Walking on Wounded Legs

In February 1949, Ben Hogan's car collided head-on with a Greyhound bus on a foggy Texas highway. He threw himself across his wife to shield her from the impact. The crash shattered his pelvis, fractured his collarbone, broke his ankle, and sent blood clots racing toward his heart. Doctors said he might never walk again, let alone swing a golf club.

Sixteen months later, Hogan stood on the final fairway at the 1950 U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club outside Philadelphia. His legs were wrapped in bandages. He had walked thirty-six holes that final day on limbs that doctors had written off. He won.

But here is what stays with me: Hogan's legs never fully healed. For the rest of his career, they ached and swelled after every round. He won six more major championships on legs that hurt with every step.

Sometimes we imagine that God's healing means the complete removal of pain. But the prophet Isaiah tells us that "by His wounds we are healed." The Almighty often works His restoration not by eliminating our suffering but by giving us the strength to walk through it. Healing does not always mean the pain disappears. Sometimes it means we discover that the God who walks beside us is stronger than the hurt beneath us.

You may still carry the limp. But you are no longer lying by the side of the road.