Thursday, July 15, 2010

Step Forty-One: Get Bruised

Dear Readers,

It never ceases to be less mind blowing the many ways in which God teaches, that He might even use plain black tubes and a rocky river.

Today I went river tubing! Now, if you've ever crossed the threshold of Boulder Creek, you probably know that it is more boulder than it is creek. This creates some flippin' fantastic rapids (no really, flippin' as in you-will-be-flipping-out-of-your-tube) but it also leaves your butt pretty sore at the end of the day. It was a total blast! On my list of crazy fun things, this is definitely one of the top contenders. Somewhere between bruising my tailbone and icing it, God illustrated something He has been attempting to teach me for the past two months: bruises can be good.

I hate bruises. I think they are probably one of the worst minor injuries a person can get. For starters, they take forever to heal, then every time you touch it, bump it, brush it, you get this added sharp pain to remind you that it is there, and to make things worse they almost always look worse than they really are. But today as rock after rock added to my collection of bruises, I realized that river tubing was totally worth it! These were good bruises.

The truth is, not all bruises are physical. We have all sorts of emotional, mental, and spiritual bruises and as nice as it would be to go through life bruise free, we cannot. When Jesus said I came to give you life to the full, that included bruises. It included jumping into tubes, tubing down rapids, bruising your butt and hiking back up to do it again. So if you want to live bold, here is my advice: get bruised. Scream COW-A-BUNGA, and just go for it. Chances are it's worth the bruises, and it might even help you grow.

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