My scars, profitable for the spread of the Gospel.

Matthew 4:4
Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

This verse has special meaning for me today. Five weeks ago something freaky happened to me. I got up in the middle of the night and still asleep, I lost my footing and was awakened as my nose struck the edge of my night stand. The force was so violent that my nose bone left a two inch gash in the wood.

As I arose from my fall I was stunned. I felt like I had just been in a fight and the picture tells a thousand words! The next few days I survived with ice, ibuprofen and prayer just happy to go through the day with minimal headaches. That was on a Wednesday and by Friday I was in no shape to go to my 6am morning prayer that I had been going to for months. Saturday rolled around and I couldn't make it to my 7am prayer walk which I had been diligently doing every Saturday since new years.

Next week, I didn't even have the will to set my clock to attempt to make either of those two commitments. Now five weeks have passed and I've been feeling that I've been living on bread alone. Last Wednesday I had a meltdown and was ugly to my beautiful bride. I practically ran to the first church I could think of just to hear the word of God, to search for more than just the bread I've been consuming for weeks. The message was wonderful but far from completely replenishing my spiritual batteries.

Then this morning I woke up to see Matthew 4:4 and I was emboldened. As I marched off to church, to go on my first Saturday prayer walk in weeks, I fell a new sense of energy and purpose. On the prayer walk the Holy Spirit poured into me and the presence of God filled me as I said, "give us this day our daily bread." I realized that what Jesus said is in the heart of worship.

As we toil in our lives, we hurry to make our own bread so that we can sustain ourselves. But it is the daily bread of the word of God that really sustains us. And when we come to a full realization of this, it is the very moment that your heart truly worships Him who saved you.

Today, as I stand by my beautiful pool, I worship the living God who has blessed me beyond my imagination. The same God who called upon the angles who braced my fall and protected my nose from getting chattered. Now when I look in the mirror, I have a battle scar. A reminder that nothing is too hard for Him and that he is with me, always. Paul often talked about his afflictions and how he considered them profitable for the spread of the Gospel.

Now I have a similar mark. It will be something people will ask me about all the time and it will be an opportunity for me to be a witness of God greatness in my life and yours.