It finally came. I hit the wall about midway through Sunday afternoon. No steroids were in the regimen on Sunday morning and the feeling was just like the expression, it was like hitting a wall that I didn’t see.
I knew it had to come with what little sleep I had had in five days. A long nap, supper, and off to bed. Sleeping is still a challenge. Today the wall hasn’t eased much. After my second nap I began to ponder. Was Jesus ever physically ill? Did He have childhood diseases or a headache? Would He get sick if He ate spoiled meat from a roadside vendor when in Jerusalem? The Bible is intentionally silent on those issues. Illness and sin have some ties, but illness in itself isn’t a sin. I don’t have cancer because I am a bigger sinner than someone who is healthy. Hebrews 2:17 says this: For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Fully human in every way. I am not sure anyone can grasp the full significance of that. What I do believe is that physically Jesus hit the wall from time to time. All three Synoptic Gospels tell the story of Jesus being in a boat with the disciples. A great storm swept down on the Sea of Galilee and Jesus was asleep in the front of the boat. Fearing that they would drown, the disciples woke, yes, had to wake up Jesus. Even a storm didn’t waken Him. In that same account Mark says the disciples took Jesus into the boat “just as He was.” That may be telling. John tells us that Jesus was tired from the journey to Samaria. Often Jesus got away from the crowds because He was exhausted. I can see that the wall is likely to be an ongoing issue. How do I get beyond it? My natural tendency would be to keep running into it. I might try to be sneaky and run around it. Maybe I will lie down and hope it goes away. It looks to me that this whole ordeal could be considered a wall. It’s a wall to face. Walls can either isolate us or protect us. Or impede us. In the 18th Psalm David is celebrating his deliverance from Saul. Two verses spoke to me: 28 You, Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light. 29 With your help I can advance against the enemy, with my God I can scale a wall. Scaling the wall might be down the road a bit. With God’s help I intend to scale this wall. For today, maybe facing the wall is the first way to begin to deal with it. I must admit, I feel better now than when I started writing.
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Chuck Cooper
Pastor at Daybreak Community Church Archives
February 2025
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