Grace Community Christian Church

 

Archived Things Above

Fellowship of the Bummed Knee (9/30/05)

Whudda thunk there were so many bad knees in the world? I think I've met pretty much all of them these past few months.

I'm getting coffee at Sheetz & this total stranger comes up & says, "My kid did the same thing." Huh? How'd he even know what I had done? "Yup, he's on his third ACL graft, busted the first two." Wow. Very encouraging indeed!

Or the server at Ruby Tuesday's the other night: "You think that's bad? I busted every bone on the right side of my body in a motorcycle race going 170 mph!" (I did feel better after that!)

You see, it's this impressive looking knee immobilizer brace complete with six wide velcro straps that identifies me as a victim of knee surgery. My knee no longer hurts, it just look painful, & that's enough to bring out the commiseration of every passerby who's ever been to the orthopedic surgeon for any reason whatsoever. Most other ailments, people tend to approach discreetly, if at all. Standing in line for popcorn at the movies yakking about your colostomy is just a tad uncomfortable. But your knee? That's fair game.

And I don't thing it's such a bad thing, either. There's something "safe" about someone who openly displays their woundedness (whether they want to or not.) Somehow relational barriers come down faster when pain is involved. Isaiah 53 says Jesus was "familiar with suffering." That's probably a big part of why the sinners flocked to him, & why the religious leaders shunned him. He was real.

I've enjoyed this "fellowship of the bummed knee" stuff. Granted, I can't wait to get this thing off my leg & feel it bend & stretch & run again. But at the same time, I suspect I'm going to miss the camaraderie of brokenness that springs up most every place I go. It's been a good reminder of something I shared with our church family back when I first had my "mishap": We're all broken somewhere; for some of us, it's just more obvious.

And when we dare make that known, other "broken" people will take notice, barriers will fall, & God's kingdom will grow.

Moving slowly, but moving,


Jim Dewar --