Dana's Christian Journey

musings of a thankful cancer survivor

Author: Dana

  • praise vs praise

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    Dana

    “But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.” (Jn 12:42-43) Here the Holy Spirit links misplaced fear to a misplaced love. If I am seeking praise from people; if my energy goes toward impressing others; if the opinions of my community impact my decisions and my living… then I am on a roller coaster that Jesus never rode.

    Even enemies noticed that the rabbi from Nazareth disregarded the addictive praise of his fellow man: “Teacher, we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with truth. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are.” Am I swayed by men? “I go to church; I give a tenth of my income to God; I pray.” So? The teachers of the law and the Pharisees were the most religious of their day, but Jesus said, “Everything they do is done for men to see.” Religion can cloak our true motives, but Jesus looks straight into the heart. “Go to church, give your money, pray… but do you know my Father? Justice, mercy, faithfulness… these are the things that make him smile. Plant yourself in God and love, joy, and peace will spring from your life. Abide in me and patience, kindness, and goodness will define who you are. Let Living Water flow through you and faithfulness, gentleness, and self control will be evident. This fruit does not come from your religious efforts. Know God.”

    People used to ask the late Keith Green how to enter the music ministry. “My answer to their question is almost always the same. ‘Are you willing to never play music again? Are you willing to be a nothing? Are you willing to go anywhere and do anything for Christ? Are you willing to stay right where you are and let the Lord do great things through you, though no one may really seem to notice at all?’…I repent of ever recording one single song and having performed one concert if my music, and more importantly, my life has not provoked you into Godly jealousy or to sell out more completely to Jesus!”

    Jesus set no ‘PR’ goals. His brothers questioned his strategy: “You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” But these guys did not believe in their brother… so they didn’t really know God. Do I let myself be swayed by people who don’t really know God? Jesus made no plans apart from his Father. His focus was clear and uncompromised: “Here I am – I have come to do your will, O God.” The need of man was to believe who he was, but Jesus saw that people cared more about the accolades of their peers. “I do not accept praise from men, but I know you. I know you do not have the love of the Father in your hearts. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?” (John 5:41-44) Has anything changed?

    “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10

  • fear vs fear

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    Dana

    “At first I just hung back in the crowd checking everything out. I’m from a Christian home and I am a Christian myself, but, being new, I was really worried about what others were going to think of me. Should I worship God with all my heart, declaring what I really believe, or should I be a little more reserved and just try to fit in? Here’s what I decided: I can’t be afraid of what people think. I just need to be totally consumed with what God thinks. I had a great time on the retreat because I was totally focused on God. I think that’s what happened with a lot of us.”

    These were the brief remarks of a tenth grade boy attending a new school. God moved mightily in the hearts of many high school students and teachers at a weekend retreat a couple of weeks ago, and a courageous young man’s chapel message pointed to one of the common conflicts in the Christian journey: fear of man vs fear of God. What a teenager so succinctly stated to a few hundred peers, the Holy Spirit reveals throughout Scripture. Aren’t we glad Noah was more concerned with what God said than what his neighbors thought? Don’t we know he received constant criticism all those years he and his family built the ark? But Noah “walked with God” so he concluded, “Who cares what man says? I will warn of what’s to come, but I will not fail to do exactly what God tells me.” Should we fear the fool with a sharp tongue or the One who bursts the springs of the earth and opens the floodgates of heaven with a single word? The correct answer is obvious, yet how often do we shrink back from bold living for fear of what our neighbor might think?

    Peter and John were hauled before the authority of their day for declaring the Gospel of God. They had healed a lame man at the temple gate called Beautiful and many believed their message that Jesus was indeed Healer, Savior, and Christ. “Quit talking about Jesus. We’re warning you… don’t do this any more. Don’t teach in his name; quit saying this crucified Nazarene is the Messiah; and don’t heal anyone else.” What sad threats… but we know these weren’t idle words. Accusations, prison sentences, beatings, and executions remind us there is real danger, but still, who do we heed? Peter and John gave the perfect response: “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

    At the end of July a friend and his family spent a couple of nights at our home. About ten years ago this native of Switzerland was serving as a missionary in Eastern Europe. Despite having been taught that signs and wonders were a thing of the past, the Swiss missionary began to read the Word with fresh eyes. He concluded that, since God never changes, the compassionate, powerful Jesus that healed the sick and raised the dead when he walked the earth just might want to do the same things in our generation. “Don’t make such statements,” his critics cautioned. “Don’t expect God to actually heal someone the way he did in the Bible. We’re warning you…” So what do you do? You fast and pray and seek God’s heart… then if there is a conflict between the way of the Lord and human opinion, you choose God – even if it means a lonely path. My friend lost all his support and many friends. He, his wife and two sons moved back to Switzerland to make a living the best they could. Over the course of a long wilderness season they lived simply and continued to seek God’s kingdom. Today they can’t help but share the things they have seen and heard. “Jesus still makes the lame walk, the blind see, and the deaf hear! Our all-knowing God still encourages the poor, the humble, and the broken with words of wisdom and knowledge. The Lord of the Harvest still seeks his lost sheep and welcomes them into an eternal kingdom!” God rewards those who fear him more than man. His words to Isaiah still speak to us today.

    “Do not fear what they fear… the Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear…” Isaiah 8:12-13

    “I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mortal men, the sons of men, who are but grass, that you forget the Lord your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundation of the earth…?” Isaiah 51:12-13

  • Strong Tower

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    Dana

    Many of you have heard I got a great report from the doctor Tuesday. One year after a stem cell transplant, blood and bone marrow show no sign of cancer. We praise God and thank you again for so many prayers.

    Last night I sat in a circle of believers discussing the invitation of God to enter a Strong Tower. A beautiful wife and mother of four young children  learned last week that she has breast cancer. The one who spoke the most encouraging words in our time of sharing was this one who has just entered a fiery trial. Her words of faith came from deep places of the heart. We know Jesus is the Strong Tower and He often whispers precious truths to tender hearts.

    “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” When a child of God makes such a statement, I feel I can face any challenge. How we need each other! When we’re strong, we know we are to support the weak. But listen to the weak… sometimes they will make you stronger.

    On the way home last night, six-year-old John pointed out the window and said, “That’s the kind of cloud God’s going to come through. Look! There’s the foot of the Lord!” I looked up to see two huge clouds outline the shape of a giant foot. Wow. What if I saw the ‘foot of the Lord’ all the time? I told some students today, “This time last year I was probably throwing up. Today, I’m celebrating a good report from the doctor. When was God with me?” The answer, of course, is: “Yes!” He is there! He never deserts… He never fails… He never sleeps. We may not sense His presence all the time. We may question a lot of things. We may go through such sorrow and pain that we can’t even think clearly. But He is there… a Refuge, a Strong Tower. So let us encourage one another constantly. Let us bear one another’s burdens. Let us mourn with those that mourn and rejoice with those that rejoice. And let us keep our “eyes fixed on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.”

    “The Name of the Lord is a Strong Tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” Proverbs 18:10

  • intervention

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    Dana

    A couple of weeks ago a former student (in his mid twenties) invited me to a graduation party. Chad was also celebrating the release of a book he had written. I was so happy to hear his news and told him I would come. Chad gave me a big hug when I arrived, almost lifting me off the ground. He stands 6’5″ and looks just as athletic as when he was in high school. He set a school record in pole vaulting his junior year but did not compete his senior year. His book, entitled INTERVENTION, tells what prevented him from completing his last year of high school.

    I’ve had many friends through the years who have battled destructive habits of all types, but no one has explained addiction the way Chad does in this book. The language is blunt, but the story is true. For a young man, Chad is a great writer. He shared his wrongs, society’s pressures, and the devil’s tactics. He gives God the glory for his rescue and his parents credit for making the tough-love choice to intervene. Three days before he turned eighteen years old, Chad was ‘kidnapped’ from his own bedroom and sent to a wilderness rehabilitation program in Montana. INTERVENTION details the process of regaining a life of sobriety. Go to AMAZON and purchase the only book written by Chad Hepler and support a young author.

    What if God had not intervened on our behalf? Whether an addict or not, sin doomed us all to death and destruction. What love the Father demonstrated in his plan of rescue! The Hero is none other than a dearly loved Son, who, after resisting every temptation, presented himself a perfect sacrifice and took all our deserved punishment upon himself at Calvary. Recently, another former student (in her late thirties) told me: “Coach Davis, for the first time in my life, I can honestly say I have a relationship with Jesus Christ.” After rejoicing with her I couldn’t help but ask a question: “How is it that a kid like you can be raised in a Christian home, go to church from day one, go to a Christian school, hear the truth all your life, but wait until now to really know Jesus?” Her answer was profound. “Coach Davis, I didn’t get it. The message went over my head… but I know why. Sin clouds everything. As long as I was in sin, my mind was in a fog… relationship with God made absolutely no sense.”  We forget sin’s power to confuse, deceive, and destroy. Louie Giglio once said, “Sin has a way of shrinking God down in our own estimation while puffing self up.”

    The preparation message for Jesus was: “Repent! For the Kingdom of God is near!” The enemy’s retort is always: “No, no, no… There’s no rush. You’re OK. Everything will be alright.” In response to this constant lie, Chad wrote the truth an addict must admit before he can ever be free. “No it won’t! It will never be better. It will never be different. It will never change. You will always be reaching, always missing, always trying, always tired, always disappointed and always in pain. The worst part is the pain gets worse. But there is an answer. One answer, one option, one path to cure this cycle. The one answer you don’t want to hear. The one answer you cover your ears whenever you even think it’s being mentioned. The one answer that makes you cringe: TURN AROUND!”

    Can refusal to turn around trump intervention? God forbid.

    “After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!’” Mark 1:14-15 “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you as holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation – if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.” Colossians 1:21-23

  • cast

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    Dana

    One of our favorite songs in summer camp was written by the apostle Peter: “Cast your burdens… onto Jesus… He cares for you!” Usually four or five campers would lead the song as there are hand motions and a dance involved. (The kids dance a little better than I do.) After singing this song over eight weeks of the summer, one day I asked the children: “How do we do this? How do we cast our burdens, our cares, our anxieties on Jesus? What does this mean?” I love the answers kids (and counselors) give. “You pray and tell God what is bothering you,” said one child. How true! Surely a part of casting our burdens on Jesus is communicating exactly what we feel. We can be bluntly honest with our Father in Heaven. He already knows every detail of our lives, but we can hand off our anxieties as we simply tell him the weight we are carrying and ask for grace.

    Sometimes this communication is the hardest thing. When I’m hurting, I tend to withdraw. This time last year I was in the hospital for a stem cell transplant. Most of those twenty-one days I just wanted to pull the sheets over my head and hope the time would pass quickly. We all have our own personalities and ways of dealing with hardship, but I can tell you from experience that God can handle anything we tell him… our fears, our anger, our disappointment, and our pain. Even under my sheets, all hooked up to medical machines, I could cast the good, the bad, and the ugly on the strong shoulders of One who endured far worse than I’ll ever experience.

    Shannon, a wise counselor, added another suggestion to our camp discussion: “When we have problems and worries, it helps to remember how God has helped us in the past. When we recall how God has rescued us on other occasions, we can quickly cast our present burdens on him.” How true this is! Ten years ago our family was stuck in Athens, Greece on the way home from Jerusalem. All five of us were flying stand-by and unfortunately all flights were oversold. “Sir, I’m afraid it will be at least five days before you will be able to make to Atlanta.” It was Saturday; school started on Monday. I thought, “Five days! I’ve got to get back to school! And how am I going to pay for five more nights in Athens?!” Of course our kids were celebrating. “Five more days in a hotel and excused absences from school… hooray!” So as they headed to the pool to swim, I headed to our room to cast my burdens on the Lord. I remember it like it was yesterday. God said, “I’ll get you home on time,” and the next day, to our children’s disappointment, we were all on a plane for the States. Within a week, a doctor friend and his wife knocked on our door to tell me I had cancer. One of my first thoughts was this: “God, you got us home from Athens, you can take care of this too.” Some might think, “Dana, these two problems are not quite the same… getting on an airplane and cancer?” But don’t ‘little’ burdens often seem like ‘huge’ burdens? Can the God who rescues us in lesser trials also rescue us in fiery trials? “Is anything too hard for God?” An angel once asked Abraham this rhetorical question. Sarah laughed at an impossible promise, but “Abraham believed God…”

    Maybe this is the most important part of I Peter 5:7 – “… because He cares for you.” This is the test of faith. When all is dark; when there seems to be no hope; when our minds say ‘impossible’… do we believe He cares? The enemy tries to drown us with logical questions. “If He cares, why is this happening? If He cares, would He not intervene? In fact, is God even there?” Never criticize a person in pain. Never judge the heart of a fellow sojourner. Steer clear of simplistic, flippant comments to those going through difficulty. Never take the path of Job’s friends who misrepresented God… though they thought they had things figured out. But this we can know without a doubt: “He cares.” “He cares for you” is the Good News for the world and we are his ambassadors called to live this beautiful message.

    “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28

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