Man, I was sick last night! I got good news about this leg problem I was having and then, boom! About four in the afternoon I picked up this stomach bug from my wife. It was not pleasant! It also wasn’t normal! I had none of the disgusting symptoms usually accompanying that type of illness, just intense pain for about seven hours. Then it was done. Nothing stopped during the pain. Karin had the same thing yesterday and the evening before so she was nearly recovered but I was okay and we had a friend over who helped with the kids. Last night it was just she and I, her worn out and me in pain, but seven, three, and one year olds don’t get it, the house didn’t stop, life wouldn’t slow down so I could feel better. That’s how it works.

Some peeps would say, “Quit whining and tough it out!” Some would say, “It’s the devil, fight!” or, “You must not be living right!” But you know, the truth is, whatever the cause, that in this life we have trouble, Jesus’ promised. The point of common, day-to-day grace, is that we have the strength to get through those days. My illness was nothing compared to the men and women who wake up in pain every day; or in hunger, poverty, war. I think sometimes that we need these reminders of the reality of the world that we are supposed to be changing.

It reminds me of Bogart in Casa Blanca: “…..the problems of two little people don’t mean a hill of beans in this big old world.” His love affair with Ingrid Bergman mattered very little right then, what mattered was that the Nazi’s were destroying the world. Rick, (Bogart), knew he could make a difference, so he let her go and swallowed his pain.

I’m so complacent. It’s so easy to let the world slip by and be lost in my own insignificant issues when I know that to be a Christian is to make a difference in the world, to continue to redeem the world we that we inherited. What a lousy Christian I am! I know the steps but keep sitting out the dances waiting for a song that I like. We need to dance, not cry that she wore the same dress or that my heart is broken, we need to grab our partners and wheel through the crowd sharing the truth of the steps we learned. Sore feet? No excuse. Wallflower? No excuse. Don’t think you can dance? Trust me, it’s in you, He has written the steps on our hearts.