Intramural basketball game.  Jammed finger.  Ouch.

I played basketball a lot so I was used to having jammed fingers.  There is a painful but effective way of taking care of the ailment:  unjam the finger.

Grab the end of the finger.  Deep breath.  Prepare for pain.  Pull…  Hard….  I never had the stomach for pulling my fingers out of a jam, so I had to repeat the process a few times with each finger.

And that’s what I did.  Pulled and pulled and pulled.  I’m going to get that finger unjammed!

After a week of inneffective unjamming, I was in the doctor’s office.

Diagnosis:  “Tree, your finger is broken.  Let’s surgery that thing and put a couple of pins in it so you don’t have arthritis later in life.”  (I’ll tell you that story later.)

So yes, I had spent a week breaking my finger a little more with every pull.

You separate a jammed finger.  You set a broken finger.

This one goes out to all of those who, like me, have tried to separate the things that should be set.

Maybe you feel betrayed, maybe you have been hurt, maybe you just thought you would be better by yourself.  You separated. You disengaged. You ran from. You gave up.

I don’t blame you, but I know how much it hurts when you try to treat a jam and end up breaking.

Take it from the guy that had to drive across the country while wearing a cast: Instead of ripping your heart away, put your heart next to the One that will never move. His name is Jesus and the Bible says that He does not falter (Isaiah 42:4)

Set your heart on Him and let healing begin.

Job 11:13-15 “Still, if you set your heart on God and reach out to him, if you scrub your hands of sin and refuse to entertain evil in your home, you’ll be able to face the world unashamed and keep a firm grip on life, guiltless and fearless.”