Tony Dungy is the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts and led them to win a Super Bowl in Feb. ’07.  He recently wrote a book about the ups and downs of his life called, Quiet Strength.

He tells this story in his book:  In August 2000, his family adopted Jordan Dungy a few days after birth… at first things didn’t seem right, he didn’t cry, but it didn’t bother Tony and his wife initially.  At five months old Jordan fell off the bed… and didn’t cry.  They took him to a pediatric neurologist and several other doctors where Jordan was finally diagnosed with “congenital insensitivity to pain.”

Tony Dungy describes it this way, “He is missing a gene… therefore doesn’t feel pain the way other people do.  Some experts think he might not feel pain at all.  Through Jordan, I realized that God allows us to feel pain for a reason: to protect us.”

What pain is in our life?  Is it an addiction, is it a cycle of poor relationships, is it constant trouble on our job, is it a struggle between our wants and God’s will… What is he trying to teach us?  How is He trying to protect us?

I am reading a book, Life’s Healing Choices that addresses “Why does God allow Pain?”    In the book, author John Baker addresses four of the reasons God allows pain:

-   God has given us a free will – God didn’t create a bunch of puppets, he wants us to love him voluntarily.  You can’t really choose good unless you have the option to choose bad.  God started it all in the Garden of Eden with the choice of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Our free will is not only a blessing; it’s a burden.  Poor choices cause painful consequences.
-   God uses pain to get our attention – God gives us pain to tell us that something is wrong and you need to deal with it.  Depression, anxiety, and fear are not the problem, just signs that something is wrong and need attention – the attention that only the Lord can fix.    Jonah 2:7 (NLT) “When I had lost all hope, I turned my thoughts once more to the LORD.  And my earnest prayer went out to you…. ”
-    God uses pain to teach us to depend on him – You will never know that God is all you need until God is all you’ve got.  Without problems, you’d never learn that God is the only real problem solver.  God allows pain to teach you to depend on him.  Some things we only learn through pain.  Psalms 119:71 (NLT) “The suffering you sent was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your principles.”
-   God allows pain to give us a ministry to others – Pain can make you humble, sympathetic, and sensitive to other’s needs.  Pain prepares you to serve others.  2 Corinthians 1:4 (TLB) Why does he [God] do this?  So that when others are troubled, needing our sympathy, and encouragement, we can pass on to them this same help and comfort God has given us.”

Terry Shock once said, “God isn’t fair, God is right.”  The pain we go through may not feel fair to us, but God has a purpose for pain and God is always right.

Brad is married to Ashleigh Allison (1/4/2003) has a Daughter Emma Rose Brad is a Staff member and teacher in the Bridge -the College Ministry of the POA, also works with Seven Ministry at POA (ministry for those in recovery from/for/with addiction and their families) Received a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and Master’s Degree in Social Work.
Is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and currently works at the VA Hospital in Pineville, LA with homeless veterans and works part time at Crossroads Regional Hospital -individual/family/group therapy in a psychiatric hospital setting.