Building Scar Tissue

"Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces (scar tissue) endurance" (James 1:2-3).

Hey gang: Wow, what a beautiful day.  The sun is peeking through the trees, there is a cool breeze blowing and birds are rejoicing.  It looks like a wood cutting day.  Isn't it neat and reassuring to know we have a heavenly Father who knows every hair on our head (less for me every day) and every bird that falls from the sky?

I have been having problems with a shoulder that I injured more than fifty years ago in a farming incident.  The doctor said, the MRI tells me you have a slight tear in a muscle but it is not bad enough that we should do anything to fix the problem.  We will just watch it and wait until it gets worse.  Now I ask you, does that sound strange?  I mean, if suddenly I felt a bump in a tire, should I wait until it blows out to take action?

The problem - he is not the one who has to sleep with this problem.  I wanted to have a pit party and do the ‘poor me’ gig. But I have on my wall beside me ten pictures of children in St Jude hospital who are fighting for their very lives against cancer. I pray for daily.  So, I just can't get to upset over a simple muscle tear.

Paul talked about being confronted with slight afflictions in his letter to the Corinthians: “Five times I received 39 lashes, three times I was beaten with rods, once stoned, three times shipwrecked, danger from robbers, dangers from countrymen”, etc. etc, etc.

James tells us we are to rejoice when you encounter trials, it builds scar tissue in your soul that prepares you for the tough days ahead.  He also included this piece of truth "trials make us perfect and complete, lacking nothing" (James 1:4).  I learned a very important, even you might say life changing lesson, when I transitioned from Air Traffic Control in the Air Force to Air Traffic control in the Federal system. 

In the Air Force I handled peak traffic for an hour or so than often had very little until the next scramble of our squadron, which may be a day or two latter.  But, when working in the Air Traffic Control Center in Pittsburgh, where hundreds of aircraft pass through the control zone and I was required to make hundreds of transmissions that literally had life and death significance, was a horse of a different color.   Anyone who does not work up from the basement to full control position without learning the system a step at a time, does not acquire the "scar tissue" needed to survive the constant stress levels that are part of the job.

Soooo, I have decided to take Paul up on his promise "That God can make all things work for good for those who Love Him and are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28).  But do not stop there, read on, "For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son".    Each time my muscle twinges I pray for one or more of those who are on my prayer list who are worse off than I.  Satan hates it when we pray for others, so perhaps he will stop the twinges.  Try it, it tends to make one feel aches and pains less.

Blessings,

Gramps