My friend David North passed away last Thursday evening. David fought leukemia nearly five years… he was twenty years old. I was honored when the family asked if I would share some thoughts at the funeral Sunday. God deals with all of us through trials… not just the individual and family… but friends, neighbors, the church, and the world. Fruit produced in these fiery circumstances is precious treasure in the eyes of our Heavenly Father who hears every cry and sees every tear.
David and the North family reflected Hebrews 12:1-2 in a powerful way. Pam, David’s mom, told me she thought of the ‘great cloud of witnesses’ as her child took his last breaths. David ‘ran with perseverance the race set before him.’ As parents, Chris and Pam ‘ran with perseverance the race set before them.’ Two brothers and four sisters ‘ran with perseverance the race set before them.’ We don’t get to choose the race God gives us, but perhaps we do get to choose how we run.
I’ve never seen a person run with as good an attitude as this young man. He did not complain; he did not whine; he did not constantly question God… he simply took the next step and refused to give up. On a shelf in their den, a little carving revealed David’s mindset: NEVER SURRENDER. Every time I left his house or hospital room, I was inspired to run the race a little better. I’ve often talked with my tennis players about David. Many of them knew him because he was a ranked player as a teenager. He even won a tournament after starting cancer treatment. David is a champion in every sense of the word.
The North family persevered by loving one another and serving David. Two sisters donated bone marrow for two separate transplants. An older brother constantly drove back and forth from Birmingham to be with his little brother. The family got to take a few special trips together and day-to-day sacrifices were made without complaint. As witnesses take note, a natural question surfaces: What does this family have that allows them to go through such an experience with grace and joy?
‘Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith…’ The One who endured the Cross is the One who helps us walk through the valley of the shadow of death despite the pain and suffering. And though we know ‘His love endures forever,’ we also know it is not easy. I love the word the Holy Spirit chose to describe what Jesus did with the shame associated with the Cross: He scorned it. There can also be shame associated with cancer. Some might say, “Well you shouldn’t feel that way,” but when your hair falls out and you lose your strength and when you must depend on others to take care of you, the feelings come. Over the course of years, I witnessed David scorn cancer’s shame. David laughed in the face of death. He lived life to the fullest. He embraced a dreadful disease with godly contempt, thinking: “No enemy will steal my joy.” At the funeral, an older sister told of the time she took her brother to the track after he completed his first round of chemotherapy. David said he would run too, so Amanda offered to jog her mile a little slower so he could keep up. When they started, David clicked a stop watch and took off. When his sister completed an eight-minute-mile, she found David sitting on their car a little disappointed that it took him five minutes and twelve seconds to finish.
Cancer did not defeat David North. He’s now running victory laps in Heaven. A horrible trial did not destroy the North family. They are living with grace here on earth as members of Jesus’ Body serve them, pray for them, and love them. And a world in need of a Savior wonders if there really might be a God who overcomes death.
“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16