It’s been almost 20 years since I completed Marine Corps boot camp and I will never forget a powerful lesson I learned.  “You can only move as fast as the slowest person.”  In a powerful moment on a long hike, I saw one of my friends falling down from exhaustion and a friend and I stopped to help him. We literally pushed him and all his gear up the hill.  We wanted him to make it more than he did I think. He just needed someone to help him get to the top and once he did he was a new man.  It helped me realize what it meant to FEEL SOMEONE’S PAIN. So who needs some help getting to the top of their hill?

Sometimes feel like I can never do enough.  When I think of all the problems and issues facing our community, I feel rather helpless.  What can one person do in order to bring meaningful change to a life?  Sometimes it means you don’t have to do much more than simply listen, but one of the deepest truths to realize about life is you are not alone in your pain.  As a matter of fact, God wants us to feel our own pain and the pain of others in order to fully understand His love.  One of the most difficult things to do is to engage pain and not run from it.  It is perfectly natural to want to rid yourself of pain as soon as possible.  But the deeper the pain and hurt it seems the deeper the learning.  Why do we want to run from pain?  Here are a couple things to do when you FEEL THE PAIN.  It is okay to FEEL THE PAIN and we must do something with it. 

When one person hurts we all hurt.

• Pray – Ok, I know what you are thinking…Wow that’s it?  You wanted me to read this post for you to say, “pray”  What I have found is that many people have locked up prayer in a religious ceremony or weekend gathering.  Prayer was meant to be a living and breathing active relationship between God and his people.  At your deepest moment of crisis, you will most likely pray.  Why not start now and start investing in your relationship with Jesus before you FEEL THE PAIN?  Most people if you ask if you can pray for them will simply say, “sure.”

• Partner – YOU MUST NOT ISOLATE YOURSELF!  I have seen so many people dealing with pain and doing it alone.  Not only is this not helpful, but it isn’t biblical. Galatians 6:1 says, “bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.” If you are alone in your pain find someone else to walk with you. In addition, if the only persons junk you have is your own, your not really following Jesus.  FEEL SOMEONE’S PAIN! I didn’t say everyone’s pain, but find just one and carry their weight with them.

The Lamentations series @217church is in full swing.  There was something about receiving communion last week together and confessing the sins of the city together that changed us.  This Sunday, let’s remember we are not alone.

It’s okay to FEEL SOMEONE’S PAIN…