Doctors in Canada have removed a knife blade from a man's back more than three years after he was stabbed in a fight. Billy McNeely of the Northwest Territories told local media he had suffered itching and minor pain but did not know the blade was still
embedded.
In 2013, his nail caught the tip of the 7.5cm blade and uncovered it. "I've done some jail time in the past," he said. "The guards rub over you with a metal wand detector, and every time it hit my back... it went off."
In April 2010, McNeely got into a fight after an arm wrestling match and was stabbed five times, he told the Canadian Press news agency. Doctors at the local accident and emergency room stitched him up but never took an X-ray, he said. Seeking subsequent treatment for the lingering discomfort, he was told he had suffered nerve
damage.
If this story made you feel a little uneasy and queasy, you are not alone. When I first read it, I have to admit that I winced...hard. Think about it...a knife stuck in a person's back...and they didn't even realize it. Something was just beneath the surface, and they thought it was a mere itch or tiny physical
disturbance.
Christians can have a scenario that's quite similar in the spiritual sense when they refuse to recognize that there might be something that they've refused to let go of over the years...some unfinished spiritual "business" that needs to be dealt with once and for all.
It could play itself out in our hearts, with someone whom we have refused to extend our forgiveness to, or some feeling of guilt that we won't allow to let go of us. It can be there...beneath the surface of our spirituality, waiting to potentially harm us.
God is bigger than these things, and if we come to Him and lay them out before Him, He can help us to uncover and reconcile with these spiritually damaging maladies.
Lord, help me to recognize that You are big enough for any issue that I might have to deal with. Amen.
Have a great day and God bless!
Pastor Mike / The Open Word
