(I decided to re-post this one with a new title because it's a tribute to all the people whose lives intersect during a crisis and how the Lord works it all to the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28)
‘Where are you from?’ ‘What are you in for?’ So go the conversations that can start up by folks cooling their heels at one of the cancer centers in town. All of us have different reasons for being there and yet share a common detour in our lives. So here we sit, waiting to have various tumors irradiated or simply annihilated by way of a chemo treatment. Gowns on, determined to keep our spirits up we wait for the next dosing delivered through various means of conveyance.
Coffee, tea and other light snacks are offered to take the edge off the experience. Being escorted to our treatment rooms is a pleasant walk with quite kindly people; knowledgeable in their areas of expertise. Once in the room all the numbers have to line up before “it’s a go,” whether its exact placement on the radiation table or the right reports on blood levels compatible with receiving chemo. It all has to be perfect, at least as perfect as can be this side of eternity. We wouldn’t want to have the body even a millimeter out of alignment with the radiation beam. That would be useless not to mention potentially catastrophic. We lie on our tables or sit in our chairs, putting another mark on the wall as it were, counting off the number of times we’ve been there. Those of you who’ve had these treatments know this familiar terrain.
I’ve been told and I suppose rightly so that only those dealing with cancer can adequately understand and have compassion on others in the same boat. That’s what originally prompted me to seek out the Lord’s will and wisdom in starting this new cancer support group at Calvary Tucson. The scriptures command us to “Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2) When burdened, the typical response may be to run and hide, but hopefully instead afflicted saints will choose to share their trials, as the Lord reveals to them what it is He would have them learn. Christians bearing cancer possess eternal hope in the Lord Jesus Christ and are blessed beyond measure knowing though our earthly tents are wearing out one day we will meet the Lord face to face, and what a day that will be! I like this passage from Hebrews 10:23-25: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
A few men of God come to mind who gladly shared their burdens with one another. One example is Jonathan who surely shouldered David’s anguish over being exiled from the kingdom and hunted by Jonathan’s father Saul. Here is the prelude to Saul’s attempted murder of David: “Now Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David; but Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted greatly in David. So Jonathan told David, saying, "My father Saul seeks to kill you. Therefore please be on your guard until morning, and stay in a secret place and hide. And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak with my father about you. Then what I observe, I will tell you." Thus Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father, and said to him, "Let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you.” (1 Samuel 19:1-4)
Jonathan put himself in harm’s way more than once for David’s sake. Because of his great love, the King in the line from whom our Messiah would be born was saved. It’s often been said we don’t know how far reaching may be the affects of our faithfulness to God through our love for our neighbors. Remember the angel Gabriel said to Mary, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end." (Luke 1:31-33) May we follow the example of Jonathan and of Jesus Himself to first love God, and then to show that love by bearing one another’s burdens no matter what afflictions may befall us. (For me, one intersection has been this waiting room at UMC.)
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