Crushed Pinky?

I was in a hurry this morning at church, one Sunday before Christmas, setting up for my 9:30am Sunday group of post-high youth. I crushed my pinky between two pieces of metal as I was unfolding a collapsible stand for the audio system.

I’m sure “crushed” is too strong a word, but it helps me justify the pain it’s giving me about 12 hours later as I sit trying to type out a blog entry. It actually hurts to type!

So am I justified in writing a short blog entry this month?

We’ve all had these kinds of stupid accidents happen to us, and the first thing you think is something to the effect, “Just 3 minutes ago everything was fine! Can I just turn back time and try that over again? I promise I’ll do it differently.” I felt the same way after having an encounter between my car and lightpost in a parking lot.

Finally we begin to accept the reality of the situation, and then gradually we discover what the incident is going to cost us. The largest cost is often in terms of inconvenience.

In this case, I have to baby my baby finger. A finger we might think is not very important until we have to suffer its pain. Suddenly things that were simple actually become painful. Things like shaking hands, putting on a glove, picking up a cup, and worst of all, typing, are now painful.

Such a minor part of my body suddenly becomes my focus. I should not have overlooked it.

In 1 Cor 12:27 Paul writes about the church being the body of Christ. Each person does their part. When one of us hurts, we all hurt. It’s appropriate for us to encourage and uplift those parts of our church body that are in pain.

It’s also important to realize the importance of every one of us in the body. No task is small. We all have our part to fulfill.

Is there someone in the church body that I’ve been overlooking? I’m sure there are. Often, the people I overlook are the people I am in the most contact with.

People do their part of being the church every day. I hope I learn to stop overlooking them and say a word of appreciation occasionally. Taking the time to care for all the parts of our church body keep the church body functioning it’s best.

Happy Hiking, and God Bless,

- Allen