Dana's Christian Journey

musings of a thankful cancer survivor

Author: Dana

  • IHOP

    —

    Dana

    There is an IHOP in town that does not specialize in pancakes. The letters stand for International House of Prayer and people pray there constantly. When Jesus drove the money changers and buyers and sellers out the temple, he quoted the prophet, Isaiah: “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

    A former student is the leader of this place of prayer. I saw Billy yesterday and he reminded me of a time when he was in my math class. “I was caught cheating,” he said, “but you showed me mercy.” As a math teacher, I’ve always wanted my students to remember the wonderful theorems I prove, but sadly, that knowledge seems to fade quickly. But show a young man mercy and he’ll come back to you twenty years later and tell you how that impacted his life.

    Jesus, the Good Teacher, gave the religious of his day an assignment: “Go learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’” Those that didn’t know the meaning made serious errors. “If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.” But those who understand the Master’s secret and put it to practice get a great reward. “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”

    The late Henri Nouwen loved to tell the story of a Russian peasant who longed more than anything else to follow Paul’s command to “pray without ceasing,” but try as he might he couldn’t do it. Finally, after asking for guidance from many ‘holy men,’ someone taught him the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” The peasant prayed this simple prayer so often that he found his mind and heart in constant prayer as he walked through Russia with a knapsack and Bible.

    “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me!” The blind cried this prayer. The sick shouted it out. Distraught parents prayed with broken hearts. And Jesus heard their prayers.

    “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.” Luke 18:10-14

  • resolution

    —

    Dana

    I’m usually not big on New Year’s resolutions, but I sure am aware of needs for change. Changes brought about by my will-power are usually short-lived, but changes brought about by God’s grace are a different matter. Being his servant, I want to ask God to help me see differently and think differently. I am not the President of the United States or the Governor of my state. I am not a congressman or a senator. If I were such a leader in society, it would be my job to propose solutions to difficult social and global dilemmas. Holding no such office, my job is to pray for those who do. I can ask our Heavenly Father to give wisdom and strength to leaders and I can pray God’s will be done. I desire the “mind of Christ,” but as I listen to political observers, global experts, and talk show hosts, my mind gets clouded. Some of these voices claim to be Christian; all voices claim to be right; but I know there is only one voice that really matters… and his Kingdom is not of this world. Jesus turns everything upside down, but I want to follow him. I want to think like him. I want to love like him.

    Here’s an example: When I see a person of Hispanic descent, I don’t want my thinking to shift to the huge immigration debate going on in our country. If I hear on my radio that an illegal alien committed a crime in my county, I don’t want encroaching judgment to poison the way I look at the person driving the car next to me. I can pray that government leaders make wise and fair decisions, but I want to see each human being from Jesus’ viewpoint: “I gave my life so that person could be forgiven and know my Father and live with me in Heaven forever and ever.” Now many people will say, “But what about…?” I know there are a million questions that can be asked, but I only want to deal with one: How does God see that person? Are there not two broad answers? He either recognizes one of his children, a member of his blood-bought family… or He sees a lost soul. A child of God is my brother or sister. A lost soul needs to meet Jesus. Should this simple thinking be troubling?

    Here’s another example: Harm and Dagmar Tees, good friends and long-time missionaries in Jerusalem, reach out mainly to Arabs in the region. Harm, a native of Holland, is the general secretary of the United Christian Council in Israel. Recently this coalition of Christian groups celebrated fifty years of existence in Israel. A friend of Harm’s, also a native of Holland, came to speak at their gathering. Some of you have read GOD’S SMUGGLER, the story of Brother Andrew, a bold believer who has smuggled Bibles into the most dangerous places in the world. When Brother Andrew spoke to this council in Jerusalem, he gave a challenge that reflects the heart of God. At seventy-eight years of age, this radical disciple is now sharing the gospel with fundamentalist Muslims. By God’s design, Brother Andrew was recently invited to speak in a huge Islamic school in a Muslim country. Predictably, he used this platform to preach the gospel. After his message, a Muslim leader came to him and asked if he could hold the book from which he spoke – the Bible. Brother Andrew was invited to return and when he did many Bibles were given to the Islamic students. As Harm shared this message, a quote struck me: “Brother Andrew said it was not the fundamentalists’ fault that they had never seen a Bible or heard the gospel. He challenged us to reach out as well.”

    As I write this, I see my need for repentance. My thoughts about Sunnis and Shiites are not God’s thoughts. My compassion is shallow. When an elderly Richard Wurmbrand, the founder of Voice of the Martyrs who was tortured for Christ and imprisoned fourteen years in Communist Romania, was asked what Christians should do about the growing problem of religious fanatics persecuting the church, he gave a profound answer (gained by walking a lifetime with Jesus): “Love them.” My love is weak. I don’t want to conform to the thinking of this world; I want to be transformed. “Lord, renew my mind.”

    “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” II Peter 3:9 “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:17

  • sword

    —

    Dana

    The Person called the “Prince of Peace” said, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” When Jesus was born, Herod decreed that all male babies who were two years old and younger be put to death. We know this was an evil decree related to the spiritual battle described in Revelation 12. The words of Jeremiah the prophet were fulfilled: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” Jesus did not desire innocent children to die because He came to earth. He does not wield the wicked sword of murder and mayhem. So what sword does Jesus carry and what peace does he oppose?

    There are many today who seem perfectly happy without caring at all about God or his Kingdom. Some live without a care in the world with every part of their lives in seemingly perfect order. It is a false peace that Jesus comes to disrupt. Confidence linked to pride will eventually crumble; peace dependent upon this world is no peace at all… so Jesus carries a sword that is sharper than a surgeon’s knife. “For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

    Multiple myeloma is a systemic disease. Since it is in my blood, this cancer invades my entire body. When I was first diagnosed we quickly discovered its destructive activity. Too many plasma cells had already gathered in various places in my skeleton and destroyed my bones. X-rays revealed tumors within my ribs, but no operation could remove them. My bone marrow, the liquid substance in the bones which manufactures blood cells, was greatly damaged. This disease destroys from within and as of yet there is no cure. But Jesus possesses a sword so sharp and powerful that he can do what doctors never dream of doing. This sword can separate joints and marrow. Our Great Physician can even use his sword to operate on the soul and spirit, parts of the human no x-ray can detect. Jesus also has the power to heal damage experts label as irreversible. Though I’ve had quite a few powerful drugs flow through my bloodstream over the past six years, nothing can match this sword the Son of God possesses.

    In his radical instruction to the disciples in Matthew 10, Jesus mentioned things we often associate with peace: friends, family, and worldly comforts. Our King knows true peace is found only when he is the center of everything. Oswald Chambers wrote, “Jesus Christ came to send a sword through every peace that is not based on a personal relationship to Himself.” Even those who believe in him may be confused at times. I don’t think John the Baptist expected his faithfulness to land him in jail to await execution. He sent messengers to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” When an evil sword is at our throat, Jesus says, “Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.” Outcomes might not be what we predict, difficulties may seem more numerous than victories, clouds may prevent us from seeing clearly, but Jesus says, “My holy sword is at work. I am giving sight to the blind. I am letting the deaf hear. I am healing those with incurable diseases and I’m raising the dead. Give up your self and trust me and I promise you’ll find true life.”

    “And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone ‘like a son of man,’ dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said, ‘Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever!’” Revelation 1:12-18

  • sorrow

    —

    Dana

    The Person who prayed for his followers to possess his joy was called “Man of Sorrows.” Jesus was not disturbed by this apparent conflict. He knew the Source of his joy and he knew the reason for sorrow. If Jesus walked the earth today, he wouldn’t be confused by the mixed messages that seem to be preached in Christian circles. Prosperity can come from the hand of the Most High who owns “the cattle on a thousand hills.” But if the Father calls one of his own to become nothing, we must trust that God’s higher purposes are good.

    Jesus knew who he was; he knew where he came from; he knew where he was going. The joy of the Lord was his strength, yet he was on a mission that could not avoid sorrow. His mission field was a world that had been ruined by sin. All were held captive by one who rejected Light and chose darkness. “Man of Sorrows” does not describe the personality of our Savior… it simply describes what he was sent to face. The Source of perfect joy hates murder and betrayal and injustice and suffering and death, but God used murder and betrayal and injustice and suffering and death to destroy sin and save us.

    I am writing this on a Saturday morning, two days before the start of a new year. A dear friend just called with sad news about a precious family. The father of one of Kinsey’s classmates died suddenly in the night of a heart attack. The friend that called lost her husband to the exact same cause a couple of years ago. In my mind this is “sorrow upon sorrow.” I think of a wife and mother. I think of two high school girls who have lost their dad. I think of my friend who still grieves over the loss of her husband. I know I can ask all who read this to pray for the McMahon family. I know my friend will have special understanding as she reaches out to comfort. But there seems to be no good answers for this sorrow. My tears join countless others but the pain does not wash away.

    One of my nurses at Northside Hospital went to Kenya recently on a medical mission trip. I just received a video and newsletter describing her week in Africa. This wonderful nurse, an expert in her field, faced a world she had never seen. Poverty you can’t imagine, disease, hunger, hopelessness… As she walked through a poor area of Nairobi, mothers tried to hand their babies to her to take back to the States where they believed a child would receive a better life. My nurse said she would go to her bed at the end of every day and cry and cry. When she came back to Atlanta she cried and cried. She does not know how to process what she experienced, but she knows she cannot run from it.

    I just received an e-mail from a missionary friend saying they are about to have an evangelistic prayer gathering in their city. She wrote, “I want to be made uncomfortable with the sense of His painful love for the lost.” Why ask to feel God’s heart for the lost? Won’t that cause heartache? Why go to the slums of a city and witness the horrors of poverty and disease? Won’t that make you feel bad? Why enter the sorrow of someone who has lost a loved one? Won’t that dampen the New Year’s spirit? Jesus says if we are his disciples we must go where he went. He entered the pain of the grieving. He walked the streets of the poor and laid his hands on the sick and afflicted. He embraced the incredible love his Father has for the lost and laid down his life to purchase us. “Your attitude should be the same as Jesus Christ.”

    “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:5-11

  • joy

    —

    Dana

    Not only did Jesus want us to have His peace, He also wanted us to have His joy. “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” (Jn 15:11) What was the source of Jesus’ joy? I think it all had to do with the Father. “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” (Jn 15:9-10)

    Jesus did not find obedience to His Father burdensome but rather the essential way to abide in a relationship defined by love. Oh if we could see that God is the source of all good gifts… joy, peace, hope, and love! Jesus even tied this gift of joy to the Father’s answer to prayer: “I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name… Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” (Jn 16:23-24)

    Two-year-old John has become quite intrigued with manger scenes these days. In a friend’s home he recently found a “baby Jesus” with swaddling clothes that droop across the infant’s thigh. Having recently received a shot in his thigh at the doctor’s office, John is convinced that Jesus suffered the same painful experience. “Got shot,” he pointed as he held baby Jesus up for my inspection. It did look a bit like a bandage on the little leg, so I didn’t try to explain first century baby-wear. John’s mom, Terri, lets him stay at our house every now and then. Last week, when I arrived home from work, John stood at the door asking, “Go see baby Jesus?” When I said, “OK, let’s go,” you should have seen his reaction. John threw up his hands and danced around, then he grabbed my hand and we hopped in the car to drive to a manger scene not far from our house.

    Somehow, I think Jesus wants us to have this child-like joy. He prayed before being arrested, “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.” How do I receive such a blessing? Maybe we sing the answer during the Christmas season: “Joy to the world the Lord is come, let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room…” John the Baptist once said, “The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.” Do I prepare room in my heart for the Giver of joy? Do I wait and listen for His voice? John the Baptist proclaimed a wonderful secret: “He must become greater; I must become less.”

    Perhaps the Father would whisper a Christmas message to us today: “‘He rules the world with truth and grace…’ My Son is the only path to true joy. Let Him take His rightful place on the throne of your heart. Follow John’s example and become less so your Savior can become more. He will bring you to Me and your joy will be complete.”

    “His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord!’” Matthew 25:21

    Merry Christmas!

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