Break A Leg!

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rowing up as a kid is hazardous!   There’s always some kind of danger attached to whatever it is you’re doing. There are bruises, cuts, scrapes, busted lips, black eyes, sprains, splinters, I mean the list goes on and on. 

Going out to play is tantamount to walking through a mine field!  You never know where one of these little hazards is lurking nor when it will decide to make its presence known. But of all the hazards just listed, there is one that strikes fear into every kid and parent and that is a broken bone! 

As a kid, I’d have to say I didn’t disappoint on this front.  From poison ivy to busted lips, I made sure I experienced all of these. It’s almost like I had a check list and marked each of one these as an accomplishment, getting me ready for the next adventure. But the broken bone, instead of coming later in my development, came early—way early!

It was on a sunny afternoon.  My babysitter’s son had taken me to the store up the street to get some candy. I rode my red tricycle with the Batman license plate, letting everyone in the neighborhood know that I meant business.  We went up the street, got the bag of candy, and headed for home.  When we reached our driveway, that’s when the fun began.

Our driveway was a hill with our garage at the bottom.  I wanted to ride my tricycle down the hill, just like Batman entering the Bat Cave. So, with a small shove from my companion, I started down the hill.  The garage got closer and closer, approaching much more rapidly than I had anticipated. Our car was not parked in the garage and the opening looked like a large mouth just waiting to devour me.

Not wanting to be eaten, I put my feet down to slow my progress. That’s when the pedal hit my right leg, bringing the tricycle to an abrupt stop, flipping me over, causing candy to cascade all over the driveway.

Right away I knew something was wrong because my leg really, really hurt. I was crying and was quickly carried into the house.  Mom and dad came home and the next thing I knew I was in the doctor’s office hearing that my leg was broken. 

The leg was set in a cast and I was told it would be six weeks before the doctor removed it.  Six weeks without riding my tricycle or playing outside!  To a kid, this was worse than life imprisonment.  But the doctor explained that the leg had to rest and be completely still so it would heal and grow back stronger than before.

There is a real application here to our spiritual lives as well.  In our Christian walk, we experience, bruises, bumps, scratches, etc.  But often, we are broken and in need of repair.  A simple bandage won’t do; we need to be set and immobile so that God can heal us.

The prophet Isaiah knew that sometimes our spiritual lives need to be placed in a cast in order for us to heal. His words in Isaiah 40:31, a very familiar passage, hold a great lesson for us today.  He writes: Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.

Can you find the cast in this passage?  It’s there in the little word, wait. It’s only four letters, just like cast, but what a punch it packs.  So often in our walk with the Lord, we get in a hurry, we rush ahead, and we dare to venture into places where we shouldn’t go. Only when we hit hard, are thrown off balance, and break something do we realize we need him to restore us. That’s when he comes along, picks us up, puts us in a cast, and makes us wait. 

But if you look closely, the results of waiting, of being still, are that we gain new strength, we soar, and we run and walk without getting tired.  I didn’t like being in that cast for six weeks, but when the cast came off, my leg was stronger, better, and I was much wiser for the experience.  That is what God wants us to see today.  The cast is necessary for healing to take place.  Are you in need of a spiritual cast today?