Spiritual Kryptonite

One year ago I was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer; given about 6 months to live. 
At that meeting at the Cleveland Clinic with compassion-filled doctors, I was told that they would do their best to extend my life, but they couldn't save it.
That moment ranks as one of the most devastating in my entire life.

That was one year ago this week.
In a strange way, I am thankful for that day, the week and the months that followed. Not because of what I endured, but what I learned about myself and about others and about God and suffering during those months.

When I revealed what I was diagnosed with, a friend gave me a wonderful book entitle 'A Bend in the Road.' It was very insightful, for the pastor who wrote it described his own journey with cancer.
More than anything, it gave me a starting point spiritually.
And what I found was that my contemporary Christians and also faithful men and women from decades long past - each tried to offer spiritual strength however they knew best to do it.
I am so thankful and will ever be appreciative for their work and effort toward me and my family.

Today, as I looked through my Rolodex, my 'Friends' list on a social networking site and through our Church Directory - I found an amazing fact.
The fact is that so many people I know, young and old, are suffering from some type of cancer in their lives. And I think what is most amazing is the amount of people with whom I went to Gauley Bridge High are suffering from various types of cancer.
Some of those are reading this blog right now.

Well, as I endured the 'Cancer Fight,' I found a quote from long ago that I have come to appreciate more and more each day:

"Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory."
                                  -- William Barclay

What I have found with most people who suffer is not that they don't appreciate words of encouragement of a spiritual nature; no, many of them do, especially when it shows you truly care.
Rather, it does matter but it doesn't help in the sense of a person writhing in pain from cancer or chemotherapy or radiation when a well-meaning person speaks of God's will and allowing it to 'run its course' in the life of the one who suffers.

I am one of the blessed in the sense that God healed me; there is no doubt about that.
Nobody walks away from a hospital when they have been diagnosed and confirmed as Stage 4 cancer; they are generally carried out under a sheet.
I walked away because God healed me; for some reason I do not know, God made a decision to touch my life and heal my body.
I do know that it was not because I'm a minister because ministers die all the time; heaven is over-flowing with many of them.
I do know it wasn't because I am so special, righteous, or holy because I know there is One who is Holy and that One is not me.
I do not know why God chose to heal me and not somebody else; but that brings me to an amazing piece of thoughtfulness in this hour. 
Something that I have termed, 'Theological Kryptonite.'

In the minds of those who are closest to me, there is no question God made the conscious decision to heal me. It was nothing of me and all of Him - He specifically and mercifully made the decision to heal my body and is continuing to strengthen me as the days pass.
This being true, it would also mean the reverse is true as well.
If God intervenes in a life, He has made the decision to do so. It also means that at every point of human suffering, God has made a decision as whether or not He will intervene.
Therefore, if a person is not miraculously healed as I was healed, God has likewise made the decision not to heal that person.
It doesn't sound fair but it is very true.

This 'problem' is ages long - Why does a good and holy God allow suffering? Why doesn't He stop it?
This is Theological and Spiritual Kryptonite.

But there is a solution; yet, the solution is more about our understanding of the problem rather than our understanding of God.
You see, whether or not God heals a person is not for humans to decided. Honestly, our minds aren't able to comprehend all of who God is nor what He does. 
We are confined to our view from Earth; though we don't understand, we must learn to trust Him by faith that He will always do what is good, right, holy and best for our lives - at all times.

When we suffer, it is not about our suffering.
Our suffering is about our FAITH.

I'll give you an example to explain what I mean.
In the Biblical account of Job, the grand question of Job is 'Why has this happened to me?' Granted, he had suffered immensely; but that isn't the question for the reader.
The question as we read is - 'How will Job respond?'
Will Job trust God? Will he deny God? What is Job going to do now that all has been taken away?

The reader of Job see able to see what is taking place in the supernatural world; we receive a glimpse of the heavenly court and know why Job is enduring what he is enduring.
Therefore, we don't ask 'why?'
Rather, we will ask 'How will he respond?' and 'To what end is he suffering?'

Like Job, when we suffer we often put God on trial.
We question His goodness, we wonder about His fairness. Some will even get to the point where they wonder if there is a God at all. 
And some, including Job, will get extremely close to blasphemy. We become men and women very close to the edge.

The reason Job or any of the suffering saints' words ring familiar with us is because we often have the very same, deeply felt complaints with God.
Whether it is Job or the Church Father Augustine or even a Pastor from the Victorian Era like Charles Spurgeon - when they speak of their misunderstanding about God, their confusion, their pain - these words hit a nerve because they voice what we think and dare not say.

The purpose of suffering and pain or even with cancer and dying is not 'where is God when I am hurting?'
God is there, we just need a better set of eyes to see Him.
No, the question isn't where is God. The question is where you and I are when we are hurting, when we are suffering, when we are dying?
How do we respond when we are given our piece of 'Spiritual Kryptonite?'
How do we continue to live faithfully when we know we are going to die?

The truth is how we respond speaks volumes about who you are as a person.
So, if you are suffering today or even dying - I know what you're feeling because I was taken to the edge and brought back. I cannot promise you the same results as I have received; though I pray you experience what I have experienced.
I want you to remember, whether suffering from watching a loved-one suffer or feeling the pain yourself, how you respond to what is taking place can either glorify God or invoke sympathy for yourself.
How you deal with what you are dealing with will remain in the minds of those you love far more than anything else. 
Stay strong, keep the faith and may God bless you.

Until next time, try to win one for the good guys.

Other Side of the Story

Anyone who deals with the public, especially police officers, know that there is always more than one side to every story. Biblically, this is true as well.
Nearly everyone knows the Christmas story with angels appearing to faithful but bewildered shepherds, Magi traversing the desert to the Christ-child, etc. But what we don't read in the Gospels is Christmas from the view of God.
That is found in Revelation 12:
Rev 12:1-5 
1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: 2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. 3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. 5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

What seems to be an ordinary event - a woman giving birth to a child - results in an unseen effect that touches everything in the universe.
We also know this to happen when people come to Christ by faith. 
We're told from the time we can remember in church that when a person comes to faith, the angels in heaven rejoice; that is an unseen effect from the physical world into the spiritual realm which we cannot see.
What if every event in our lives, every decision, every choice, every act of kindness or of disgust, what if those things have an unseen effect on the spiritual world to which we are not aware?

We say that Christians are chosen of God; if that is true, is it really that far-fetched to think God, the spiritual world and the activities within it, are to some degree effected by what we do on earth?

When you see Biblical figures, some seem keenly unaware of the unseen world while others seem totally in tune with it. Job, for example, had no hint that the unseen spiritual world was watching, but they were.
In fact, Job's entire saga was the cause of God challenging Satan.
So, I go back to the question and state it another way - Are we so important to God that one decision by His follower is so important that it can determine a piece of history for the universe?

Well, the answer seems to be yes - we are indeed that important to God. 
If Job proves anything in this regard, he proves that our testing and our responses in our testing matters, not only to the people around us but it matters to God as well.

What Job faced is a predicament faced by all Believers since Adam and Eve encountered the serpent in the Garden of Eden. The root question for all people when faced with a decision is: 'Are we going to chose for God or against God?'
Sadly, more times than not, we have failed.

You see, we do not have the insight or the discernment to immediately know that is what is being asked of us in the time of trial. Job didn't either.
Therefore, this question of trusting God is a question that must be answered every day and in every way.
If we knew what was happening in our lives as God knows, the question would be easily answered. But we do not understand as God understands and we are asked to trust Him by faith.
When we see Job struggling and hanging on to his faith, despite his circumstances, in spite of his 'friends,' and without regard to his wife - we are being asked to join the struggle like him against all that is wrong with the universe.
The one thing Job communicates to me and proves is the fact that we can make a difference; that difference begins by being strong to our faith and not doubting in the dark what God has taught us in the Light and Joy of the blessings in life.

When it comes to suffering - there are very few answers as to 'why' in God's Word. The better question for us to answer is not 'why' but rather, 'to what end?'
One year ago I was diagnosed with Stage 4, terminal cancer and given no chance of survival. 
As He tends to do from time to time, God proved the doctors wrong.

To what end have I been healed and sent forth, only God has determined and in His progressive revelation for my life - I am slowly learning.
A question does remain - 'Why does God delay?'
I mean, seriously, why doesn't He just enlighten me and let me or you or anybody who has struggled, just get on with it? 
Why does God hold back and let evil and sin reign?
Why does God wait to reveal His will in life?
Why does God let individual believers and churches struggle?

God holds back on His knowledge, His view of things for one simple reason - He does it for our sake.
Humanity in general and Christians in particular are in the center of God's plan for the universe.
The motive behind all human existence is His eternal glory.
Therefore, the things that we face in life and the directions we go, they are for the purpose of developing us; not God. 
And as we develop, we become a greater part of His Sovereign plan for the world.

Every act of faith, by every believer in the world, counts and reverberates throughout the universe, which is being brought to a climactic end - for His Eternal Glory.
Until next time, try to win one for the good guys.

It's Unfair

M. Scott Peck has one of the greatest, simple statements of the universe in his The Road Less Traveled:
'Life is difficult.'

From simple living, every person knows life is difficult; it doesn't matter what color your skin may be or what culture from which you originate - life can be hard and at times, it certainly is unfair.
This may be the most difficult question for Bible scholars and teachers to answer - 'why do things seem unfair.' 

Indeed. Why do babies die? They've done nothing wrong to be struck down.
Why do loving, dedicated husbands or wives lose their spouse to a lot lizard or playboy?
Why does an elderly Korean War vet get HIV from a blood transfusion?
I believe I can speak for a ministers and maybe all Christians when I say that 'why' is one of the most difficult questions to ever be answered accurately.

But we're not alone.
There are countless Biblical figures who found that life was unfair to them as well, even though they were supposed to be the 'chosen' of God.
To Esau, it was unfair that Jacob received the patriarchal blessing; but to God, it was the unfolding of His will on earth.
To Joseph, it wasn't right that he found himself in the bottom of a well; but to God, being sold as a slave was how He would orchestrate the survival of the Hebrew race and the nation of Israel.
And to Jesus, I'm quite certain it wasn't fair to Crucify Him on the Cross which bore my name of punishment; but to God, it was how He would reconcile lost humanity to Himself out of love.
From this, I have learned - if something doesn't make sense to me, that does not mean it doesn't make sense at all nor does it mean that it won't make sense in the future.
We just have to catch up spiritually to what God is doing.

The seeming unfairness we see from a Holy and Just God is no different in our lives than it was in the lives of the people of Scripture.
Simple proof of this statement can be found in a very common cuss word; this word has even seeped into the acceptability of prime time television.
The word 'God' quickly followed by the word 'Damn' clearly implies that we feel God should be doing a better job of running His universe. These sentiments are flowing through our minds because we are having a true crisis of faith - our belief does not match our reality at that point in time.

To solve this problem of the seeming unfairness of God - man has taken several steps.
One is to promote and believe the idea that God does not exist at all. The rationale is that if God existed, He would have the power and the concern to do something about the situation of the world and certainly about the unfair situations in His believers lives.
While this appeals to many intellectuals, the simple fact is that any rational person can see from nature that there is a Creative Design to the place we call home on this earth. 
In short, those that deny God would rather deny His existence than try to understand His ways because to understand Him deeper means there will be a struggle - and this struggle is not easy.
Simply put - they're just too lazy to pursue the God who has pursued them throughout their entire life.

Others try to solve the problem through religion - like Hindus and their concept of Karma. 
In their system, the world is fair - all things come back around appropriately.
While I would love to believe this, I know it is not true because you can't explain away a newborn's death nor the success of evil men.

In Christian thought it must be admitted that God Himself is far above our understanding of time; and this may very well be the key to understanding our position in a crisis or tragedy.
As humans, though we are the apex of God's creation, still - we can only function in the present. We can think of the past, we can contemplate the future; but we can only function in the present.
God, on the other hand, lives in what has been called 'The Constant Present.'

For example: To humans, God created the Universe in the past and there has been successive people, ages, generations and technological advancements to this day. 
To God, Creation happened followed by the Resurrection of the Saints and entrance into New Jerusalem.

For humans, with our limited view of eternity, even speaking of God's concept of time is hard to understand. Why would it be any easier to understand the purpose and nature of God's end goal with a trial or tragedy we may face?

You see, we focus way too much on what God can do on our behalf in the present.
Instead, we ought to be focusing in on what He has done and what He will do once the experience is complete and how He is going to use it for His glory.

Granted, only at the end of time will we as Christians be able to see as God sees; whether people, places, things or events - we will see things as He sees them because He is making us whole in Himself.

It will be on that day that we will finally understand all of who He is and what He has done; and then we will praise Him and shout His glory throughout the Universe.
Until then, if you are wondering why God is keeping you in the dark about some of things of the world or in your own personal life - the reason is because you and I are not able to absorb that much light in our present state.
On the last day, we will and on that day, we will understand.

Faith means believing in advance what will only make sense in the future.
And isn't that what Christ has asked of us all along - to have faith in Him, trusting from this life to eternal life?

Until next time, try to win one for the good guys.