We Hate Suffering

Well I had an interesting week.

When you begin to grow into a more mature and complete human being there comes a point when you have to ask yourself, “Why do I believe, what I believe about… religion, politics, exercise, nutrition, relationships, money?”

The list can go on and on.

But try it once… try to explain to yourself, WHY you believe in say… Jesus Christ. Or if you are not of the Christian persuasion… why do you believe what you believe about your personal spiritual beliefs.

Christianity has a lot to say about suffering.

So when I started getting sick this week, as my night progressed at work, with me getting sicker and sicker… I started a conversation with The Holy Spirit.

I asked him… “Do you still work the same way? You know, like when the lady touched his robe, or when he visited the little girl, or even his friend Lazarus? Do you still just take illness away?”

As my night progressed I would consider talking to my supervisor after I would get certain parts of my job done. Then I would say to myself, “You know we’re running short handed.”

Then I would go on to the next task, getting sicker as I went, talking to the Holy Spirit, reminiscing on my childhood Tonsillitis that made me feel exactly the same way as I was starting to feel this night.

I never did hear His voice… and because my night was coming to an end shortly… I decided to just suffer through to the end… like I did when I was a kid. [didn’t really have a choice back then]

Have you ever heard of “the eleventh hour”?

Well let me tell ya… it’s real.

This particular shift of twelve hours had me at the eleventh hour, almost on the nose, had me sitting quietly, feeling like a truck just hit me, when the young man I work with, comes in, sits down and says, “Hey? What’s up with Muslims? Why does Islam hate the Jews?”

So I just asked him, “Ever hear of Hagar and Ishmael?”

“No.”

Then I asked, “Ever hear of Abraham and his wife Sarah?”

“Yeah, they were the ones who were super old when they finally had a kid.”

Bingo!

So… meeting this young man where he was at… I started where he was familiar and explained who, and more importantly, when, Sarah decided to take matters into her own hands and give her servant Hagar to Abraham to have a child… making Ishmael the first born… and how Muslims trace their religion back to him.

That info stopped that young mans mouth… and made him think… and think up more questions!

Good thing it was GO TIME on our last task of the night cuz’ I gave him everything I had concerning that particular topic!

We ended our night with a thumbs up… I checked my temperature leaving the building… made the COVID alarm go off… got home… checked the CDC for symptoms… and called in to work right away for the next day.

When I finally woke up, I called for a drive by test appointment.

NOT covid. Still felt like a truck hit me.

They were able to get me a Dr. appointment very early the next morning.

Another covid test. Another negative.

But this Dr., a young man himself, gave me some new information. “You have Pharyngitis. It’s viral, but not covid. You can self medicate for comfort, keep drinking water, and your body will take care of itself.”

You mean… “Just suffer through it?”

“Yeah.”

So I asked him, “Would this have caused tonsillitis when I was a young kid?”

“For sure.”

They took my tonsils, but I still get this same thing once or twice a year, am I just susceptible to this particular virus?

“We don’t do that any more, taking tonsils, we learned they were doing what they were supposed to be doing, and yeah, you just happen to be susceptible to that one.”

For some reason finally having someone agree with me that this thing is the same thing I’ve been dealing with since I was a little boy… made me laugh to myself when he said, “Just suffer through it.” Heck, I can do that.

Plus I’ll have to do some more studying, reading, and soul searching on why I believe what I believe.

I don’t know what it all means… but maybe like tonsils… I was doing what I was supposed to be doing, I didn’t remove myself too soon… and ended up in a place where God could use me… regardless of the condition I was in.