The trial drug that was so effective for me last year has not worked well for Barbara, but she is not discouraged. I saw Barbara at our last support group meeting and she encouraged me again with her wisdom and attitude. A native of Jamaica, she shared a difference between her culture and ours.
“I come from a culture where dying is a part of life, so I am not worried. Here, people worry and worry and strive and strive… I think it is killing them.”
I chuckled, knowing that most in the room believe cancer is the main enemy. “How old are you, Barbara?” I asked. “I am 73, almost 74. The Psalm says: ‘The days of our years are three-score years and ten,’ so I feel I’ve had a bonus.” Barbara looks twenty years younger and I think she has unusual peace because she knows God. I must admit that our society hesitates to talk much about death.
Though the apostles did not comprehend, Jesus spoke often of His death… knowing it was a huge part of the purpose of His life. After the resurrection when Jesus restored Peter, He told the apostle that God would receive glory through Peter’s death.
“’I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will lead you where you do not want to go.’ Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then He said, ‘Follow Me.’” (John 21:18-19)
Guests at our house sometimes express dismay when we tend to joke about death, but don’t we as Christians believe we will enter God’s presence and be at home with Him? We are to follow the Master as He leads us here on earth and then follow Him to the place He has prepared. He has overcome the world and removed the sting of death! I think He wants us to live with this truth in mind.
“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
“’Where, O death is your victory? Where, O death is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” I Corinthians 15:55-58