SortingBeans

My job title is “Furniture Installer.”

Yesterday, I had a delivery to a residential home where we delivered a large office desk. This thing was a beast. 5 years ago I would have been okay, but this time things didn’t work out to well. We had to cary the desk about 100 feet and through a narrow doorway.

As we approached the door, I felt pain start to emerge in my lower back. We set the desk down, picked it back up and took it inside the house. When we sat the desk down, it hit me. I was done with. I could barely move my legs.

Next stop, doctor’s office.

And I hate going in for things like this, because I’ve had to do it before. You will sometimes get asked, “So why do you think your situation is different than anyone else in the world? We all suffer from lower back pain.” When I get this type of question, my immediate response is to want to punch the doctor in the face. But I can’t do that because I don’t think it would be too godly.

So I get evaluated and x-rayed. Everything seems to look good. I have some disk compression, degenerative disc disease (don’t worry, sounds worse than what it is), and minor arthritis (again, sounds worse than what it is). So the doc concluded that I probably sprained my lower back. Thus, I am prescribed light duty.

I went to work, was told to dust-mop the warehouse floor, and couldn’t even do that effectively. Therefore, I was sent home. It looks like I’ll be off work for nearly a week.

I thought about the Gospel.

There is no “light duty” when it comes to the Gospel. There is no being “sent home,” unless it’s your time to go be with Jesus. We are called to live the Gospel no matter of our circumstance. And this is not only a duty, it’s a calling. Thank God there is no “light duty” when it comes to the Gospel, because it fits into all circumstances.

No matter what you’re going through, God can speak to people through it. He can use your pain for His glory. In fact, He is made perfect in our weakness. And if it means that God has purpose in what happens in my life, that pain produces intimacy, then bring it on, because I want most of all to be close to Jesus.

When Christians suffer, they don’t go through hell, they go through intimacy.



—Jonathan

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