Dana's Christian Journey

musings of a thankful cancer survivor

Author: Dana

  • signs

    —

    Dana

    One Person perfectly knew God as He walked the earth. He has known God from the beginning as His Father and He gives us insight into what knowing God is all about.

    When Jesus faced those who challenged His legitimacy, He sometimes bluntly said, “You don’t know God. If you knew God, you would see Me for who I am. Since you don’t know Me, you prove that you don’t know the Father.” The Father and Son cannot be separated. “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I came from God and now am here.” (John 8:42) “If you knew Me, you would know My Father also.” (John 8:19)

    The path to knowing God is through the Son and when we hear Him teach and see His actions, we learn. Jesus points listeners to a Father that can be trusted. “If your heavenly Father feeds the birds and clothes the grass of the field, will He not feed and clothe you? You are more valuable than birds and grass. Don’t worry and have faith!” (see Matthew 6) Those that know God trust Him.

    It should go without saying, but if someone really knows God, he or she will love Him. As Jesus approached His death, understanding the devil was at work, He stated that His love for the Father would be proven. “I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on Me, but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what My Father has commanded Me.” (John 14:30-31)

    Interestingly, the strongest sign Jesus gives of knowing God is His obedience. “Some may talk about their great faith or how much they love God, but here’s My proof: I do what My Father tells Me.” Jesus ties love and obedience together. “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.” (John 15:9-10)

    The one who knows God trusts, loves, and obeys. When we live this way, the Father, Son, and Spirit receive much glory.

    “Jesus replied, ‘If I glorify myself, My glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the One who glorifies Me. Though you do not know Him, I know Him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know Him and obey His word.’” John 8:54-55

  • goal

    —

    Dana

    I’ve never been a big goal setter. Some might say, “Well, there’s your problem, Dana,” and they might have a point. But if I were put on the spot and forced to give one goal, I would have an answer.

    My reply would come from three sources: the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, the apostle Paul, and Jesus Christ the Messiah. Jeremiah’s words actually come from God, who knows well the way we typically think. “This is what the Lord says: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 9:23-24)

    When Paul prayed for the believers in Ephesus — men and women who had put their faith in Jesus and received the Holy Spirit — he said: “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better.” (Ephesians 1:17) And when Jesus prayed for all His disciples, He defined eternal life: “Now this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.” (John 17:3)

    “To know God.” “To know Him better.” “To know Christ.” Are there any better goals?

    “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:10-14

  • healer

    —

    Dana

    John and I recently finished listening to The Return of the King, the final book of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. One of my favorite quotes relates to Aragorn, the ranger who fulfilled an ancient prophecy from Tolkien’s world: “The hands of the king are the hands of a healer, and so shall the rightful king be known.”

    In the history of our world, Jesus Christ came “with healing in His wings” and fulfilled the prophecies of old that spoke of a King rising from the line of David. Unrecognized by most, the humble carpenter from Nazareth healed with words, touch, spit, and prayer. The witnesses marveled, the religious establishment grumbled, and the healed rejoiced.

    Now, as His followers, we desire to heal in the name of our King. How many relationships, communities, and physical bodies are in need of healing today? As peacemakers, as lovers, and as people of prayer, we ask God to reveal Himself through His healing power.

    IMG_0025.1One of Susan’s favorite memories of our summer trip to Ecuador took place high in the Andes mountains. A wife brought her husband to the church building and asked us to pray that he be relieved from constant pain in his abdomen. As we gathered around this man in the name of Jesus, we could all sense the Spirit of God.

    I felt the same sense in our state this past week, but I was the one being prayed for. Marco and Mayra got to visit Atlanta for three days, and we planned a couple of gatherings for those who had visited them in Ecuador. This was Mayra’s first trip to the United States and her first ride in an airplane.

    Unfortunately, on Thursday I got very sick from the chemo I received that morning. With everyone joining his prayer, Marco put his arms around my shoulders and asked God to help me. The love of the Healer resides in all those who have been born again. May we live daily with our eyes open and our hearts attentive to those around us. May we live as participants with the King.

    “When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard He was. And wherever He went – into villages, towns or countryside – they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged Him to let them touch even the edge of His cloak, and all who touched Him were healed.” Mark 6:53-56

    “The Return of the King” by J. R. R. Tolkien, ©1955, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, p 139

  • foreigner

    —

    Dana

    William sat in the chemo chair next to mine last week. He has a few final rounds of chemotherapy before being released from treatment. I overheard a distinct accent as he talked to his nurse, so after she left I asked where he was from. A big smile lit up his dark face and he replied: “I am from the island of St. Thomas!”

    William shared that he received a cancer diagnosis in May and considered it a great blessing to travel to Atlanta for treatment and surgery. Because of the heavy accent, I had a hard time understanding my new friend, but there was no doubt he wanted me to know God’s part in his story.

    He told me about the chemotherapy he endured before the surgery. Then he told me of the miracle of recovery after his surgery. He shared with great enthusiasm that the day after surgery, he walked twelve laps around the nurses’ station which equaled one half mile. “Nurses told me that after a surgery like mine no one had ever walked that distance before! I told them it was God who gave me strength… and He did! The next day I walked 24 laps!”

    I smiled as he told me story after story of God’s provision and protection. He said his entire church has been praying for him on the island of St. Thomas and he has encouraged them all with his positive reports. William next told me a story dealing with an answered prayer in his work. He is an electrician and evidently God had helped him perform a very difficult task. His workmate could not believe it. William proclaimed, “God enabled me! Don’t you see?”

    I was not feeling great last week, but this man lifted my spirits and encouraged me. I was reminded of what happens when a child of God lets the Father, Son, or Spirit be the center of a story. As William constantly thanked and praised God in regular conversation, our Heavenly Father was honored.

    If I had not been a believer, I think I might have thought William a bit strange. But I would have listened and would not have tried to discount what his God had done for him. Maybe his testimony would not have led me to become a Christian, but I would have been forced to think. I would have also celebrated with a man who was regaining his much wanted health.

    Being a believer, I simply joined William in praising God. Here was a foreigner in a hospital far from his home, but God is with Him. While my story may be quite different from William’s, I also know the peace of the Good Shepherd’s presence in dark valleys. William’s immense joy reminded me that “we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.”

    “One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked Him – and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, ‘Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ Then He said to him, ‘Rise and go; your faith has made you well.’” Lk 17:15-19

  • reconciliation

    —

    Dana

    Living in Texas now, my brother Brian regularly visits several churches and mission points in different African nations. He and his wife Sondra were missionaries in Africa for almost twenty years. Recently, he told me of his summer visit to Zimbabwe with the goal of restoring unity among Christians divided by societal uproar.

    Robert Mugabe has been in power in Zimbabwe since the 1980’s. In a nation once known as the ‘breadbasket of Africa,’ the policies of government have brought runaway inflation, shortages of food, and intense racial strife.

    Brian said the first goal of his trip was to get several groups to try to work out differences that would allow the Body of Christ to be God’s intended light in the community. Three groups were local: the whites who had lost power and property, the majority tribe of the land called the Shona, and the minority tribe called the Notebele. The last group consisted of four tall visiting Christians from the Dinka tribe of South Sudan (7’7” ex-NBA star Manute Bol was from the Dinka tribe). South Sudan is presently going through unimaginable national struggles. Thrust into a close-quartered environment, all these Christians soon found it was much easier to talk about reconciliation than it was to live it out.

    The conference was held on a piece of property managed by one of the dispossessed white farmers of the area and used by the outdoor-education organization called Outward Bound. In a large meeting room, someone suggested each of the four groups stand and sing a hymn in their own language. All agreed and things went fairly well as the three larger groups stood and sang. But at the end, when the four Dinka guests stood to sing, a terrible thing happened. Having a different sound and style of singing, all the Christians from Zimbabwe pointed and laughed and ridiculed the tall foreigners. Brian said it was such a disastrous moment that he was afraid there would be no recovery, but from the back of the room the property manager made an announcement: “Tomorrow we go on a hike that I will lead. Be ready to leave bright and early!”

    Brian told me that if anyone had known what lay in store, no one would have shown up the next morning. The property manager had observed incredible things happen as drug addicts and alcoholics participated in team-building exercises as a part of recovery. He believed a six-hour trek up a rugged mountain was what the Christians needed to counter the immaturity he observed the night before. He did not know that the most valuable members of the adventure would be the four tall Sudanese who had been ridiculed for their singing.

    Brian said these men were built for the hike. While everyone else struggled to climb, the Dinkas easily scaled cliffs and managed seemingly impossible paths. Not only did they succeed but they helped everyone else. Brian shared that on several occasions the Dinkas would climb to a high point then reach down and pull the others up one by one. “We would not have made it to the top without them,” Brian said.

    “What did you do when you reached the summit?” I asked. “Well, it took a long time for us all to catch our breath, but when we did, someone suggested we sing a common praise to our Heavenly Father… and we did. It was a beautiful moment.”

    “So was the conference a success?” I asked. Brian replied, “You can’t fix years of chaos in one weekend, but we started. Reconciliation is a process, and though there is a long way to go, we made progress. Thank God for the Dinkas.”

    “I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.” I Corinthians 1:10

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