I spent the day with my new peeps
Well, chemo round 2 is in the history books; thank the Lord.
I had the privilege of spending the day with warriors; real warriors. Ok, they
did not look like soldiers, police officers or firemen, but now that I have a
test of what they have been fighting- my hero radar has been recalibrated. As
we sat in our recliners with drugs being pumped in us that will kill us before
they heal us, we all made eye contact with each other. Very few words were
spoken but the eye contact said it all; I know where you’re at and we will make
it. It’s probably something that Grace (my daughter) and Tammy (my girlfriend)
missed while they were there with me, but I did not. There is great fellowship
in suffering; great comfort in knowing that we will all go home tonight with
the same doubts, pains and relief that it’s over for now.
Please understand that I not saying that we are an elite
group of people; we are just regular Joe’s who woke up one day with this
insidious disease. I experienced the same phenomena when I went through my
divorce. People who suffer great loss have the ability to comfort others when
they experience the same type of loss; it’s just Gods way. I thank God for all
of you who have call, emailed, text and just reached out with survivor stories.
These stories feed my hope up so keep them flowing!
Lesson- If you have suffered in this life then you have a
story of hope. That story needs to be heralded. The second day that I was in
the hospital a woman chaplain came in my room to “minister” to me. I kindly
replied “I’m a pastor, I’m covered”. Thank God she ignored me. She spent the
next 20 minutes telling me her story. For those of you who know about that Black
Tuesday; I needed that story more than medical attention. She explained to me
that 4 years ago she had the same cancer, stage 4 with very little hope of survival.
She was healed and became a voluntary chaplain because of her experience. So
what’s your story? Get off your butt and SHARE IT! You may change the life of
someone else.
2 Cor 1:3-5
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all
our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we
ourselves have received from God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ flow
over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows NIV
Greg, from someone who has been in the hospital for many operations, I do know that look from others going through the same thing and hanging on to their every word looking for comfort to carry you through. I cannot even imagine this experience you are going through but as I read the thoughts you post you continue to amaze me with your words of strength, and determination. God was gracious to lead you to your divine career as a Pastor, we will continue to carry you through prayer as you navigate this rough road.
ReplyDelete