Real Hope & Change

When a person has a disease such as cancer, you cannot help but think at times if this is the end of the line. You wonder when you enter a hospital if you will walk out again. When you do something, go somewhere, or celebrate a special day - somewhere in the back of your mind you wonder if that is going to be the last time you do those things.
You wonder, not because you have a lack of faith, but because it is simple human nature. Every person wonders and imagines the future but when you have a life threatening disease, internally you know that there is a chance that the future will be cut short if it even comes at all.

I do not know how non-believers get through these type of struggles, but I know how I'm getting through my struggle. God has promised us His strength in our weakness; it is a promise I have seen fulfilled time and time again - and I'm seeing it fulfilled even as I type in my life.

One of the problems Christians have is that we want to believe God's promises, we think we trust Him; but in actuality, we really don't - as evidenced by the fact of so many Christians living defeated lives and hectic lifestyles. If we were really trusting Him, then we would know to rest and be content in Him.

I do not know your story nor how God has shown you His promises in your life; but I do know my story and it is a story of a change that brings true hope.

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me
To bring good news to the afflicted;
He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted,
To proclaim liberty to captives
And freedom to prisoners;
To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord...
Isaiah 61:1

These were the first words Jesus spoke in His first sermon in Nazereth. After He closed the scroll He said to the people, 'Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing (Luke 4:18).
And do you know what those good, religious people did in that synagogue that day? When Jesus finished speaking they drove Him out in an attempt to throw Him off a cliff.

As a pastor, with many other pastors I can rightly say that there have been times when I felt as if I was going to be driven off a cliff - but it hasn't happened yet. As a matter of fact, I don't know anyone in local church ministry that has had that happen to them - it is because God has protected us.

Sometimes in my study before church services, I read this passage as a reminder. While the passage is speaking of Jesus and no man can ever fill His role, it is also true that every Gospel minister has the Spirit of God on them to reach those who are hurting, captive by their own choices and sin, to tell them of the Gospel message that brings change to the wounded and doubting heart.
This was not who I was years ago, but it is who I am now.

No person is who they once were but the real question is, 'What are you?' Are you just an older, more mature version of who you were years ago OR have you had the change in your heart only Jesus can bring so that you now have a blessed hope in Him?
Who I was is not what I am now because of the change that has happened within me. Yet, in this process, God has crafted me as He has chosen to do what He has wanted every place in the world He has sent me.

It began many years ago in Louisville, Kentucky with the police department.

As others stayed in the seminary 'bubble,' God saw fit to show me the real world. There were a lot of hard lessons to learn, what I didn't realize that God was crafting me to become something more, something He wanted, in places others didn't want to go and in regions nobody asks to visit.
I was changing, but that change was to bring the hope of the Lord Jesus more effectively to others.

Later, local church ministry and Chaplaincy in the Air Guard came; as it came, I went where I was sent.
There is a book that tells the story of God's movement in the desert while I was there, "Kingdom Collision." For that story, go to that book. It suffices to say, the fruit of ministry through the Air Force has taken me to Saudi Arabia, Germany and most interesting, Montgomery, Alabama.



Baptized in Saudi. Eleven for the Good guys.

 In each of these, God had crafted me and prepared me for the task; I just didn't know it at the time. He had changed me with His promise and hope to bring the same message of hope and redemption to those who did not know Him as I know Him.

When some have Cancer and are given horrid odds of surviving more than 5 years, there isn't much hope about their spirit. I now find myself on that same road, but I don't have the same attitude.
The reason is because I have seen throughout my life the change by the Holy Spirit of God from what I was to what I am. That continual change brings hope to a troubled heart - whether it is mine or yours, regardless of how hopeless a situation may seem; there is always hope through the Lord Jesus Christ.

In a day or so, I will be admitted to the world renown Cleveland Clinic. Tests, biopsies, surgeries, chemotherapy and an aray of other necessary, yet painful, medical things will take place. I am not apprehensive, fearful, angry, or anything that might be construed as negative, albeit understandable. Actually, I am a peace and very hopeful.

The reason is because I know what I was and I know what I am. And if God can do so much with so little in the limited amount of time He has worked within me; it truly will be amazing to see what He is planning to do with so much in this situation.
He will prove once again, Jesus is the only Change and Hope a man or woman can believe in for their lives. For it is His change in your heart and life that will bring peace and hope.

Until next time, win one for the good guys.