In the hospital, I watched HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, a Tom Clancy story about a Russian naval captain defecting to the US with a top secret submarine. Jack Ryan is the CIA analyst who argued that he knew what was happening, though all the US military thought war was about to break out. The analyst bases judgments and decisions on what he knows about his opponent and the present situation. Most facts are hidden from the common man and the good analyst often puts his ‘neck on the line’ to appeal for what may seem to be extreme, or even foolish action. (Of course, Jack Ryan is a great analyst…)
When they detected problems with my heart, I was taken to another floor to have an echo-cardiogram. The technician was a young Vietnamese lady who is a Christian with a great burden for the orphans of Asia. She and her husband have two children of their own, but had recently adopted a little girl from China. As she was sharing her story she put the cold petroleum jelly on my chest and started rolling the little instrument that showed my beating heart. I was in a position where I could not see the screen so I asked what she observed. She did not answer quickly so I prodded a little more. “Do you just record or can you analyze what you see?” “Oh, I can analyze what I see,” she replied. “Well, what’s your analysis?” I asked. “Your heart is damaged… it is very clear.” “Is it fixable?” I asked. “Oh, we’ve seen great progress with this type of heart damage. You listen to the doctors and do what they say.” We both know there is a Great Physician who not only holds our physical hearts but the spiritual ones that only He sees.
I don’t really know the reason, but a certain Old Testament chapter stayed on my mind through my first bout with cancer in 2000 and now again through this recent transplant. In Ezekiel 37 a story is told that required analysis. If a human friend had asked Ezekiel this certain question, the answer would have been a no-brainer. “Look in that valley, Ezekiel. Do you see all the dry bones? Do you think those bones could ever live again?” “Impossible” would be the logical answer. But the One who asked the question was no mere human. He was God, our Creator. So the analyst gave a wise answer: “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” Read the chapter to see what happened, but I wonder what impossible questions God is asking today.
Can the ‘lukewarm’ western church be set on fire? Can people of other religions who want to destroy Christians meet and love the Christ that died for them? Can the Jews who deny their Messiah has come to the earth ever see the truth? Can Christians divided by opinions and traditions ever become one as Jesus prayed? Can a heart consumed by lesser things be consumed with the Spirit of the Living God?
“O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” Ezekiel 37:3
“For nothing is impossible with God.” Luke 1:37