Pain

  So Monday and Tuesday I played soccer for the first time in about 6 weeks.  It was also the first time I had done any running since I got to Argentina.   Needless to say, I have been sore the past few days.  Once again, I began to think: Do I regret playing soccer because of this pain? I also think of my knee that has been hurting for a while.  So I ask myself, "Self, do you regret that game of ultimate at the beginning of May? You could've been writing that paper..." 
As of right now, I don't regret that game of ultimate frisbee.  It was great to spend time with my friends that I won't see for a long time, and some of them, I may never see again.  In addition, I wrote the paper later. 
  Before you start attacking me with "Well when you get to be my age" and the like, let me make a spiritual application.  Do you feel pain because of decisions you made for Christ? Does that haunting feeling ever creep up on you saying "If you had just fudged those numbers, you wouldn't be hurting right now"?  This is the crux of what I'm saying: Christ may ask you to do things that hurt, maybe hurt permanently on this planet.  
  I recently finished a book by Elisabeth Elliot.  Her husband Jim and his missionary friends paid the ultimate price in order to spread the Gospel.  As a result, Elisabeth has faced incredible pain; pain that doesn't just "go away" like the burn of lactic acid.  She says this "We cannot know Christ and the power of His resurrection without the fellowship of His suffering."
   In conclusion, your pain may last.  I will not deny that fact.  Remember that Christ does not only have a reason for it, but He's going to get the glory for it.