11-6-14 The Hard Way


“Hi preacher, c’mon in,” said a guy through clenched teeth.  I hadn’t seen him in church for a while and decided to visit him.

“What happened to you?” 

“I went to a bar and got into a fight.  They wired my jaw shut because the other guy broke it. It’s gonna take six weeks or so for it to heal.  I can’t eat anything, everything has to go through a straw. I can’t brush my teeth either.” He continued fussing about his current predicament for a while.

“Yeah, but you can strain orange juice as you drink it.” We chuckled at some other “locked jaw” jokes. Then I added, “I’ve been missing you at church lately.”

“I know.  I know. And this wouldn’t have happened if I had been going to church instead.”

“You are right.  Did you know that you are in the Bible?” We then got out his Bible and read the following verse noted at the end of this devotional. 

He didn’t come back to church for a while, but God gave him a lot to think about. 

Personally, I hate it when God teaches me a lesson the hard way. I still get stubborn and God has to teach me by using the hard way every now and again.  I think I am wising up, though.

“Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?” Proverbs 23:29.

© copyright Kevin T Boekhoff


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