(Jesus said) "You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world." John 16:20-21

Thirty-one-year-old Bronx native Ninfa Ramirez was having a baby.

She wasn't having a baby soon; her contractions said she was having her baby now. This explains why Armando Ortiz, the child's father, rushed Ramirez to the hospital. There, after an examination, the parents were told to go home. The experts didn't know exactly how long it would be, but they were sure it would be some time before their baby would arrive.

Having heard the experts, Ramirez and Ortiz went home.

Ortiz dropped Ramirez off at the apartment and went to do some errands. Before he had gone far he got a phone call ... from Ramirez. She said the experts had been wrong. The baby was on its way.

Ramirez was right; the experts were wrong. She, assisted by Ortiz, gave birth to a nine-and-a-half-pound baby girl in their apartment's elevator. And although the apartment complex is clean and nice, the elevator's sanitation level is far short of a hospital delivery room.

In such circumstances, many people would be angry with the experts. They might be furious and threaten to bring a malpractice suit against everyone involved.

That is not the way this couple feels. They say the elevator delivery was "a beautiful experience," and Ortiz adds he doesn't mind that the experts sent them home; he's just proud to be a dad.

All of this proves Jesus was right when He said in effect that the good news of a healthy baby pushes out many of the memories and pains that accompanied the child's delivery.

The truth Jesus was trying to share ought to be important to us.

You see, we live in a world filled with sin, sorrow and sickness. As Christians, we are not immune to those problems. Indeed, precisely because we are Christians we may attract a disproportionate number of difficulties and discouragements.

Does that sound familiar?

If it does, then listen to the Savior as He promises there will come a time when the horrors of this world will be a thing of the past. By God's grace and the Savior's blood, after Judgment Day, those who have been given faith and forgiveness will no longer remember this world's anguish.

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord grant me eyes of faith, so I may look past the pains of this world and cling to the vision of our wonderful future in heaven -- a future made possible through the life, death and resurrection of our beloved Redeemer. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

In Christ I remain His servant and yours,

Today's Bible Readings: Jeremiah 41-42    Hebrews 11:1-19

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