September 19 – “Pain for a Day”

And yesterday provided the perfect format for pain and suffering.  No, I’m not talking about the Astros’ losing, although that stung a little bit.  They did win the series from Seattle, though, two out of three.  Not talking about the Texas Longhorns’ loss.  They scored 43 points, so at least their offense works.  But the Texans and Cowboys both won.  University of Houston won.  TCU won.  Texas A&M won.  Texas Tech won.  Baylor won.  Hey, even Houston Baptist won a close game in overtime.  So all is good on the Texas sports front. 

And church went well.  We had another smallish, but happy group, ready to do some worshipping.  Jim added a new guitarist to the praise team.  Dale did a tremendous job.  He and Lynn really added to the praise experience.  Oh, and I have to mention little Elena, as well.  She’s just four years old, but she stands herself up in front of the drum and bangs away.  And she’s getting good at keeping the appropriate beat, too.  And then we had Third Sunday Dinner on the Grounds.  Never a bad dish there.  Even Cathy’s new strawberry cake recipe was good.  What better place to try out something new than at a dinner on the grounds when you don’t have to take it home if it flops?  As if anything at Seaside ever flopped.  Hasn’t happened yet.  Put that date on your calendar, folks.

So what am I talking about with the whole “suffering” comment?  I was sore.  Sore from all those hours of hard, yet satisfying labor at the church workday.  Everybody else seemed to be moving well, even chipper-ly.  Especially Bella.  Bella was all over the place.  So I didn’t mention anything other than the expected, “I’m sore” comment.  Let me hasten to say that my joints didn’t give me much trouble at all.  I need to build up my knees, though.  I have shied away from putting any stress on them for so long that I could feel the weakness in them.   My back was definitely an issue, but I got the message that I have to live with that, so that will go without saying.  Nope, my biggest other-than-back problem from a day of hard labor?  My rear end in sore.  OK.  Go ahead and finish laughing.  I’ll wait … There.  Are you done?  See, the whole first part of the day I spent crouched down or sitting down and hunched over, painting a baseboard.  Obviously there was inordinate strain on the gluteus maximus muscles.  In short, I had a big pain in the rear.  It’s better today, but there is something horribly wrong with hurting when you sit down.  So there you have it.  My Pain for a Day story.  Glad I could bring a smile your way.

2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

Father, thanks again for the folks who worked Saturday.  Thanks for the people you drew to worship yesterday.  And thanks for the pain.  It reminds me that I’m still around.  Amen.