He Did It On Purpose!

It had been a very stressful and tiring week for Luke.  The results of an overbooked life that plagues many of us.   Living life at warp speed with little meaningful fruit to show for it.  Luke was facing another day and took a look at his appointments when he arrived at work.  Letting out a sigh and an audible "UGH!", Luke was having a gigantic pity party for himself thinking how tired he was getting of the continuous running of the rat race and all of the stress.  Luke closed his eyes and just said a quick, sincere prayer telling God his thoughts & feelings and that he needed a little help that day.

A few minutes later, Luke heard the familiar ping of an incoming text message.   It was from a wise & good buddy that he hadn't heard from in a couple weeks.  Here's the actual text conversation:

Buddy:  You OK this morning?

Luke:  Yea.... Got to get my coffee.   You ok?

Buddy:  Yep.... I woke up so the rest is all good.

Luke:  Great outlook.... I needed to read that this morning.  Life is stressful & I've been letting it get to me.  So God has already used u today to help someone out.  Thx!!

Buddy:  Sorry your life is stressful.  It will get better.  Strange that of all the mornings.... this is the day I texted you isn't it...

Luke:  I had prayed 5 min before u texted for God to help me deal w stress.  HE is amazing!!!

This is a true story.  Some may write this off to coincidence, but you would have a hard time convincing Luke of that.  God is a living God.  If your son or daughter sincerely asks for your help, wouldn't you help them if you could?  God is a flawless parent, so we can be sure he will help his kids too.  It might not be immediate & it might not come in a text message, but He provides what we need and for Luke, God provided a good dose of perspective that day and used Luke's friend to deliver it.   

When we face our daily struggles in life, be it cancer, aging parents, drug addicted family members, or daily stress, remember that the fact that you woke up this morning means God still has a purpose for you.  Someone, somewhere, at some time, will need you in a BIG way.  A simple word or deed done in love can have far reaching effects for another.   "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11  Remember, every thing God does is on "PURPOSE."  

ANYWAY

God is great, but sometimes life ain't good,
When I pray it doesn't always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway…….I do it anyway

Those are some of the lyrics from Martina McBride’s song, “Anyway.”    I’ve heard this song many times, but today it just struck me as to how powerful this little word, “anyway”, truly is when you think about it.  The definition of the word anyway means regardless or no matter what.     Now that, in my opinion,  is perseverance at its finest.    A perfect example of this perseverance comes from a poem inscribed on the wall of a children’s home in Calcutta, India , which was known to be the home to Mother Teresa.  An excerpt from that poem reads:

"People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway. "

When you think about it, it's always really been between you and God anyway.  So, no matter what physical or emotional obstacles are placed in your path today, push forward, move ahead and do what would make God smile ANYWAY!  Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  Galatians 6:9

Be sure to check out our new website www.christovercancerministry.com .  

Let Your Words Get In The Way

Surprised!  That was the feeling Chase had after a long day of delayed travel.  A rain delay in Atlanta (imagine that :)  had caused Chase to miss a connecting flight to Boston.  When he finally arrived in Boston, his luggage did not.  Chase's luggage decided to party with another piece of samsonite luggage headed for sunny Key West, Florida- woo hoo.    So, after standing in line for 30 minutes to file a lost luggage claim with the personality-free gate agent, Chase was finally settling into his seat on a crowded Amtrak train headed to Providence. 

All Chase wanted to do was sit in silence and lament over his horrible, no good, day.  His pity party had just begun when the surprise occurred.  Sitting next to Chase on the train was an elderly lady with a personality the size of Texas named Ms. Mary.  She took one look at Chase's sullen, tense face and decided this young gun needed a pick me up from good ole Ms. Mary.  She reached out with her leathery, wrinkled hand and touched Chase's arm and said, " Gracious sweetie, don't you just love the smell of fresh coffee?"   Chase did a quick sniff and noticed someone coming by serving steamy rich coffee.  Ms. Mary asked if he drank coffee, and Chase nodded that he did.  She smiled at the server and said, "Two coffees with extra sugar and extra cream please sweetie."  Ms. Mary insisted on paying for the coffee and then began a conversation with Chase that went from the where are you from  all the way to how important it is to notice the little things in life, ......like the smell of fresh coffee. 

When the train pulled into Providence station, Chase had enjoyed the conversation and coffee with Ms. Mary so much that all of a sudden, his terrible, horrible bad day wasn't going to be remembered that way.  No, this day would be remembered for Ms. Mary and a great conversation over coffee and for Chase that was a very pleasant surprise.   Ms. Mary's kind and encouraging words got in the way of Chase's bad day.

In our lives today, the terrible, no good days are always ready to happen.  Bad news from the doctor, car breaking down, drug issues in the family are just a a few of the bad days that we have in our lives.  Psalm 19:14 says, "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer."  So, the next time you see someone having one of these days, think of Ms. Mary and let your words remind that person of a simple joy of life.   Let your words get in their way of their horrible, no good day.
God Bless!

Why Not Me?

Has something ever happened to you and you said to yourself, "Why Me?"    As any cancer survivor would tell you, those two little words are quick to the forethoughts whenever the doctor delivers the crushing news that you have cancer.  When I was diagnosed in 2004, I even bought a book about cancer entitled, "Why Me," in hopes of gleaning some sliver of a logical explanation as to why my busy life was interrupted at the young age of 33 years old.

This past November at our Christ Over Cancer, Day of Hope event, a fellow survivor put an entirely different spin on those two little words for me simply by adding one small three letter word between them.  In his humble and loving speech to an audience that had in some way been touched by cancer, my friend, Ron  declared to the group.... WHY NOT ME?    Ron, who had endured a chemotherapy treatment earlier that day, said those three words, Why Not Me, occurred to him when he saw a young mother taking care of her very small children.  Ron thought to himself, would I rather she, with her small children, have cancer than myself who has already experienced many of life's wonderful moments?   Ron realized there were countless other people who were in different points of their lives where a cancer diagnosis would not only affect that person, but would alter the course of several other people's lives in a negative way.  It was that day, that Ron decided to choose to say " Why Not Me," instead of "Why Me."

Our society today, unfortunately, is geared towards self satisfaction and gratification.  Looking out for our fellow man before ourselves these days is just not the norm.  Those who do look out for others first, stand above the crowd and I am certain get a big smile from Jesus.  It was Jesus who told us in Mark 12:29-31:
The most important one,”answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’There is no commandment greater than these.”  

So, the next time the evil one causes your thoughts to go towards the two words, "Why Me," think of the commands of Jesus and think of a courageous cancer survivor named Ron who decided to say, "Why Not Me?"   Choose to love others greater than yourself.

God Bless