had stumbled upon a discussion / argument.  Two guys from the class before mine were deeply embroiled in a debate about big pharmaceutical companies and how they are in it just to make money.  Actually one guy was really on a tear and the other guy was either baiting him or simply not doing too well defending his side.  Either way, the guy behind the dressing screen was obviously winning.  He finally threw out this obviously sarcastic barb: “Nobody ever does anything just for the good of mankind.”  At that the other guy pretty much realized he was outmatched, and he didn’t know what to say next.  He just looked over at me and shrugged his shoulders with a sheepish grin.  I did my best to stay out of it, but I just couldn’t pass that one up.  So as I walked out the door, I offered, “You know, somebody did something just for the good of mankind once.  And they killed him.  But then he rose from the dead.”  The outmatched guy’s grin grew into a broad smile as I walked through the door.  Didn’t hear any response from behind the screen, though.

Later on that afternoon I realized that we forgot the suitcase full of props at the funeral home, so Cailyn and I went over there to pick it up.  Props?  Just little object lesson kind of reminders that I used in the funeral the day before.  A baseball.  A stuffed frog.  A wiffle ball.  An atlas.  Christi told me that I got Josh in trouble with his oldest son.  Zak wanted to know why his daddy doesn’t do that kind of thing in his sermons.  I consider that the highest praise ever. 

Romans 12:12 says, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”

Jesus, thank you that you did have the “good of mankind” at heart when you died and rose from the dead.  Sure changed my life.  Amen.