Keep us, O Lord,

while we tarry on this earth,

in serious seeking after you,

and in an affectionate walking with you,

every day of our lives;

that when you come,

we may be found not hiding our talent,

nor serving the flesh,

nor yet asleep with our lamp unfurnished,

but waiting and longing for our Lord,

our glorious God for ever.

Amen.

– RICHARD BAXTER (ENGLAND/1615-1691)

I seem to be keeping fairly busy lately.  Not blogging as much as normal, although normal is not all that much.  Nevertheless, the last few days I’ve spent a good deal of time getting acquainted with my newest grandchild Isla Mae since her arrival Saturday October 24th. Isn’t she beautiful!  I have ten other grandchildren just as wonderful. Once again I am reminded that: God is great! Life is good! I am blessed!!  Life just doesn’t get any better this side of eternity.

During the recent Catalyst Conference in Atlanta Chuck Swindoll shared “10 Things I Have Learned During 50 Years in Leadership. These can be found at Out of Ur Newsletter.  Because I’ve followed Swindoll’s ministry for years and have deep respect for him, here they are:

1. It’s lonely to lead.  Leadership involves tough decisions. The tougher the decision, the lonelier it is.
2. It’s dangerous to succeed.  I’m most concerned for those who aren’t even 30 and are very gifted and successful. Sometimes God uses someone right out of youth, but usually he uses leaders who have been crushed.
3. It’s hardest at home.  No one ever told me this in Seminary.
4. It’s essential to be real.  If there’s one realm where phoniness is common, it’s among leaders.  Stay real.
5. It’s painful to obey.  The Lord will direct you to do some things that won’t be your choice.  Invariably you will give up what you want to do for the cross.
6. Brokenness and failure are necessary.
7. Attitude is more important than actions.  Your family may not have told you: some of you are hard to be around.  A bad attitude overshadows good actions.
8. Integrity eclipse image. Today we highlight image. But it’s what you’re doing behind the scenes.
9. God’s way is better than my way.
10. Christlikeness begins and ends with humility.

Soong-Chan Rah writes:

The expression of excessive individualism in local church life is rooted in the excessive individualism of Western evangelical theology. Evangelicalism’s idolatry of  the individual has crippled the church’s ability to view sin and salvation outside of the narrow parameters of a personal faith. Evangelical theology becomes exclusively an individual-driven theology instead of a community-driven theology. In an individual driven theology, individual sin takes center stage.Individual sin leads to personal guilt: I, the individual, did something personally wrong and I feel guilty about my actions.  I am responsible for my personal, individual actions and nothing more.  Therefore, I can personally confess my sins and be absolved of my individual sinfulness and my personal feelings of guilt.  Because the individual is only responsible for an individualized and personal guilt, there is no sense of shame for corporate actions that also expressions of human sinfulness.

Our reduction of sin to a personal issue means that we are unwilling to deal with social structural evils, and this reduction prevents us from understanding the full expression of human sinfulness and fallenness. We have reduced the power of redemption to a personal salvation from personal sin. Evangelism programs and methods, such as the Four Spiritual Laws and the Bridge Illustration, focus exclusively on an individualistic worldview and emphasize a personal salvation  experience.

Our approach to evangelism is shaped by an individualized soteriology (our perspective on salvation) based upon a Western framework. Our soteriology arises from our hamartiology (our understanding of the nature of sin). Our understanding of salvation is contingent upon how we understand what we are being saved from, namely sin and its consequences.  When sin is limited to the individual realm and does not extend into the corporate realm, our understanding of salvation is also limited to the individual realm.  Sin, therefore, is found only in the  individual, not in structures and systems.  The possibility of redemption, therefore, is also limited exclusively to the individual.  A relationship with God limited to a private and individual realm ultimately limits our experience of God.  Our understanding of sin limited to an individual level reveals a personal guilt over wrongdoing. However, lacking an understanding of corporate sin, we are unable to feel, perceive or understand the impact of the shame of corporate responsibility.   The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity, pp.39-40.

And we wonder why we struggle with community in the Evangelical context.

Reading Pete Greig’s book, God on Mute: Engaging the Silence of Unanswered Prayer I came across the following in reference to Romans 8:38:

Not angels and not demons. Not cancer wards and not concentration camps. Not loneliness and not fear.  Not bankruptcy, not bereavement, not barrenness. Nothing we endure has the innate power to tear us away from the ultimate reality of the fact that we are loved eternally by Abba, Father.

Prayer

Abba, Father, I know all this stuff about Your love in my head, but my heart gets hard to it and I’m tired.  Please do whatever You’ve got to do (and I mean whatever) to unclinch my fists.  Pry open my eyes so that I can see Your tears and soften my heart so that it moves me deeply.  I don’t understand why You don’t just answer my prayers, but I do choose to trust that You have heard me, that You actually do care and that You’re somewhere out there on my case.  Abba, Father, thank You for all the ways You have blessed me.  I honestly don’t know what I’d do, where I’d be or even who I’d have become without You.  Abba, Father, I am going to try to trust You today.  Amen [page 56].

Tell me what you think about money, and I can tell you what you think about God, for these two are closely related.  Men and women’s hearts are closer to their wallets than almost anything else.  The hardest thing for you to give up is your money.  It represents your time, your energy, your talents, your total personality converted into currency.  But the Scripture teaches that we are only stewards for a little while of all we earn.

– Billy Graham

I’ve been basking in the words “Cancer Free” voiced by my oncologist August 24th following seven months enduring chemotherapy and all the stuff that goes with it. Needless to say these are the words Linda and I desperately wanted to hear; more than words themselves can describe.

Thoughtfully musing, and pondering this whole experience has reminded me once again of the wonderful goodness of God; maybe in a deeper, more real way then in previous times.  God is good all the time even in the not-so-good times.

What if  we had not heard the words “cancer free,” but something else which honestly I was half expecting.  After all, my cancer was at stage three, plus it was an aggressive form.  Is God’s goodness only real when good things happen and not the bad such as sickness, disease, trials, tribulations and what some would describe as godawful?

Our westernized Christianity often has us thinking that when things are going well it must be a sign of God’s goodness and when they are not going well, He is not good or there something spiritually wrong with you.  I think many times we get confused and attempt to place God’s goodness within our own perimeters of understanding and experience.  I know there were times in this journey that I gaged things within the perimeters of my own understanding and experience.

But in hindsight and reflection I see a bit clearer.  I recognize God’s goodness in the midst of and throughout this cancer experience which I could label as not so good experience.  I discovered that God’s goodness is not limited to the situations and circumstances that life throws our way.  Even if the outcome had been different – God is still good.

Here is my proof as evidenced in some of what I experienced:

• People all over the world were praying for me.  Many unsolicited.  On a couple of occasions people I did not know came up to me to say, “We’ve been praying for you!”  All those who have experienced any of life’s difficulties know how encouraging this is.  Linda and I literally felt many times of being carried along on the prayers of God’s people.
• The fantastic care Linda provided.  Without formal training she was the best nurse anyone could have. My care and comfort became her major concern in life.   I discovered in a fresh and new way how much God has blessed my life through her.  We’ve been married 42 years and I can honestly say I love her at least 42 times as much as the day we became husband and wife.
• Friends and family coming to our aid, by mowing lawns and doing household chores.  Our “Short Bus” group came over and removed all the moss from our roof along with a massive amount of yard work being done.  One of our Epic people tilled, cultivated and planted a whole new flower bed.  Others supplied meals.
• God’s goodness was also shown wonderfully through the staff at the Cancer Center which included doctors, nurses, case workers, receptionists, and schedulers.  Some of the most positive people I’ve encountered in this life with hearts to serve those suffering with this awful disease.  What a valuable service they provide to people in great peril and need.
• In addition to the staff there were the special people I met suffering with cancer who came to the center for treatment.  Many possessing great faith and courage in the midst of considerable difficulty.  Personally I found each of them to be tremendously encouraging.

These are just a few experiences that prove to me God’s goodness at work even in the midst of life’s difficult times and struggles.

Tuesday morning a day after hearing the good news “Cancer Free,”  I spent some time reading in Psalms.  I came across the following Psalm and found it to be somewhat biographical this last eight months.  I share it here because it blessed me and refer to it now as the “Happy Dance” Psalm.

1  I will exalt you, LORD, for you rescued me.

You refused to let my enemies triumph over me.

2  O LORD my God, I cried to you for help,

and you restored my health.

3  You brought me up from the grave, O LORD.

You kept me from falling into the pit of death.

4  Sing to the LORD, all you godly ones!

Praise his holy name.

5  For his anger lasts only a moment,

but his favor lasts a lifetime!

Weeping may last through the night,

but joy comes with the morning.

6  When I was prosperous, I said,

“Nothing can stop me now!”

7   Your favor, O LORD, made me as secure as a mountain.

Then you turned away from me, and I was shattered.

8   I cried out to you, O LORD.

I begged  the LORD for mercy, saying,

9   “What will you gain if I die, if I sink into the grave?

Can my dust praise you? Can it tell of your faithfulness?

10  Hear me, LORD, and have mercy on me.

Help me, O LORD.”

11  You have turned my mourning into

into joyful (happy) dancing.

You have taken away my clothes of

mourning and clothed me with joy,

12  that I might sing praises to you and not

be silent.

O LORD my God, I will give you thanks

forever [Psalms 30, NLT]

Just to let everyone know, this morning Linda and I visited my Oncologist Dr. Miklos Simon who gave me a Cancer Free diagnosis following what seemed like an eternity of Chemotherapy treatments.  Dr. Simon and his staff at the Cancer Center have been great care givers and support through out the entire process.  With people all over the world encouraging us, loving us, caring for us as well as praying, I really felt like I was being carried along through this entire journey. Definitely this journey and the outcome is a great testimony to God’s healing grace. PRAISE HIS NAME! Even if the diagnosis would have been different.

For you who prayed I (we) are eternally grateful. We believe that our God is behind all healing and it is by His mighty power that I can say CANCER FREE!  After several hours it is beginning to really sink in that I am CANCER FREE.

This whole journey has been a learning experience in trusting God to do immeasurably more than anyone can ask or think.  I’ll probably be blogging on this experience in the near future, but for now I wanted to share the good news with you all and thank you so much for your love and prayers.

Joining Linda for another Happy Dance.

I look up to mountains;

does my strength come from mountains?

No, my strength comes from God,

who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.

He won’t let you stumble,

your Guardian God won’t fall sleep.

Not on your life!

Israel’s Guardian will never doze or sleep.

GOD’s your Guardian,

right at your side to protect you–

Shielding you from sunstroke,

sheltering you from moonstroke.

GOD guards you from every evil,

he guards your very life.

He guards you when you leave and when you return,

he guards you now, he guards you always.

Psalm 121 (The Message)