Rally Point

I imagine one of the most thought of propositions when someone is dealing with death or dying themselves is 'What is the purpose to this?' 

That's a good question. That's a tough question.

What is the purpose to pain and suffering that individuals endure?

In life, there is some pain and some suffering we readily believe is acceptable. When a person plays football, we expect a fair level of pain. When a person goes through Basic Training, we accept the fact that their Drill Sergeant is going to make them suffer to a degree.

But mostly, we can only see the negative side in suffering; we don't think of the above examples, we tend to think of a child born with mental retardation or some other birth defect. 

And when confronted with the issue of pain and suffering, survivors like me reflect on all that has happened and wonder - 'What is the meaning of suffering that never goes away?'

To me, the meaning of pain and suffering ought to be the rallying point of the church. 
If the resurrection of Jesus Christ is truly the greatest event that has ever happened and offers hope to one and all, then there is an eternal hope that says to us 'no level of pain or suffering is too great for Christ to conquer.'
The church then, as a consequence, reflect this proposition.

The church has been chosen by Christ to be on the front lines in a hurting world; and yet, many times those who are suffering are the focus of our judgment and scorn rather than our compassion. 
Rather than an individual Christian trying to explain why a person has leprosy or terminal cancer, we should respond as Christ responded - with compassion and love.
And if you have ever seen such an act, the results are amazing.

Several years ago, a research group at John's Hopkins performed an experiment involving two rats. One rat was dropped into a bucket of water from which it could not escape. 
Rat #1 splashed around and thrashed for more than 60 hours before it gave up and died. Amazing - 60 hours of non-stop thrashing; he wouldn't give up until exhausted.

Rat #2 was quite different.
With Rat #2, he was held in a person's hand before putting him in the bucket. The more the rat squirmed, the tighter the human held it; this heightened the rat's sense of helplessness and it continued until the rat stopped squirming.
Rat #2 was then dropped into the same amount of water. 
Rat #2 gave up and died in just a few minutes.
Rat #2 had been trained to give up.
As much as we might hate to admit it, our hospitals and medical facilities train us to become much like Rat #2 and we give up far too easily.

When I was diagnosed six months ago, I was determined that if I was to die then I would go down fighting. It did not matter to me what the outlook was, I was going to be pragmatic about it but I was also going to do whatever it took to stay alive. 
Not everybody responds this way; in fact, most are inadvertently encouraged to give up.

The truth is that hospitals, nursing homes and the medical establishment tends to immobilize not only the body of the patient but the spirit as well. 
Think about it. 

A patient lies confined to a bed with high-powered medication skewing reality, he can't work, fluids are routinely taken out of his body, he is shut off from most relationships he has had, food, water and hygiene is controlled by someone they don't know and depression looms around the corner because of their condition.
And that helpless feeling only increases when the patient only has pain to think about.
In reality, what we are telling people in this type of condition is that they should give up. 
But this is where the church should stand up and rally.

Those of us within the church who have suffered, even terminally so and have lived, we ought to be the ones helping those that are in pain, suffering or who are terminal - FIGHT!
We ought to be the people who look at sickness from the standpoint of victory in the end. 
Philip Yancy once commented that if he owned a 'get well card' company, his cards would say, 'Congratulations to the 98 Trillion cells in your body that are still working smoothly and effectively!!'

As the church, with the greatest hope in the greatest person who has ever lived, we should be the people who are able to see those who are in pain and suffering and not see a sick person; rather, we should see a person of worth and value - who just happens to have a few parts not functioning well.
This is the responsibility of the Church.

As for the one who is suffering, or in pain, or even dying - your job is to fight. 
You see, suffering is not beneficial within itself; we must fight because - what really counts is how we react to the suffering we face in life.
That is our real test and we must face the fight with courage and strength - which is best done if you Christ in your heart and in your life.

As for the one who has suffered and survived but believes they cannot help others - you are wrong. There is no more effective healer than a wounded healer; for in the process of helping others, our own scars seem to fade away.
A person who has suffered and lived to tell about it will not look inward, but outward and become the hands of God in the world so that others may come to know Him.

Until next time, go win one for the good guys.