Matt's Muzings
October 2008 Vol. 10 Issue 89
Pain is inevitable in our life and world.
One of the single most powerful stories I have heard.
Pain
My cousin, Rich was flying a very small plane in Eastern Oregon years ago. He had
landed in a field close to his family's house as he was doing some work there. It
was a hot afternoon and he was going to take off to fly over the mountains to his
own house in Salem. His little plane took off from the field it was in and in the
hot, thin air was struggling to get enough altitude to get over the trees at the
end of the field.
Rich pulled back on the stick to get the last couple of feet needed to get over
the tops of the trees and didn't make it. His landing gear caught the tree tops
and his plane stalled. The plane crashed and caught fire. Rich was caught inside
and had trouble getting out. He finally made it out but had 3rd degree burns over
80% of his body. His skin was slowly peeling off and he was dying.
A series of miracles happened. An ambulance just happened to be passing by that
took him to the airport to catch another air ambulance that just happened to be
there to take him to a specialized burn center in Portland. He spent the next weeks
fighting for his life.
In unimaginable pain, he was kept heavily sedated for the first couple of weeks.
His body was able to survive and he then had to wear a suit that was skin tight
over his whole body to keep the burnt skin from getting 'knotted' up and to keep
it as flat as possible.
After months in the hospital he desperately wanted to get out, even if
just for a few hours. After almost begging the doctors, they let him
walk outside. Rich slowly walked outside just to get away. He could not
walk too many steps in his special suit and he was still very weak, and
he had to stand still and rest frequently.
He made it into a mall next door and sat down on a bench to just watch the
world go by. As he was looking around his eyes caught the look of an elderly woman. When she caught his eyes she slowly walked over and sat down next to him. She slid her arm around Rich's shoulder and began to weep. She sat and wept
with him for 5 min. Tears freely streaming down her face. She then stood up and walked away. She never said a word. But what she gave Rich was an expression of God he has never forgotten.
I can only imagine how much pain she knew in her life. But I am convinced that she also knew comfort and because of this was able to share that comfort
with Rich in such a wonderfully powerful and intimate way. She is a hero to me and I have never met her. She knew pain and wasn't embarrassed about it and knew it was a part of life. She also knew comfort and how to give it out. She is a concrete expression of who the God of all comfort wants to be with us. He doesn't promise to spare us from all pain, but covenants with us to walk with us through it and to
comfort us with his awesome greatness and intimate love.
Comfort, Oh Comfort my people....
I am not near as broken and vulnerable as that dear elderly woman was to reach out to a stranger and be 'with' him in his pain. I am working on it, but it is very
hard.
In the book of Acts it says that the church grew in the fear of the lord and the
comfort of the Holy Spirit. Maybe the reason the church is not growing into maturity
is because we as leaders cannot offer the comfort of God to so many who are hurting?
I pray that you as a leader would know the God of all comfort in all areas of your
life. That you would not fight Him or pretend to be strong in those areas where
you are hurting. I pray also that you can then give that comfort to those you are
leading that they might rise up into maturity and the image of God.
Celia and I took off on a days notice to spend time with Josh. I had been talking
with him for hours on the phone. We were having wonderful, deep and painful sharing
times and Celia and I just sensed we wanted to go and be with him to walk through
some struggles he was going through. I know this was a chance for me to just be
with my son, to hear his pain and walk with him as Jesus has done with me. I am
not sure how successful I was, but it was clearly a new level of maturity for me
to just 'be' with him.
I must add that, Rich now goes to a hospital on a monthly basis and offers to many
others who are burned and in pain the comfort that he was given. He is such a gift
to so many and I am so blessed by his reaching out to others.
Is. 40:1 "Comfort, O comfort My people," says your God.
Blessings,
Matt and Celia
FAMILY MATTERS:
MATT: Josh has joined me as I teach in a DTS in Kona. It will be his first time
to hear me teach in a DTS and I am trusting God to bond us in a new way as we share and talk about what God has given me to share with others.
CELIA: I am also here in Kona. It has been a month of watching God orchestrate our steps. It has been a walk of faith each and every day. Please continue to pray
for us as a family as we trust God to continue to lead. Matt has a trip to Sweden
and leaves on Friday of this week. Josh and I go back to Salem on Monday and I return to Singapore on Nov.3rd.
JOSHUA: It has been a hard month for him. I am so proud of him and the choices he is making to mature in new areas.