One Story

Playing hurt

He's only 50 years old, but he's had two hip replacements and four major back surgeries, and he lives in chronic pain.

Joe Tardonia has had lots of reasons to bow out of Surge 56, the Christ Fellowship ministry for students in grades 5 & 6 he's served for more than four years.

But he doesn't. It's where Christ has led him, and the kids mean too much.

"They like to see a guy play hurt," he laughs. And then he gets serious. "If you're not going to show up through adversity, why should they?"

Joe identifies with the kids, especially the boys in his small group at the Gardens Campus. "God has allowed me to see myself as a 12-year-old," he says. "They know I wasn't a choirboy. It's real important that these kids understand you make mistakes, you stub your toe, you do things wrong, but you're trying."

A long history of pain

The boys know he's seen a lot and they know it's sometimes tough for him to get around. What they don't always realize is that Joe's physical and emotional suffering began before most of them were born.

It started in 1994. He had surgery after surgery. Then depression. "Pain became paramount in my life," says Joe, a father of three who lives in Jupiter with his wife, Allison. "On my good days, most people wouldn't have been able to walk."

His left hip blew out during a fierce game of dodgeball at Surge56 summer camp in 2006. The other one went a few months later.

"I've had more pain in the last year and a half than I've ever had," says Joe, who has been at Christ Fellowship for seven years. "But I've had more ammo to combat it."

For Joe, Why Me? Was The answer

He credits the Why Me? Triumph Over Physical Illness class at Christ Fellowship with bringing him together with others who face prolonged suffering and life-threatening illness.

"Pain is a thing most people suffer alone, and recovery is a lonely business," Joe says. "Having real spiritual tools to deal with it is the key."

While in rehab from the hip replacement, Joe remembers, "I started to see people, older people, who were Godless. I had common ground. I had credibility because I was in as much pain as they were, and they kept asking me why I was so happy. I was able to share Christ with people in their 80's, people who were going to die."

Sharing Christ's message

He has returned to the facility to counsel people who are struggling with therapy, and he talks about the healing and love that Christ offers. "I don't have their age, but I have their frailties. They have recovered side-by-side with me. I've been in the trenches with these people. And they listen."

Does Joe have a life verse, a passage of Scripture that keeps him on track when the pain gets too bad? No hesitation: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Do you know someone who's suffering or in pain, who needs to know about God's comfort? Is there a child you might mentor through that rocky time of early adolescence?

Are you passionate about pursuing God's plan for your life? Joe Tardonia is.

Why Me? Triumph Over Physical Illness is a 10-week study of what God's Word says about suffering. For detail, call 561-799-7603 ext. 2184.  
Here is more information about Surge 56, Christ Fellowship's preteen ministry.