“Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6)
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1)
The writer of Hebrews seems like the excellent, ‘tough as nails’ coach, who knows what is needed to be victorious and is not afraid to state things as they are. This coach operates out of a wealth of knowledge and experience, but is completely motivated by love for each player.
Though Jesus clearly depicted God as a loving Father, He also taught that our Father is no joke. What He says, He means; what He promises, He fulfills. He is full of grace and mercy, but His Word is true… ‘He will never change.’
For the next few weeks, I’d like to share some stories from this past summer. If you know me at all, you’ll know how imperfect I am. Paul wrote: ‘Work out your salvation with fear and trembling,’ which does not mean we earn our salvation. “For it is by grace you have been saved — through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8) Through His Son, God has accomplished every good thing. When we receive Christ as Savior and Lord, God aims to mold us into the image of His Son. He wants us to hear the Good Shepherd’s voice and to learn to live by faith. He gives us His Spirit to be our Guide, Comforter, and Helper. Jesus lives in us and says: ‘Now, live in Me.’
You may recall that my daughter Karlyn and I went to Spain in July 2021 at the invitation of Dave and Cindy Bintz, who have served as camp directors at L’Arcada Sports Camp in the small town of Banyoles, a couple hours from Barcelona. I was asked to share Jesus with the American coaches who had come to serve and the Spanish Christians who used their vacation time to be counselors. These counselors were between 18 and 28 years old, and most of them met Christ as teenagers at that same camp.
Less than 1% of the citizens of Spain claim any relationship with Jesus. Parents send their kids to L’Arcada because their children love sports and because they are immersed in English for a full week. Regarding Christianity, the parents basically give these instruction to their children: ‘Be polite, but we don’t want you to get involved in religion.’ The misdeeds of those throughout history who wrongly represented God still cause untold damage and leave a whole nation in darkness.
I was full of energy our entire trip, as we rose early and worked full speed until about midnight most days of the week. The day before we returned home, Karlyn and I traipsed through the lively city of Barcelona. We walked more than ten miles and visited most of the places we wanted to see. Karlyn was amazed at her old Dad.
Though we both picked up COVID on our trip and Karlyn’s phone was stolen on our hike through Barcelona, we were thankful to establish rich friendships, and I was able to encourage many in Christ. Before we departed, our new friends prayed for us and asked us to return.
About a month after the school year began, I had to start a new chemotherapy to fight multiple myeloma, the blood cancer I’ve dealt with since the year 2000. Soon my body started weakening and the doctors gave me some time off to recover. The chemo was effective and the cancer numbers dropped. My biggest problem became the impossibility of my bone marrow to produce blood cells. My pattern became visiting Emory twice a week to receive platelets and blood. One afternoon in January, while receiving an infusion, I felt God speak to my heart: ‘Dana, I want you to return to Spain this summer.’ Here began the faith journey of 2022…
“Do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what you have been promised. For in just a little while: ‘He who is coming will come and will not delay. But My righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.’” (Hebrews 10:35-38)