KneEmail - a devotional by Mike Benson associated with Forthright Magazine
Pain
MY NINE-YEAR-old daughter, Jennifer, was looking forward to our families' mini-vacation...
But when our vacation arrived, she became ill, and a long anticipated day at Sea World was replaced by an all-night series of CAT scans, X-rays, and blood work at the local hospital. As morning approached, the doctors told my exhausted little girl that she needed to have one more test -- a spinal tap. The procedure would be painful, they said. The doctor then asked me if I planned to stay in the room. I nodded my head, knowing I couldn't leave Jennifer alone during the ordeal.
The doctors gently asked Jennifer to remove her clothing. She looked at me with childlike modesty as if to ask if that were all right. Then they had her curl up into a tiny ball. I buried my face in hers and hugged her.
Jennifer cried as the needle was inserted. As the searing pain increased, she sobbed, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy." The tone of her voice told me she was hurting and that she wanted me to do something to make it stop. My tears mingled with hers. My heart was breaking. I felt nauseous. But because I loved her, I allowed her to go through the most agonizing experience of her life.
There, briefly, in the middle of that spinal tap, my thoughts went back to Calvary's cross. What unspeakable pain the Son and the Father endured for our sakes. (Garvis Semore)
KneEmail: “And when they came unto the place which is called The Skull, there they crucified him. . . ” (Lk. 23:33).