cut it out
This weekend I had this thing on my upper thigh. It got infected. I mean scream and cuss if anyone touched it infection. My wife, who should have considered the medical field, helped me drain it several times. It kept getting bigger and sorer. So anyway yesterday after some meetings at the office I called the doctor.
By the time I headed to the doctor I was nauseated, woozy, and didn’t know if I was going to make it to the doctors office. When I got to the examining room the nurse immediately started laying out the instruments for surgery, scalpels, razors, scissors, lots of gauze, etc. Doctor walks in doesn’t even examine me. He leans back the table, lifts up the covers, sprays some icy stuff on the infection, takes the scissors and stabs my leg and asks humorously, “Are we still friends?” He cut me several times with the scissors and then got deeper with the razor. Finally to really make me scream he washed the wound out with saline solution, burn! The nurse had asked him about a pain killer, but NO, the icy stuff will do. 
Well I’m moanin and groanin and about to lift off the table as he cuts and squeezes the crap out of my leg.
But…within a very few minutes most of the pain was gone, the nausea was gone, and the wooziness I had been experiencing was gone. My leg is still sore and I have a slight limp but I’m not sick like I was this past weekend and most of the day Monday.
I think that sometimes this is the way trouble starts in the church. It’s small we try to handle it, ineffectively. Put a little salve on it, schmooze some people’s egos, and sweep it under the rug. But it keeps getting bigger until the infection has to be cut out. It is amazing how the air gets clearer and the church seems to breathe easier when infections are dealt with in a timely manner.
Here’s the lesson: 1. Deal with issues early. Don’t be a wimp. It will not go away. God is not going to answer your prayer that the person miraculously gets a job in another town.(I know because I prayed that prayer once or twice myself.) 2. Let people know up front that you will deal with issues like gossip, backstabbing, immoral talk and behavior. 3. If it is required don’t be afraid to ask people to leave. Sometimes you can’t be nice to people. At least not as the world sees “nice.” Confrontation in love goes a long way in the life of an individual seeking God, will fall flat in an unrepentant person, but if they’re unrepentant send them to a church where they might listen and repent. But don’t keep them at yours. 4. If it is a private matter, keep it that way. 5. If it is a public matter, give credit where credit is due, don’t confess someone else’s sin, thank them on their way out the door, pray for them.
I feel better already. Still taking medication to further rid my body of infection, but amazing what a small amount of surgery will do.
