The Hand and The Foot

I remember some events that took place in my life as a boy growing up in Jacksonville, Florida. As I share these events, it may be a little graphic in nature, but I think you will get the point. I guess I was about eight years old, and our cousins were visiting from Orlando. Our dads had taken us fishing that morning, at what we called the (ferry slip), it was where you could drive your car onto the ferry boat and cross from one side of the river to the other. While fishing, I happened to slip on one of the rocks and slid down the rock into the water. The rock happened to be covered in barnacles and oyster shells. My older cousin reached into the water, pulled me up, and off to the hospital we went. I ended up with sixteen stiches in the top of my right foot instep.

Back home following the morning event, foot stitched and wrapped in gauze, us kids thought we would play chase around the house. Hopping one-footed out the front door, I leapt onto a glass that was set on the front steps. The breaks. This is a bad one, blood is pumping from my foot like an oil well. My cousins run to my older cousin for help. At that time, he was an eagle scout. He instructs me to lie down, applies a tourniquet to stop the bleeding, and in the very same day, we are off to the same hospital to get thirty-two stitches in the bottom of my left foot.

The story is one of pain and agony on my part. For the next two weeks, my dad must cany me around piggyback as my feet are healing.

The truth was, that if my older cousin, the eagle scout, had not been there, I would have likely bled to death.

When I cut my left foot, it severed the artery, and I lost a significant amount of blood. Thankfully, someone was there who knew what to do in that crisis.

I use these illustrations because they deal with the body, pain, crisis, and others.

When Paul talks about the necessity of body members in the church, I am reminded of the importance of others.

That painful day, Tubby, was my hero, my help, and my aid. He did not know that morning that his skills and training would be useful. Thankfully, as a good boy scout should be, he was prepared. It took his hands to apply pressure, a tourniquet, not once, but twice, to save my feet and possibly my life. Would I tell him no? Would I say, "you are only a step cousin do not help me?" Would I say, "we only see each other once every few years, you cannot help me?" No, he was there for the moment, for the task at hand, for the crisis, and the need.

Paul exhorts the body of Christ to accept each member, to be careful of each other, and he emphasizes the importance of even the smallest or least noticeable members. Lastly, he reiterates the vital role of each member in the body.

Who has God sent you to help? Or who has God sent to help you? Will you distinguish because of time, distance, unfamiliarity, race, gender, age, perceived skill level, lack of education, social grouping, and/or religious differences?

Will you say to another body member, I have no need of you?

-Pastor