Echoes From the Campfire

[Don Adkisson]

       “I take very seriously the preference of men with many scars.”
                    --John Deacon  (A Man Called Justice)

       "He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds."
                    --Psalm 147: 3 (NKJV)
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     I was reading the other day and within the material was the idea of "scars."  It reminded me of one of my best friends growing up who had scars on the side of his face.  One day I asked him, "Tommy, how did you get those scars?"  Deadpanned, he replied, "While sledding, a barb-wire fence jumped out at me."
     Everyone carries some kind of scars.  Some more pronounced, some hidden.  Many carry physical scars while others bear hidden ones.  The number varies as well.  In my book, "Winter of the Wolves," Miles Forrest remarked, "Scars also remind me that a person cannot run from life."  Then I thought of the words I read recently from Mike Allred, "Maybe life isn't about avoiding the bruises.  Maybe it's about collecting the scars to prove you showed up for it!"
     True, often scars are the result of the lack of common sense, or even sheer stupidity.  As David wrote, "My wounds stink and fester because of my foolishness." (Psalm 38:5, ESV)  Take a look in the mirror, glance at your scars, including those etched and marked on the soul.  How many came from the lack of good sense?  Perhaps we need to think like Greg S. Baker, "He studied the scars, old friends that sometimes reminded him of things best forgotten"; and hopefully lessons learned.
     Dave Roever, a man well acquainted with scars, asks a poignant question, "Can He trust you with your scars?"  That brings me back to what I was reading.

                "Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day.  Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him....  Just as he crossed over Penuel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip...the socket of Jacob's hip in the muscle that shrank."  --Genesis 32:24-25, 31,32, NKJV.

Not only did Jacob have a spiritual experience, but for the rest of his life he walked with a limp.  God's touch caused pain.  (Ponder that!)  "Like Jacob, like all of us who limp along in this life, wounded within or without, we are called to be stewards of our scars.  It is a sacred duty." (Chad Bird)
     Stewards of scars!  Imagine that; something I had never considered before.  God should be able to trust us as good stewards of anything that belongs to the Master.  Chad Bird explains, "Stewards do not own that for which they are responsible.  They are called to faithfully manage what another has given them.  God owns our scars; we steward them."  The Vietnam veteran Dave Roever reminds us, "The scars are only temporary signs of a worldly battle." Paul wrote, "I carry on my scarred body the marks of my owner, the Lord Jesus." (Galatians 6:17, Phillips)
     Scars are also valuable in identification.  "Any identifying scars?" may be on a questionnaire for employment or used by law enforcement to aid in apprehending a criminal.  Scars identify battles which were fought and bonds that were forged.  As Shakespeare penned the words spoken by Henry V:

               "He that shall live this day, and see old age, will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, and say, 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian':  then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.  And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day'....  We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; for he to-day that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother...."

     Perhaps there is more to the words preached by the Chaplain of the Senate, Peter Marshall when he said, "When we eventually reach the goal to which we are all striving, God will look us over, not for diplomas, but for scars."  As the now deceased missionary Charles Greenaway used to say, "we're going to make it.  We may not look like much when we enter the gates of heaven, but we're going to make it."
     I would be remiss if I did not mention the Man of Sorrows who caused Thomas to cry out in anguish, "My Lord and my God!"  Remember what Thomas said, "Unless I see in His hands the prints of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." (John 20:25, NKJV)  Scars--proof.  Scars--battle.  Scars--stewardship.  Scars--identity.  There is one stanza of Edward Shillito's poem, "Jesus of the Scars", I want to share:

               "The heavens frighten us; they are too calm;
                    In all the universe we have no place.
               Our wounds are hurting us; where is the balm?
                    Lord Jesus, by thy scars we know thy grace."

     Alexander Maclaren tells us, "The wounds can all be healed, for the Good Physician has lancets and bandages, and balm and anodynes for the deadliest; but scars remain even when the gash is closed." Thus the question remains--"Can He trust you with your scars?"  "It is a sacred duty!"
           

D.C. Adkisson