Before I knew it I was sliding down the staircase, feet first toward a hard landing. I immediately realized I could not move my left arm. And I had intense pain in the shoulder. That’s how I ended up in a local Emergency Room on a Saturday evening. As you might expect, no beds were immediately available and the waiting room was nearly full. My wife checked me in. Before long we had a visit with the triage nurse. After she finished assessing me and my dislocated shoulder, she allowed us to remain in her triage room. We appreciated the kindness.
Meanwhile, my pain was breathtaking and getting worse. By the time the busy ER physicians were ready to relocate my shoulder, about four hours elapsed. Until then I had no relief. All I could do was breathe through the pain, and groan. But inside I was at peace. I was thinking about my Lord Jesus on the cross, suffering for me, and suffering much more intensely than I was. Fragments of old hymns were running through my mind, like “Jesus never fails, Jesus never fails. Heaven and earth will pass away, but Jesus never fails.” In the end, the medical team set my shoulder joint back in proper order. My wife, who had been there through the entire ordeal, drove me home in the wee hours of the morning.
In retrospect this was a great revelation to me. For one thing, it was the first time I have ever experienced an injury so painful. My wife describes this as another credit toward my education as a human being. The most surprising aspect of the whole event, however, was my response to the injury and to the period I had to wait for relief. Certainly, if this had happened a few years ago I would not have accepted it so calmly. My attention would have been more on myself and not so much on Christ.
All the credit for this change, rudimentary though it may be, goes to Him. Apart from this adverse event I would have had no way of knowing how I might respond. Now I can see that He has gained some ground in me. I am grateful for this encouraging insight into His transforming power in my life.
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