"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes;
and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow,
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain:
for the former thnigs are passed away."
-- Revelation 21:4

Waaaaaaaay!  Waaaaaaay!    Waaaaaaaay!

No, that isn't the sound of my 20 month old boy Jacob crying over the teeth that continue to grow in his tender mouth.

It's the sound of ME crying over the tooth that is falling apart inside my  mouth!!!

For the better part of the past 24 hours, I have been agonizing over a very, very sore tooth.  Agonizing to the point of tears.

I gargled with hot salt water.  Took enough Aleve to knock a horse down.   Put a hot water compress on my jaw (I know, I know -- you're not supposed to do that, but it usually makes it feel better)

And I prayed.   And prayed.  And prayed.  And said, "Please God, please don't let this be the same thing that Paul called a 'thorn in the flesh'"

And for the first 17 or so hours, nothing helped.  Just pain and hurt and suffering and no relief in sight and no other ideas of what to do about getting my jaw to stop feeling like a hand grenade had just exploded inside of it.

Finally, earlier tonight, relief came.  Thank the Lord Jesus!

As I was sitting here tonight explaining to my wife about how good it feels to have the pain gone, it occurred to us both that without something done for the tooth, the relief is only temporary.  Sooner or later the pain will return.  And, there will come a point that the pain will not subside, unless something is done about it.

So, with wisdom beyond my wife's 36 years, she said to me...

..."May I recommend that you go see a dentist?!"

And that's exactly what I'll be doing later this week.

You can count on it.  <smile>

You know, there are MANY folks out there who spend the majority of their days in agony and pain.  Only it's not from a toothache, it's from not having a relationship with God.

Some folks agonize over broken relationships, others suffer through depression and discouragement, and still others feel the pain of loneliness or fear or worry.

Folks all around us are hurting.   And they are agonizing. And they are in pain.

And the sad thing is this:  If they don't come to know the Father, that pain and agony will last forever.  And it will get worse and worse when they find themselves in hell for eternity.

May I recommend that they go see Jesus?!

You see, Christian, that's the very thing we ought to be spending our days doing.  Pointing those in agony towards the only real relief that's available:  a relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Want a cure to loneliness and fear and anxiety?  Trust in the Savior.  Want to rid yourself of the agony of broken relationships and depression and discouragement?  Get to know the Lord.  Want to see an end to the pain of sin and its everlasting penalty?  You gotta accept Jesus.

Christian, there are those all around you who are hurting simply because they don't have a relationship with God.  They just don't know about the peace and joy and hope that comes from accepting the Savior into their hearts and lives.

It's up to you and I to tell them.  It's up to you and I to go into our workplaces and down the streets of our neighborhoods and onto the aisles of our grocery stores and into our parks and golf courses and gas stations and tell other people that message they so desperately need to hear...

..."May I recommend that you go see Jesus?!"

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