October 11, 2016 It's never pleasant, but pain can at times be God's gift to us. At times. When it is deliberately inflicted by one human being upon another, pain has been perverted and twisted into a tool for destruction rather than an instrument of healing. And there are those times when tragedies come upon us for which we cannot discern any path of redemption. This is after all, a sinful and broken world. It can however, be an instrument, a gift from God, a warning that something is wrong. Recently, my right hip has been giving me fits, with pain that radiates from front to back, and down my leg. Ibuprofen helps at bedtime, but sitting hurts, and climbing the stairs sends immediate messages to my brain that roughly translate as, "Stop doing this to me! NOW!" I suspect that carrying my bass around is the culprit. When I grab it, it is with my right hand. Leaning to the left for balance, my right hip is thrust to the side when I walk. Sunday when I took it to church, I carried it by my left hand, leaning on my left hip. It didn't hurt, but whatever damage has been done hasn't been corrected. The pain however, is keeping me from making it worse till I can get to the chiropractor or regular physician. The pain tells me something is wrong. Now it's up to me to respond. I'm grateful for the pain; grateful that isn't so severe that it's debilitating, but merely God's notice that something is wrong, needing attention. I'm grateful too, that I live in a time and place where something can be done about it. Many are not so fortunate. For them I pray.