"Casting all your care upon Him;
for He careth for you." 
- I Peter 5:7

As a little boy one thing happened quite often...

...I got hurt.  

That's right...cut, bruised, scraped, blistered, burned and just plain old hurt in general.  It wasn't uncommon for me to come inside black, blue and bloodied.

You see, I had an uncanny ability to attract  bodily harm.  Some of it was my fault...some of it wasn't.

There was the time that I placed a three foot long piece of metal pipe into my mouth and slid down a slide.  (Don't ask me why, I don't know ;-) The pipe hit the ground and the impact forced it back into my throat.  They say it took three nurses, a doctor and an intern to hold me down at the emergency room.

Once I was playing around with some old boards and stepped on a nail that went through my foot.  I remember vividly raising my foot off of the ground to find that the board was firmly attached to the bottom of my foot.  Ouch!

What about the huge scar on my knee?  Got that when I slid down upon a huge piece of glass in the back yard.  

Whether it was a black eye from a baseball, a burnt hand from the burning barrel or a pinched finger from the car door, I often seemed to be getting hurt.  I always knew where to run when I found myself in a situation like those...I ran to my father.

Didn't matter what the emergency was, my father would always stretch out his arms and pull me in close.  He would wipe away my tears and in a confident, loving voice he would say something like...

"I'm here, son.  I've got you.  I know it hurts right now, but it will stop hurting soon."

You know, as an adult I often find myself bruised and beaten on.  This world seems like a battleground some days and it's hard not to get hurt in one way or another.  Things like illness and disease beat us up inside.  Sometimes the words of others cut us like glass.  Financial difficults scrape at us and relationship problems burn like fire between us.  

Whether it is the hardships of the job,  a bit of bad news,  or we're just having a bad day in general, it's not uncommon to get hurt.

And during those times that I find myself twisted and torn I always know where to run...

I run to my Heavenly Father.

I look up towards the sky and there, between the clouds, I can almost see His arms stretching out to embrace me.  I feel His comfort rush over me as He pulls me in close.  And I hear His voice as He soothes my wearied soul...

"I'm here, son.  I've got you.  I know it hurts right now, but it will stop hurting soon."

Whatever you face today...run to the Father.

Have a "Wonderful DAY in Christ,"
Jimmy D. Brown
\o/ Praise Jesus!