I have a story to tell from Zimbabwe. My favorite part of Africa has been playing soccer with the kids here. They embarrass me, but despite not being the most gifted athlete I still manage to compete and have loads of fun. Every Tuesday, our team would go to Cowdray Park, on the outskirts of Bulawayo, and play soccer with the Cowdray Park Football Club. All organized by our hosts Adam and Vicki Burke (love them) and their contacts Litu Moya and Pastor Kholwani. On the third of the four Tuesday’s that we played, my mind was blown. The field had no grass; it consisted of dirt covering some large rock surfaces. Very slippery. I had the ball arund the top of the 18-yard-box and tried to pivot completely around and change directions. The only issue was that I’m a big boy and my inertia and lack of friction caused me to slip and skin my knee pretty brutally (I’m still sporting the scar to prove it). I didn’t make big deal out of it because my Dad raised me right, but as I continued to play, the blood ran down my leg. As we finished, a Pastor that had been invited by Pastor K and Litu showed up with pocket New Testaments to hand out to all the players. He was also there to offers words of encouragement and some light preaching. My favorite part of his teaching was even before he blew my mind. He basically made an analogy to how if the goal keeper uses his hand outside of the box in a match then he will receive a red card, then told the young guys to not use their hands outside of the box in relation to women; a great analogy for sexual immorality. But anyways what blew my mind was what he said after he looked at my bleeding leg. He said “Quitters never win, winners never quit” and then said “when you are in pain, thank God. Thank God that your nerves work and you can feel pain.” When he said this I was blown away. It made me realize how fortunate most of us are. That our bodies work, that we can walk around everyday, that we can actually feel pain because our nervous system’s work, that we have been given the breath of life and have souls and consciousness and the ability to be alive. Not everyone can say that. What this pastor said made me reconsider everything painful for human beings. The ability to feel pain, whether physically or emotionally, is a gift from the Lord. Pain is just a signal. It’s a signal to our bodies that damage has been done, and it’s a signal to our hearts and minds for the same. It’s not a bad thing at all even though it hurts. It’s for our benefit, so that we don’t re-injure ourselves and also so we can avoid unhealthy relationships and expectations. But how blessed are we with the understanding and awareness that physical pain and “negative” emotions bring us. It’s all for our own good. He loves us so much.
