Now, I am really on a roll

As in rolled my ankle and am now on crutches. Yeah, tons of fun. Re-living my glory days on Monday night playing some basketball, I tried my best A.I. crossover impersonation and watched as my ankle rolled over itself. Heard a slight pop and in the most manly of all ways, asked for some help off the court, grabbed the bag of ice that was handed to me and propped my foot up with ice on my ankle for about a half-hour. I then drove home (I used the accelerate button on my cruise control for gas and used my left foot to brake). Getting home, my wife drove me to MedExpress, got a couple x-rays and now I have crutches and the doc said be off the ankle until I can walk on it.

Perfect timing too. 70 degrees outside, sunshine out, and the holiday weekend coming up. This does not happen during March Madness or Football season. It happens during the first full week of sunshine and warm weather of the year. Ramping up to the Easter holiday. Did you ever realize how NOTHING is on TV during two specific times in your life? 1) Sick days from work and 2) when you hurt your ankle and can't do anything else but watch TV as your wife works circles around you cooking dinner, doing laundry, and the dishes. Packs your lunch for the next day, makes some coffee for the morning, gets me a bag of ice, wraps my ankle, offers to bring some cookies and milk before bed. On and on. It is quite amazing when you calculate the chances of that.

Therefore, as I look at my right ankle and foot, which are a great hue of light purple and a deeper blue, and about 3 times the normal size, I get a better understanding of how fragile this human body really is. But now it is less than 60 hours later, and while the swelling has not gone down, I can put moderate weight on it and even walk short distances now. So the body can and does repair itself rather quickly. It is really quite amazing. This shell of skin surrounds sinewy tendons and ligaments, which hold solid bones together surrounded by (hopefully) tough muscle. Moreover, each one serves its purpose. Works in perfect harmony and rhythm to move the body and do the activities you want it to do.

But there are times you extend it past its limits and these body parts move in ways they aren't suppose to and you get hurt. Skin swells and changes color. Sensory messages go back and forth from the brain as you feel pain, and almost immediately the body's defense mechanism kicks in and begins to repair itself. The body makes sure you do no more damage by making it virtually impossible to repeat that same act in the near future.

It gives me wonder and fills my mind with images and thoughts of what only CGI and computer programming can show me on CSI, the Discovery Channel, and National Geographic. The slow-mo views of the ankle rolling over. The immediate "zoom" and look into underneath the skin as it shows the tendons, muscles, and bones in great detail. Straining and extending themselves beyond natural limits. The computer images show blobs of red and white cells rushing to the scene ready to their job of repair and strengthening. Eventually the muscle and tissue repair themselves and after some rehab on my part, the ankle will be nearly back to normal. Maybe next time, I will try to be more like Ben Wallace then A.I. on my crossover.

However, my thoughts have not stopped here. It seems almost apropos given the time of year it is right now. Easter. Which brings with it Resurrection and Victory and Wonder. This human body is amazing in what it can do. Nevertheless, it comes with hurt, frailty, disease, and sickness. As I am reminded all the time right now with the visual and physical signs of my ankle. Additionally, our body is "sown in dishonor" (1 Cor. 15:43). Without getting too gross, think of the "dishonorable" things our body does. I mean we have a whole body system that purges us out. I think we get the picture. The body has many things that are dishonorable.

But, Jesus resurrection has guaranteed us that our soul will continue when we leave this material body. Then one day, our soul will be reunited with this body. This will be a spiritual body. I do believe we will have the same exact body we have now, but it will be a spiritual body. Be just as God had intended and DID create in Adam and Eve before sin entered the world. Once sin entered, the body began to deteriorate. Jesus came back in the same body (scars and all) but warned his followers to not touch him. He even proved himself to be himself by showing the scars (John 20). While Jesus used the scars to prove himself and did come back in body, it was a spiritual body, of which, to some extent he was altered in some way. Yeah, I know, I just said I think we come back in the same body. I do.

In almost all resurrection stories, Jesus appears to the onlookers but they do not recognize him for whatever reason. Some out and out do not get it while others think they know, but resurrection is so unspeakable and unfathomable they find it hard to believe. All of them eventually figure it out. So how can all these people, after not seeing someone for a mere 3 days after spending 3 years with them not recognize them? How is it that just the scars and his speech solidify the risen Christ? I believe the spiritual body just looks different from what our body looks like now. Not a physical characteristic different, but just a quality about it. A perfectness, wonderment, and brilliance of which we cannot comprehend. Truly, like nothing we have ever seen. Not only during the resurrection stories of Jesus do we get an inside look at this; we also get a glimmer of this during the Exodus story. When Moses came down from the mountain, the people barely could recognize Moses, due to the glory that shown on his face because of his visit with God. (Exodus 34: 29-35).

The people knew it was Moses because his body was the same ole 80-year-old body. But his face was so different; the Israelites could not even look at it. Jesus' whole body was glory and resurrected wonder. This new spiritual body will be incorruptible and immortal. No more broken bones, no more pulled muscles, no more torn ligaments, no more headaches, no more sore backs, just no more deterioration. No more gross bodily functions either. It will be a truly spiritual body.

No more signs of aging? Perhaps, probably.
A glow about ourselves that shows purity? More than likely.

If we only knew what Adam and Eve looked like back in the garden. If we only knew what the Garden of Eden looked like. Then we would know what our new bodies and the new earth would look like. When God created it all, he said it was good. The earth, the stars, the green grass, the blue ocean, and the human body. One day, praise God, it will be all good.

We know this because the grave is swallowed up in victory and that victory is through the resurrected Lord and Savior: Jesus Christ.

In some sort of twisted way (pun intended), I am a little glad that my ankle is the size of a potato right now. It has allowed me to focus even more on the resurrection that is to come and life after death. How wholly awesome it is and yet what a mystery surrounds it. As I celebrate Easter and the eternal promise and victory it has given me and many others throughout the world who believe, my sore ankle will be there to remind me that one day, some day, this body will be shed for a body that is like Christ’s. Possibly one day I will be as Thomas and be able to look on the scarred hands of Christ and embrace them in a hug that would normally break someone’s back.

O, what a day of rejoicing that will truly, truly be!!

CHIRST THE LORD IS RISEN!!!!!!