Friday, September 16, 2011

God of the messes, er, masses

One of the top quarterback prospects in Virginia is facing a difficult and uncertain future that will almost certainly not include college football after he was forced to amputate part of one of his legs at a hospital in suburban Washington, D.C.

As first reported by the Charlottesville Daily Progress,Woodberry Forest (Va.) High School quarterback Jacob Rainey had part of one of his legs amputated on Saturday, just more than a week after he suffered a freak injury in a final preseason scrimmage against Flint Hill (Va.) High School.

According to the Daily Progress, Rainey suffered a broken knee cap when he was cleanly tackled from behind by a Flint Hill player. After he arrived at the nearest hospital, doctors discovered that he had suffered other complications from the injury, most drastically a ruptured blood vessel.

In a statement released by Woodberry Forest officials it was revealed that Rainey was moved to Fairfax Inova hospital when his condition failed to improve. There, Inova doctors determined that he had severed the main artery in one of his legs and that he had to immediately undergo vascular surgery to avoid further serious health issues. The only solution was to amputate part of one of his legs, a procedure that was carried out on a Saturday,  just a day after Woodberry Forest opened the season with a 16-13 victory at Richmond (Va.) Benedictine High without its expected starting quarterback.

I can't imagine the suffering, emotional and physical, that Rainey must have under-gone. I can't imagine going from someone thought to be one of the top quarterbacks perhaps in the nation, certainly in the state to someone who will not play football again. Just can't fathom that fall.

The apostle Paul described it this way in his letter to the church in Philippi: "7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ.[c] For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!"

"...one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!" That's beautiful, without the buildup or the fancy language. That's true, matter-of-fact religion, isn't it?

In fact, later in the third chapter of that letter, Paul completes the thought this way: " I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it,[d] but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. 15 Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. 16 But we must hold on to the progress we have already made."

That's wonderful theology. If you disagree on some theological points, big or small, Paul writes that God will clean it up for you (and me). But even while we stew about things, even while the Jetspray is doing its job, God will ensure that we keep the progress we've made while He clears up the little messes we make.

Again, that's remarkably beautiful. We make the mess, God cleans it up. Paul describes the process this way: " Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us."

Getting rid of the messy past, looking so forward to the cleanliness that lies ahead, Paul keeps on trucking. Oh, baby, that's great.

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