Healing Wounds: Morning Watch Monday
Morning Watch Mondays
Welcome back to our blog series, written by Matt Sloan, Camp’s Chaplain and Shoulder Season Events Director. These “Morning Watch Mondays” will be posted twice a month, inviting a moment of reflection the same way our daily Morning Watch times do during the summer.
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About 10 years ago I was teaching Asher, my 8 year old son, how to chop wood. I had recently purchased a brand new maul from the local hardware store. A maul is like an ax…but with more “oomph” behind it. There is an ax-like blade on one end and a sledgehammer on the other end, giving you more force to swing down onto the wood you are chopping. It’s awesome.
I showed Asher how to stack the wood, properly prepare your stance, and to remain aware of your surroundings because, as awesome as a maul is, it can be dangerous to yourself and those around you. After I took a few swings, it was his turn. With me helping him, Asher did all of the right things, and he lifted the heavy blade into the air and released it down onto one of the rounds of wood. He was on his way to making firewood, and I was very proud of him.
After a couple of swings I took the maul from his hands and told him to rest off to the side, and to continue to watch as I restacked the wood and took a turn. My first big swing went right through the first piece of wood, but then unexpectedly ricochet off of another log to come back toward my feet. I moved my right foot just in time to avoid any contact with the maul other than a minor bump, or so I thought.
As I restacked another piece of wood to cut I noticed my right foot was itching, now burning. I looked down at my duck boots I was wearing and noticed there was a cut in them right where my foot was itching. As I peeled back the cut boot Asher and I noticed a good bit of blood started to run out of it. I had cut my foot with the maul! Needless to say, young Asher was upset and crying and ran to find mom, who then approached with some appropriate “extreme concern” of her own to take me to the doctor. The maul had cut through my boot and hit the top of the knuckle on my big toe. It left about a 3 inch wound that needed stitches.
The sight of that 3 inch wound on my foot was disturbing to my family to say the least. None of us even wanted to look at the wound, we just wanted it to be healed and made better. Thankfully the doctor knew what he was doing and stitched me up so that no infection could set in on the inside or the outside of my foot, and I could heal completely.
“When the great crowd from different regions heard all that he was doing, they came to him. And he told his close followers to have a boat ready for him in case the crowd closed in too closely to crush him, for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him.” Mark 3:8-10
Jesus was constantly surrounded by people who needed to be healed, and He was always willing to do so. The Bible is filled with one type of situation: People in need of help, and God coming to the rescue. He is able to heal us on the outside and on the inside. In fact, we cannot heal ourselves. Just like I needed a doctor to stitch my foot from my accident, Jesus shows us that God has everything we need to heal us.
Question of the Day:
When in your life have you ever been hurt before? What is going on in your life right now that you might want to talk to God about helping you with?
Thought to consider:
We all have hurts, and you are not weak to admit that you need help. Jesus shows us that God is familiar with our hurts, feels them with us, and has everything we need to be restored to life the way it was meant to be lived.