At every stage of life, we have experiences where we think “I’ll never be able to do that again”.  It might be because we grow up, or because of financial reasons, or maybe because we are not as athletic as we used to be. But as I watched my wife Claudia succumb to the death sentence of “months’ our doctor gave us last February, it became very obvious that the process of death itself is a cruel, unrelenting task master of “never again” experiences. There were many, but let me focus on walking. CJ loved to walk! After that horrible diagnosis, she was still able to walk back in the woods behind our house for about 1 ½ miles in 3 inches of snow. When the snow melted, we took shorter walks on the hilly roads near us, and she would pick up rocks and label them the 1 hill, 2 hill, or 2 hill + rocks. We prayed for healing, and her goal was to get stronger and return them all as she healed. She returned the 1 hill rock, but the other 2 are still in our dining room. In spring, we returned to Ludington, our favorite Lake Michigan destination. She was able to walk out to the lighthouse, a substantial distance. A month later, she could only go about 1/5 the distance. On our last anniversary, July 22^nd, we returned to Ludington, and our kids surprised us by all being at the Ludington beach. CJ was able to make it down to the water’s edge and we had a wonderful celebration for about 1 ½ hours. But we never went to Ludington again. At home, walking was reduced to 3 houses down the street, then a slow walk around the house outside, then inside only. She could no longer climb the stairs to our bedroom, and I realized I would never again sleep in the same bed with my wife. Her last month she needed a walker, and struggled to walk from the bedroom to the bathroom to the living room, about 30 feet total. On her last Sunday, we moved the hospital bed to the living room because she could no longer walk to the bathroom or bedroom. Two days before she died, 2 women friends and I struggled to get her 5 feet from the sofa to the bed, where she stayed and died 2 days later.

I say all of this not so you will feel sorry for me or CJ! Everyone, especially near death, goes through these “never again” experiences. It can make you question God, ask “Why me?”, get angry at cancer and the seeming unfairness of life. We had our share of those thoughts!  But what I really want you to know is that these “never again” experiences are actually NOT TRUE!!

What gave CJ and me hope and strength to go forward is the promise that we, like Jesus, will be resurrected and live forever with God in a redeemed and restored earth! Yes, CJ ‘s body  is gone and she will never again walk in this phase of life. But the entire message of the Bible is that God originally  intended us to live forever with him and never die, and eventually , for those who trust in Jesus, he will reverse the course of sin and restore us to that original plan, giving us new bodies that will never get sick or die!

What does that mean?

1) Heaven, in the final phase, will be back here on earth as Jesus renews and restores this world to become the New Earth and the New Heaven combined! And God himself will dwell with us forever!

Matthew 19:28 says, “At the RENEWAL of all things, when the son of man sits on  his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on 12 thrones ,judging the 12 tribes of Israel.”

This future Heaven and New Earth is described in Revelation 21: 1-5:

¹  Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ²  I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴  He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” ⁵  He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

2) CJ and all other believers in God who have died are now in an “intermediate” version of Heaven, with God, and it’s amazing! No, we do NOT become angels!  Angels are a separate part of creation, but we are human beings, made in the very image of God, and we will always be human beings. We don’t get our resurrection bodies until Jesus returns to judge and destroy all evil, restoring the earth   to what it was meant to be originally.  Then all believers will get new bodies and live in God’s presence forever!

3) In this New Earth and New Heaven, all the pain, suffering, and “never agains” of this sinful world will be reversed, and we will live as we were meant to live, abundantly, joyfully, and with God all the time!

In his book “Heaven”, Randy Alcorn describes what won’t be in Heaven:

“No death, no suffering, no funeral homes, abortion clinics, or psychiatric wards. No rape, missing children, or drug rehab centers. No bigotry, no muggings or killings. No wars, no unemployment. No handicaps, no cancer, no taxes, no bills, no weeds, no bombs, no drunkenness, no traffic jams and accidents. No unwanted emails. Close friendships but no cliques, laughter but no put downs. Intimacy, but no temptation to immorality.  No hidden agendas, no backroom deals, no betrayals.

Imagine mealtimes full of stories, laughter, and joy, without fear of insensitivity, anger, gossip, hurt feelings, or anything that eclipses joy…  We won’t need to be drawn into God’s presence, because that is where we will live, constantly and consciously. We’ll thank God profoundly, and worship and praise him together, whether we’re working in a garden, singing, riding bikes, or drinking coffee.”

In John 11:25-26, it says,
²⁵  Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; ²⁶  and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

That’s the key question we each have to answer! Do you believe in Jesus as the Son of God?

 If so, Jesus says that even though we die now, we will live again and never die!

I believe that is true, for CJ and for me!

I can attest that watching your spouse or any loved one die is horrible! I have been slowly grieving the loss of my wife for 9 months now, watching all these seemingly “never again” milestones take place.  

But I ALSO know that death is not the final word! Not only do I KNOW that CJ is alive with God now, but that she will someday return to a new earth where I will see her again, and we will both have amazing new bodies. Interestingly, we will not be married in this new Heaven, so we will be wonderful, amazingly close friends, more like brother and sister in Jesus. And I can picture her picking up a new guitar, and with her amazing restored voice, she will lead some of us in brand new worship songs she learned in Heaven. And, not only will she walk again, but she will walk amazing trails with Jesus, with me, and with you, and we will all do this over and over again and   it will never be boring! (And, personally, I hope there are golf courses and I can eventually get better at it!)

So, please pray for me my friends. Pray that God would heal my broken heart and bring his peace and even joy to me, and that I will keep my eyes focused on the amazing Hope that lies before us!  And I will pray for you as well, that you would have this same unbreakable, everlasting hope and joy. Live in faith and hope, without fear!

Not only is everything going to be OK in the future. It’s going to be amazing! God bless you all!

When I refer to CJ’s “status”, most folks think of her physical status in relation to her cancer. To be honest, it is not good. She is getting weaker each week, and struggles with shortness of breath and water retention as symptoms of this cancer. Fortunately, the pain has been quite manageable and the medication is doing the trick in keeping the pain down. It’s also good that she is still fully alert and enjoys reading, watching TV, listening to praise music, doing her Bible studies, and is still active on social media with friends. Saturday all of our kids & grandkids came over for the day and that was wonderful to have all 17 of us together!

While we both continue to pray for God’s  physical healing and have no doubt he can do that, and we know many of you are praying that as well, it is becoming more likely that God is not going to do that. CJ’s body is dying, and we are certainly aware of God’s presence and leading as we go through this process. As humans there is no easy way to go through this process, and to put it in human (not spiritual) terms, dying sucks! We both grieve those things we will never do together any more, and CJ grieves especially not seeing our 9 grandkids grow up, get married, etc. As those of you who have gone through this experience of losing a spouse, child, parent, relative, or friend, you know life is never always fair and the way we think it should be! It is easy as we face the process of physical death to fall prey to fear, discouragement, and hopelessness, especially if you don’t believe there is life after death.

BUT FOR THE CHRISTIAN, WE CAN HAVE HOPE AND ASSURANCE THAT THE DEATH OF OUR BODIES IS NOT THE END, BUT RATHER A CONTINUAITON AND FULFILLMENT OF A WONDERFUL NEW LIFE FULLY LIVED IN GOD’S ETERNAL KINGDOM!

In God’s viewpoint, CJ’s status is not is not of one a dying person but that of a daughter of the King, who will live forever with God in his coming Kingdom of Heaven. Remember that when Jesus came his message was of the good news of a coming Kingdom, to begin in the lives and hearts of his followers which is the Church, but to be fulfilled in the future when he returns to earth and establishes his Kingdom forever! CJ is already a member of the Kingdom because of her faith in Jesus and what he did for us on the cross, NOT because she is a “good person”. (Now, before I get in trouble for that, realize that compared to most people, and to me, she is an exceedingly wonderful person! But the Bible makes it clear that NONE of us are “good enough” to get into the Kingdom on our own works or goodness, and that is why we must trust in Jesus alone):

¹⁶  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:16-17 (ESV)

SO, KNOWING THAT ALL OF US ARE GOING TO DIE PHYSICALLY AT SOME POINT, WHAT IS THE  HOPE AND PROMISE THAT GOD HAS FOR US TO COUNTER OUR FEARS AND DISCOURAGEMENT?

1) Even though our bodies will die, WE will not!

In John 11:25, 26 it says
²⁵  Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Both Peter & Paul refer to our bodies as “tents” in the New Testament. I like this analogy, because tents (or today’s version as motor homes) are great places to spend a few nights, but they are not meant to be permanent dwellings. Paul explains in II Corinthians 5 that we will eventually get NEW bodies in the Kingdom, which will never die or get sick:

¹  For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. ²  For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, ³  if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. ⁴  For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. ⁵  He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. – 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 (ESV)
Just a word of caution: while all of us will continue living after death, Jesus teaches that only those who put their trust in him and ask for forgiveness and trust their lives to his Lordship will enter his Kingdom. All others, who freely choose not to follow him, will be separated from God forever in what Jesus describes as Hell. So, please choose wisely! 

⁵  Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
⁶  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.  – John 14:5-6 (ESV)

Although I hate what this cancer has done to my wife, and the pain and suffering she is going through, I find great comfort, peace, and hope in knowing that physical death will not be the end of her life at all! I believe with complete confidence, without a doubt, that this beautiful, kind, talented, amazing God-honoring  woman that I have shared life with for 43 years will at some point step out her body and walk into the arms of Jesus. Her life will be better and more amazing than we can imagine. And I’m sure that I will join her and many others in this amazing new life in God’s kingdom, a life that God meant us to have from the beginning of creation.

2) God can use the worst in life to bring us closer to him and offer us hope for a wonderful future of redemption and restoration of what was meant to be!

Consider some of these classic passages from Pauls’ writings in Romans 8:
¹⁸  For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. ²⁸  And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. ³¹  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³²  He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? ³⁵  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹  nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This near 18-month journey of CJ’s cancer has been at times discouraging, fearful, and has brought us to question God’s plan and the depth of our own faith at times. But it has also brought many unexpected “God moments” where he has spoken to us and others through this trial.  In spite of questions, I believe we have each drawn closer to God and trust him now more fully than ever. In many ways it has also brought CJ and I closer, appreciating just how much God has blessed us in 43 years together! It has brought our family closer together, and enabled us to talk about more serious issues in life and express how much we appreciate each other, and how proud we are of our sons and daughters-in-law. CJ has had wonderful conversations with old friends on Facebook or in person that would not have happened otherwise.  And through the marvel of the internet we have had wonderful conversations with you folks on CJ’s Facebook update page and my blog page as well. Your thoughts and prayers for us have not only strengthened us, but they have a profound effect on others in our circle as well. God has used our faith journey to speak to and strengthen other as well. SO, as awful as this has been, he has used it to strengthen us, strengthen many of you, and hopefully convince most of us that as we trust in Jesus, we have a future forever with God that is better than we can imagine!

  3) God wants us to work together as brothers & sisters to “walk each other home”, along with Jesus, of course.

Recently we heard someone express the idea that we Christians are here to “walk each other home”.  I like that idea. We need each other to navigate through this sin-stained world and make it to our future destination with God in his Kingdom.  King David had a similar thought in Psalm 23, although he pointed out that God is our shepherd and will lead us on our journey home:

 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. ²  He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. ³  He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. ⁴  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. ⁵  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ⁶  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.- Psalm 23:1-6 (ESV)
What a great reminder! God leads us to still waters, he restores our soul, he leads us down his path for our life, and when the time comes, he will walk and guide us through the valley of the shadow of death, so that we can dwell with him in his Kingdom forever!

However, the walk for us is not clear all the time. We trust God, we encourage each other, we read and obey God’s direction in the Bible, and then we walk by faith through life. After Paul talked about our bodies being “tents” and the Kingdom our destination, he goes on to say that right now we must walk by faith in God, because we don’t see clearly all that God has in store for us:

⁶  So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, ⁷  for we walk by faith, not by sight. ⁸  Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.2 Corinthians 5:6-8 (ESV)

My friends, I ask that you walk with us on our walk home to Jesus, as you pray with us and encourage us. We are so grateful that you  have done that in amazing ways over these last 18 months, and it has gotten us to this point, and we know with your support and Jesus’ guidance, we will get home just fine.

Truth is, none of really know when our walk will end and we finally get home.  Each of us walks one day at a time, by faith.

But the good news of the gospel is that when we finally get home, we will no longer walk by faith, because then we will see God clearly and finally understand his goodness and grace and his plan for our life. Then, we will walk by sight!

Please pray for CJ and me, as well as yourself, that our walk will be filled with God’s peace and joy, and that God will lead us home gently and holding our hand all the way!

Walk together, and walk with God!

Last month I did an update asking for prayers on CJ’s condition in which I said she was feeling weak, not eating well, and we were concerned that she may not improve. In response to that, one of our dear friends who has fought cancer twice herself responded that they are always praying, and asked me “Are we still praying for victory?” That question convicted me a little and made me think. Having been a pastor for 40+ years and seen countless faithful friends struggle and pray for their loved one to recover from cancer or some other deadly situation, I realize that most of the time God does not “miraculously” heal loved ones the way we might hope for. And I know that when even dear Christian friends hear that the cancer is advancing and that we are now on hospice, our “default” prayers tend to turn to asking God to be gentle as the person is dying and that the end will be peaceful and not be painful. Trust me, if CJ or anybody gets to the final stages of life, I would cherish that prayer and pray for that myself! BUT, at this point, we are not there! CJ is feeling better and stronger this last week or two, and has been going out to shop with me often, and has been planting flowers around the house all week. As a matter of fact, she went to Meijers by herself this morning because she is tired of shopping with me and my penchant to hurry her along and not allow her to shop “her way”! I’m sure some of you   women can identify with that!

Anyway, are we still praying for victory? ABSOLUTELY! And for Christians who know their Bible, victory has two levels of meaning for us.

1) As we put our faith and hope in Jesus, we ALREADY have victory over sin and death! Yes, we will ALL die physically, even if God heals us for a season. But because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, he promises that our soul, the real you and me that lives in our body now, will live with him forever, if we put our trust in Him! Jesus says in John 14:19 “Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you will also live”.  This is Jesus’ unfailing guarantee to all who trust their lives to him. So, we ALREADY have victory in Jesus over death! Mature Christian believers realize that our future life in God’s Kingdom will be amazingly, unbelievably better than anything we can imagine here, so that takes the “sting” out of death for us. We have already won that battle through Jesus, as Paul says so beautifully in Romans 8:
¹⁵  For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶  The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷  Now if we are children, then we are heirs–heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. ¹⁸  I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.  ²⁸  And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.³¹  What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³²  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  ³⁵  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  ³⁷  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

2) BUT, beyond the eternal victory over death we already have, sometimes Jesus intervenes in the natural order of the world and “supernaturally” changes things to draw attention to him and his glory! In these “victories over the natural effect of sin in our lives”, these are always about God and his love, power, and Kingdom, not about us!

So, getting back to CJ for a moment, I ask you to also pray for God’s victory over the evil of cancer in her body! When CJ began this difficult journey about 14 months ago, God led her to II Chronicles 20:15, which says ‘This is what the Lord says to you: “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, BUT GOD’S!”

– Notice, this battle belongs to God, not us. I can’t tell you how many times we have wanted to take control of this battle and tell God “please do this and have these results!” And when it doesn’t go our way and the results are not good, it’s easy to question God and want to take matters into our own hands! We don’t dictate to God what he will do. That’s a hard lesson to learn, especially when you have no control over things and feel helpless. But I also know that whatever God’s plan for this battle is, it will be perfect from his perspective!

– Notice also, God says for us not to be afraid or discouraged in the process of the battle! Sometimes that’s really tough when the news is bad, but God has slowly strengthened our faith in this area through these 14 months. My favorite “go to” verse now has become Isaiah 41:10- “So do not fear for I am with you. Do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand!”

So, dear friends, are we still praying for victory? You better believe it!! Not only our guaranteed eternal victory over death, but victory now, over this evil of cancer in CJ’s body!

I know that’s a “big ask”, especially when scans don’t look good and your doctor says you now have “months, and not years, to live”. But for God, such healing is nothing at all for Him! God is not phased by that which brings fear to us; rather, he calls us to trust him in the storm and expect him to bring us through it for his glory!

SO, would you specifically pray with me for these requests:

– CJ has a CT scan tomorrow. Pray the results might be good and show a decrease in cancer growth. But if there is an increase, pray thankfully that God is still in charge and that is not his answer. Pray that through his divine touch and/or through the treatments she is taking, God will reduce the cancer, lead to healing, and use this journey to encourage others and point to his power and grace in our lives.

– Pray for us to remain strong and unafraid, even in the down times of the journey.

– Pray for all of us, CJ, me, and you as well, to trust God for the good plan that he already has for our lives, now and forever!

We have recently enjoyed and found encouragement from listening to messages from Dr. Tony Evans. What a great preacher! (You can get all his messages free on Youtube!) He recently did a message on the story from Mark 4 where Jesus calms the storm on the sea. Remember, Jesus & his followers took a boat to the other side of the lake. Halfway across the lake, a terrible storm arouse, so vicious that even these veteran fishermen are afraid for their lives. And Jesus, meanwhile, is taking a nap in the boat! Fearing for their lives, they wake Jesus up and cry out “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” Jesus calms the waves and gently rebukes them saying, “Why are you still afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Dr. Evans pointed out that in these life-threatening storms of life, we are prone to cry out to God in desperation and fear. But then he reminds us that at the beginning of the story, Jesus ALREADY said “let us go over to the other side!” When God promises us something, he always delivers on his word! Even in the storm, Jesus expected them to trust him for the promise he had already given them!

 Pray with us, that in the midst of this continuing, sometimes fearful storm, that we will keep our eyes on Jesus, and not the waves. God has already won the victory for us over death, and has spoken amazing promises for our future! I believe that God has also won the victory over the cancer in CJ’s body, and I invite you to pray in faith along with me for that hope.

And may you also keep your eyes on Jesus, not on the waves that seem to be around you at the moment! In those times, please remember my favorite verse:

Isaiah 41:10- “So do not fear for I am with you. Do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand!”

I have a plaque on the wall over my desk that says “Live by faith, not by sight”. (taken from 2 Corinthians 5:7) But, just how do we live by faith in these times of great uncertainty? The Coronavirus has pealed back the false layer of security that most of us live under. This leads many to fear, stress, panic, and very real worry about their own health and that of those they love. We also worry about lost jobs, food supplies, children at home, retirement accounts, and on and on… And what’s scary to most of us is the realization that we were never in control of our lives like we thought we were! James 4:13-15 bring us down to that reality:

¹³  Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— ¹⁴  yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. ¹⁵  Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” – James 4:13-15 (ESV)

Most of you know of CJ’s and my struggle with cancer this past year. It is a simple illustration of uncertainty that we all experience in life when the unexpected hits us right between the eyes. A little over a year ago, we got a totally unexpected call that CJ has stage 4 metastatic cancer. After 10 chemo treatments and a long surgery, we returned from Florida in February with the hope that it was mostly gone and could be controlled. We were again rattled to hear that it had returned, and is still growing, and if we can’t find something to stop it she may have months and not years to live. Wow, talk about bringing fear and uncertainty back into your life! So, we continue to pray and seek God’s word to us. The REALITY of the situation with cancer, and with the Coronavirus, is that we just DON’T KNOW! I don’t know if God will give CJ years to live or just months, and I have no control over that. None of us can see the virus, we don’t know if we have it or will get it, or whether we will live or die if we do contact it. We’re all in the same boat; some will live in panic and fear, many will blame others, and the wise ones will turn to faith!

SO, HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO FACE UNCERTAINTY IN ALL OF LIFE WITHOUT GIVING IN TO FEAR, PANIC, AND DESPAIR?

 I have a few  thoughts that I would like to share with you that have been playing in my mind for this past year:

1) We ALL try to live by faith, even if you don’t consider yourself a Christian or even “religious”!

The biblical definition of faith is:  Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. – Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)  Faith begins with the understanding that we just don’t know, and can’t see everything in life (and can’t control it), but we can reasonably believe in a more hopeful future because of evidence and what we have experienced in life so far!

Take the coronavirus: we can all be afraid, even terrified, because we can’t see the virus, but know it can possibly kill us. But, by “faith”, we can all see a very likely brighter future. Our faith can be in doctors and researchers who studied similar viruses for years. Their mitigation strategy has been quite effective.  Even their worst projections indicate that less than 1% of our total population will die of this. And, we can have very reasonable hope that they will come up with effective treatments very soon and probably have an effective vaccine in a year or less. So, even though we don’t “know” for sure, a reasonable faith can give us hope and take away our fear and despair!

In the same way, we Christians put our faith in God, whom we believe is much more reliable than any doctor or politician or pundit! Why?… because we know that millions of people have experienced God’s presence and intervention in their lives for 1,000’s of years, often in supernatural ways. More importantly, the cornerstone of our faith is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, which we celebrated just over a week ago. Although we can’t “prove” that Jesus was resurrected, the forensic evidence is overwhelming for not only the possibility, but the probability, of his resurrection! Over 500 real people saw him resurrected. Don’t we wish there were cell phones back then and somebody took a “selfie” with Jesus after his resurrection? So our faith is far from “wishful thinking” or a “fairy tale”, it is based on the testimony of real people who suffered and gave their lives based on what they saw and believed. We can also trust the Bible as God’s word to us, revealing his desire to help us and redeem us from our sin. I love the Bible primarily because there are no “super-heroes” in it, other than God! The most faithful and famous in the Bible are fallible, sinful human beings who failed often and came to realize that they ultimately had no real control over their lives, and humbly cried out to God to save them. And he did, time and time again! So today, as we find ourselves feeling out of control, uncertain, and fearful, we can trust, or have faith, in God and his amazing promises, leading us to “be sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see”!

2) As humans, God calls us to trust and respect our leaders and experts, even though they all have limited knowledge and understanding. But beyond that, God invites us to trust him, because he alone is God and knows the future and has power over everything!

As humans, we face a unique dilemma: we were the only aspect of creation made in the image of God! That means that we, above every creature, have unique intellectual, emotional, and moral qualities that are amazing. But because we all now have a sinful nature, those qualities are messed up and out of touch with God’s will. So even the best of our leaders, doctors, and experts in any field are limited in what they can see, know, and understand.

So, let’s give each other a break! I’ve been in leadership all my life, and I know most leadership decisions are a lot more complex and less “black and white” than others realize. It’s easy to armchair quarterback and blame others from the sidelines. Maybe one leader or doctor may do better than another. But all of us are biased, limited in knowledge, and will never make the perfect decisions every time. And, as wonderful and heroic as our medical people are in this present crisis, no doctor or researcher has the ability to ultimately “save your life”. They may help your body to survive a few more years, but they are just delaying the inevitable: we are all going to die physically, and no human can stop that.

All of this division, hatred, violence, vile name calling, blame, fear, mistrust, confusion, and despair we see today is NOT from God! We were originally created to live with God, on the earth, and to love Him and each other. That means God intended us to respect, love, trust, build each other up, and bring out the best in each other. But sin has screwed us up so badly that now we settle for just eating each other alive.

That’s why our faith needs to rest in God and not each other!

God is God, and we are not, and that’s the best news we can hear today! God lives beyond our limit of time: he see the past, present, and future, and he is ultimately in complete control of it all. The Coronavirus is no surprise to him, it is merely a blip on his view of eternity. It doesn’t change his plan at all, and is causes him no worry! Even though this is a byproduct of evil, God will use it for good and offer us hope to get through it.

Jesus said, ^“ The thief  ((Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it in abundance.” – John 10:10 (NIV)  Because we live under the cloud of sin and Satan’s influence, we allow him to lead us down the path of destruction of our souls, our lives, and our world. But Jesus came to reverse that path of evil, and restore us to what we were originally created to be! He wants us to have new life, the Kingdom life, that will last forever!  So, by having faith in God and knowing he raised his son Jesus from death, we can now have hope and even peace as we face the worst that life throws at us!

3) So, how might Jesus be calling us to live today? For me at least, this last year has shown me the need to repent, be humble, and trust Jesus one day at a time!

Repent- I am reminded through this that I’m still a sinner and need to repent of my times of unbelief and lack of trust in God’s goodness and provision for my life. I also need to repent of my attitude and judgement toward others that I disagree with, and not get caught up in the game of blame and destructive words towards others.

Be humble- This last year has clearly shown me how little power and control I actually have over the events of my life, and has led me to humbly trust in God more than ever in my prayer and thought life. I gladly trust Jesus with CJ’s life, and my own, knowing that he is the only one who has the power to give us abundant life now and forever!

Live one day at a time- Many years ago Pastor Lloyd Ogilvie wrote that he learned to live in “day-tight compartments” during a very difficult year in his life. Even though the circumstances were difficult, he found that living only one day at a time, looking for God’s goodness and presence that day, made the year much more rewarding and enjoyable. In reflection, all of us only have today! We have no promise of tomorrow, and we can’t change the past, so excessive worry or regret can just paralyze us and steal the joy God has for today. Jesus said as much:

Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV)
²⁵  “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? ²⁶  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? ²⁸  “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹  So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³²  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

As we live together in this rare time of fear and uncertainty for so many, let us remember to :

– put our ultimate trust (faith) in God

– pray for all those on the “front lines” of service and risk

– pray for all those suffering from sickness and their families, that they will experience God’s comfort and hope in the midst of suffering

– pray that our attitudes towards others will be the same as that of Jesus

– thank God for each day and enjoy his goodness today, focusing on God and resting in his power and promise for a new life forever in his presence!

So do not fear for I am with you. Do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”  – Isaiah 41:10