Wading through life

Mondale, as my car has affectionately been named by Sherry, experienced his first accident last night. No major damage occurred when I clipped a deer on the way to church, but my hood is dented a bit and it seems the passenger-side headlight is no longer oriented properly.

Speeding along the country road, I saw the headlights of an on-coming car flicker a bit. It took me a second, but I soon realized some deer crossing the road were the cause. But they were a ways ahead, so it wasn’t a big deal. The road seemingly clear, I turned my attention to the field the deer entered. There were six of them.

And I hit the seventh. S/he was a straggler. Clipped its hind quarters with the right side of my car at about 45 mph. No idea what happened to the deer. I pulled my car over a few houses down to access the damage. Could have been far worse.

But I wasn’t in the mood to be distracted. I had a mission to accomplish that night. Scott and I were scheduled to visit Shaun Page following church and pray for God’s healing of his leukemia.

It was a mission that had been hanging over me for quite a while. Ever since I heard the devastating news in mid-December, I’ve had a heart to pray for him. But I’d felt completely… incapable of summoning the faith to pray for such miraculous healing. I certainly prayed for him on my own and with our small group and at church. But to arrange a visit to lay hands on him that he might be healed? It wasn’t hard for me to lean on the excuse that the “elders” should take care of that.

Things changed one Wednesday when we were praying for Shaun at church. After finishing, Pastor Scott asked a pretty general question: “Is anyone planning on going to visit Shaun?” I answered with an honest “Yes.” I was planning to go with Dan and see him some time. Scott then had me come to the front of the church and he anointed my hands for healing.

Certainly a first for me.

That wasn’t exactly what I expected to happen when I said I was going to visit Shaun. But apparently Scott felt God prompting him that direction and he was obedient.

And I was going to be as well. The other Scott, my best friend, said he felt he was supposed to go with me and I was certainly not opposed. But he was scheduled to fly to Florida the next evening. So, prayer for Shaun would have to wait until he returned.

The challenge I wrestled with next was how to initiate the prayer time. I certainly didn’t feel I should up and say: “Hey, my hands have been anointed for healing by my pastor. Let me pray for you.” Felt a bit too contrived.

Before Scott returned from Florida, another member of our church, Mike, was having a conversation with Dan, Shaun’s older brother who I know very well. In that conversation, Mike and Dan got talking about Shaun’s situation decided they wanted to get together and pray. Mike suggested and Dan agreed that I should come as well–though neither were aware that I had be commissioned to pray for Shaun. Mike had been on vacation during that church service and Dan doesn’t attend.

So, there was my in. No awkwardness necessary.

Then the pressure started building. I think I’d rather pray for someone on the spot than have a date and time set. Just too much opportunity to over-think things, which I did a bit. Wednesday rolls around and I’m a bit anxious about everything… thinking about what I’m going to pray and how I’m going to interact with his parents, who I don’t know,… all that stuff. And then one of my wisdom tooth abscesses starts to ache a bit and I start questioning my own healing. Was I developing dry socket… after how smooth everything has gone up to this point?

And then I hit the deer on the way to church. It reminded me of a really, really low-key version of a classic scene in Fellowship of the Ring. Gandalf stands up the Balrog as it tries to attack the Fellowship and though it didn’t destroy them, it lashed out at the last second and pulled Gandalf down into the pit with him. That deer could quite well have been a last second lash-out following a failed attack. Think how derailed I could have been from the mission if I had smacked any one of those seven deer head on.

Even now attacks continue as my throat is getting scratchy. It should no surprise that as we try to summon and stand in new levels of faith that at these very times our faith is challenged.

The prayer time went well. Scott and I arrived a bit past 9 p.m. and joined Shaun’s family in watching the MSU / UM basketball game. His older brother Dave flipped to the Piston’s game during commercials. I brought Shaun some pictures I had taken of him golfing and a letter of encouragement another member of our church wrote for him.

And then we prayed. Quite simply, we prayed that God’s healing would manifest in his life. We stood on scripture and thanked the Lord for his faithfulness. We cursed the evil that was ravaging his body in the name of Jesus.

Today he has another check up in Ann Arbor. His mother posted on his Care Page that “after having prayer over Shaun recently we are hoping that the doctors are amazed and find no leukemia in his system. We know God is a miracle working God. If any of you want to join me in fasting and prayer tomorrow until about 4:00, that the doctors will find Shaun cancer free, we would appreciate it.”

It seems if nothing else happened that night, Shaun and his family’s faith was encouraged. They’re pushing in and petitioning God for healing again. Not that they had stopped… but it’s easy to grow weary of asking. That’s what the body is for: to carry each other’s burdens… when weariness sets it, for someone else to take up the battle and keep fighting. And I was honored to be used in this way.

We are praying and fasting that the oppression would break and healing would flow. That’s what He asks us to do: to ask and keep asking, seek and keep seeking, knock and keep knocking.

“…for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” — 1 John 3:8b

I really love testimonies. After failing miserably with a prime opportunity to deliver a testimony at my new church home, I’ve realized why it was such a big deal to turn down that opportunity: because testimonies are a big deal. They build each other’s faith. In a lot of ways, the Word of God is a big book of testimonies.

So anyway, a reader of my blog recently sent me one in response to my car-starting testimony and I asked if I could share it to help cultivate that spirit even more here. In short: please feel free to post comments with testimonies of God’s goodness, or e-mail me.

Revelation 12:10-12 says:

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”

Without further ado: a brief testimony. We’ll pickup partway through, after Jeppy had already endured some tough situations:

… So, very frustrated, I went out to my car to find the receipt from the post office to track the package. Well… in my rush and impatience I dropped my cell phone in the very wet snow and didn’t realize it until about ten looonnnggg minutes later. When I ventured out and found it I was relieved until I realized I couldn’t hear anything. So I took the battery out and warmed it up in my hands. It really wasn’t all that wet so I thought for sure it would be OK. Well it wasn’t.

I don’t know why I lost control but I walked in the house, slammed the door, threw my coat on the floor and shed a few tears of frustration. It’s not like it’s the end of the world but I was kinda acting like it. The thought of paying for a new cell phone just seemed like another expense. I use my cell phone for everything. I guess I just had a toddler attack.

So I called a friend who then contacted Verizon and the customer service agent said that it is water damage (he didn’t even know I dropped it in the snow). Smart man. So I moaned and groaned a little longer. I felt I was in the wrong the whole time but I let my flesh take over justifying that I have the right to feel this way. Well, a couple minutes later I apologized to God and asked for forgiveness all the while still feeling like screaming. I then opened my cell phone again, took the battery out again, and placed it by the heater vent. I then walked into the living room and prayed for patience, and grace, and forgiveness once again. I thought about you when your car wouldn’t start so I prayed over my phone. I prayed for favor and for it to work again. [And it does.]

Well, Praise The Lord!!! Jesus was faithful once again. I was such a jerk and He was still faithful. Oh, to be like Jesus… I have a long way to go. I should have been praising him the whole time. Another day, another lesson learned.

Amen.

After fielding a couple wisdom tooth horror stories the past few weeks, I started thinking maybe I wasn’t taking the whole thing seriously enough. Then I talked to Otis yesterday and he said his weren’t really a big deal. So, that helped restore me to complete confidence that I wouldn’t suffer much pain and inconvenience.

And that’s the way it’s been. Most everyone I talked to said I’d be super sleepy and just want to go to bed when I got back home–that’d I’d likely sleep in the car ride even. Nope. I was a little groggy for maybe 15-20 minutes… but even when Sherry was in the drug store for like 20 minutes, I just looked at some Toledo-area parks and recreation map.

Spent the rest of the day just hanging out with Sher. Watched some Sports Center, some J-TV cooking show, e-mailed a bit, watched “The Office” season 1 (very funny show), ate a smoothie and some chicken noodle soup. Pretty much life as normal.

So, once again, prayers are coming to pass. My small group prayed it would be a very uneventful experience; I think that is what Jason prayed for at staff meeting as well. And it’s what I was praying for. I prayed the Lord would loosen the teeth ahead of time. Who knows if they were extra loose or not… but I know they aren’t sore… so that suggests something.

Thanks to any and everyone who lifted me up. I appreciate it.

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up.

–James 5:12-15

We do the first two quite often… without even thinking most of the time. When our backs are against the wall…when we’ve lost our wallet… or are fretting about our finances… or worried about a relative… we pray. When we’re happy, when things are going our way, when we get more income tax back than expected, we usually say “Praise God!” or “Isn’t God so good?” or something of the sort.

And when we’re sick, when we don’t feel well, when we have sore back…we go to the doctor.

Hunh.

Our pastor talked about prayer last night and he touched on something I’d thought about before: the one-timer.

I’ve both experienced the attitude myself and encountered it in other people–the pray-it-once attitude. Pray for God to do something and then say, “Well, if it’s God’s will, it will happen. I prayed for it.”

The primary problem with this attitude is, well, how do I put this…

IT IS HERACY!

If you’re fervent (exhibiting or marked by great intensity of feeling) about… say… pursuing a particular male or female in your life, would you consider it “a job well done” to display your adoration for them a single time and then say, “Well… if it’s God’s will for us to be together, s/he will respond. I did my part.”

No. People keep after something they want. If you’re shopping for a house and make an offer on it, only to have it refused, you raise the price and offer again. Maybe that one isn’t accepted, so you raise it again. If you want it bad enough, you’ll eventually get it.

Ok. Bad example, but you get my point. You keep after it. That’s why Christ says in Matt. 7 to “ask (ask, beg, call for, crave, desire, require), seek (to seek in order to find, to seek after, seek for, aim at, strive after, require, demand, to crave, demand something from someone ) and knock (to knock: at the door). It’s progressive and aggressive. Each round of asking–>seeking–>knocking increases intensity.

Pastor Scott also brought to our attention the oft-forgotten parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18. The point is clear: be annoying if you have to. To accent the point, Scott rapped the pulpit with his knuckles for an extended period of time; he was knocking. And the point was taken. It is annoying.

Of course, there are conditions about asking. Two that come to mind are: ask what you know is God’s will and ask with the right motives. Meet the conditions, and all God’s promises are yes and amen.

It is the nature of the Word of God to manifest in the physical. God spoke creation into existence. It manifest. Jesus was the Word… and the Word dwelt among us. It manifest. Jesus spoke what he heard the Father tell him. It manifest.

If God’s Word isn’t manifesting in our lives or the lives of those around us, something is going on. When the disciples couldn’t free a demon possessed boy who was suffering from epilepsy, both the boy’s father and the disciples wondered what was wrong. They didn’t wonder if “it was God’s will” or not… like we often wonder. For Jesus had already declared the trademarks of the kingdom in Matt. 11: “The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” It was clearly God’s will that this boy be set free. Where is the scriptural precedent for Jesus denying someone healing and saying: “It’s not my will”? (I suppose one could claim Paul’s “thorn,” but there are few as powerful as Paul that need a thorn to be kept humble.)

No, Jesus said the reason was unbelief. And if the disciples had trouble believing sometimes, well, we shouldn’t be surprised that we have trouble seeing the kingdom manifest at times. We can’t blame “God’s will.” It’s not for lack of God’s goodness we don’t experience the kingdom; it’s for lack of faith-filled asking.

So ask… and keep asking. If it doesn’t come to pass immediately, pray it through in faith… for years if that’s what it takes. Persistent prayer isn’t a sign of weak faith; in fact, it is much the opposite. It takes a person of firm conviction and deep faith to keep after something for days upon days, let alone years upon years. Praying it once and losing hope probably means we never believed it in the first place.

Daniel prayed and fasted for three weeks to hear from God. He had to literally pull the answer through heavenly combat for 21 days. My point? The Christian life takes work… and faith.

Pulled from Relevant Magazine’s newsletter:

In a speech on Martin Luther King Jr. day, New Orleans’ Mayor Ray Nagin said that this last year’s hurricanes were a sign that “God is mad at America” for community violence and the war in Iraq. At least it wasn’t Pat Robertson who said it this time…

God mad? Quite possibly. I’m not going to declare it, but I’m not going to say it’s impossible either…despite Relevant’s commentary that would suggest otherwise. God does still get mad. Remember, he’s the same God as the one you read about in the Old Testament. He poured out his wrath then and he still does. And he will to the ultimate extreme when the fullness of time has come.

Jesus seems to be the wildcard that causes people to think God has abandoned the “just” part of his character. But when Christ returns with fire in his eyes, riding a white horse, I think we’ll be reassured of God’s justice.

Sadly, prophets have been saying the country needs to repent for years. Not that mainstream America, or even mainstream church-goers in general, give ear to prophets…

God mad about community violence? Certainly. War in Iraq? Maybe.

Mr. Nagin: You didn’t stop there, did you?

Full article on Nagin’s speech can be read here: New Orleans Mayor Says God Mad at U.S.