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My wife had surgery yesterday. She came home today. Doing very well – amazingly well.
A friend said, “God was really with her.”
I said, “Yes.” I thought “duh.”
I know he meant well. He probably meant something like, “God really answered the prayers of a lot of people by giving Jane a good surgeon, a rapid surgery, and what appears to be a quick recovery.”
Because I’m sure he knows that God promises to be “with us always.” I think “always” means “always.”
And – God forbid – if something had gone wrong in the operation is the implication that God wasn’t “with her”?
Lots of people (apparently) read this blog and my facebook; and over 300 are signed up for the “Praying for the Jack Hager” group on facebook…so many prayed and heard the good report.
What if they overheard my friend saying “God was really with Jane”? And what if some of those very people, upon hearing that, immediately thought of a friend or relative who died during surgery? Would they somehow think that God had taken some time off? That God said “oops”?
Again, I’m not hammering my friend.
But I am convinced we (note – we; not “you”, but “we”) need to be careful in our use of words..and make the time to say what we mean.
It’s sort of like that cliche, “God be with you.” What, pray tell, does that mean? If He is with us “always,” why pray for Him to be with us?
Is it a shortcut for saying, “I pray the Lord protects you from harm during this trip…during this surgery…I pray the Lord gives you a good interview…etc etc etc.
If so…why not say what we mean?
Reminds me, in an odd way, of that great line from the great movie “The Princess Bride” – “I do not think that word means what you think it means.”
By the way…not many comment on these posts as they did on xanga…I’m not going back to xanga land, but it would be nice to know you are reading…drop a comment if you would…only takes a sec
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