Dear Fellow Children of God,
The biggest surprise I encountered while bison hunting
the last two weeks was not from the hunt, but, surprisingly, from a local
Doctor. Unfortunately, my wife, Kathy,
was out of work and quite sick with bronchitis the week before I left for my
bison hunt. But she was getting better when
I left on Sunday afternoon, October 20 and returned to work on Monday, October
21. Thankfully, I had not been stricken
with the illness myself when I left.
However, while driving to Delta Junction on Sunday
afternoon I had the beginning of a cough.
Then through the week this progressed into a constant cough, into aches
when I moved, into a constant headache, fever and night sweats, and into ribs
that hurt every time I coughed. Finally,
on Thursday I relented and went to the local clinic where I met a Dr.
Andreassen. I like this guy!
This interesting Christian man wanted to talk about many
topics in addition to my illness. But,
when he had asked some questions and listened to my chest and breathing, when
he had then further examined me, he told me I had contracted what Kathy had
suffered. “You’ve got bronchitis.” Actually, this was not the surprise I
experienced.
So I asked him, “Now what? I’m up here for my bison hunt. My drawing started last Saturday. What does this mean for my hunt?” I expected the doctor to tell me to stop
hunting, to stay indoors, to take care of myself. But this doctor gave me my biggest surprise
of the week. Dr. Andreassen told me, “You
can cough at home or you can cough in the field. You’ve got the medicine. I’d say, ‘Keep hunting!’” What a surprise! I didn’t expect that!!
So I did what the doctor ordered. I took my medicine, drank and ate as he told
me, took the vitamins he prescribed, and continued to hunt. I
gradually got better, though I did have a slight relapse on Sunday. When I went to the doctor I felt badly enough
that part of me was actually hoping to be told to stop hunting. Nevertheless, I persevered in hunting.
Much of our lives as Christians is a practice in
perseverance. Living as Jesus’ disciples
in faith and love and obedience is not easy.
We face opposition and temptations.
We sin and we fail. But God calls
us to continue trusting His love and forgiveness and to continue living our
faith in Him and His love for all.
Actually, while we are often surprised by life’s
challenges, we should not be. As
Christians, as people of Christ who follow Him, we follow the Son of God who
endured temptations and suffering and death in order to save us. We should not be surprised that we are called
to persevere through suffering as well.
The writer to the Hebrews calls Christians to perseverance in these
words.
1 Therefore, since we are
surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that
hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for
us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the
author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the
cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition
from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:1-3)
When life hurts we can persevere. We can keep going through the difficulty and
pain, because we know that Jesus not only suffered and died for us, He rose for
us. In spite of life’s trials Jesus’
victory over sin and death is ours by His grace through faith. So yes, life can be difficult and painful,
but we can keep going, because through our pain and failure God is
faithful. He has eternal life waiting
for us.
“. . . let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” (Hebrews 12:1)
A Child of
God, Learning a Lesson from My Lord,
Pastor Jonathan
P.S. Here are some pictures from the bison
hunt. THANK YOU to all who helped in
this effort! https://plus.google.com/photos/114993745799525883148/albums/5940824773428718225
****
ABOUT ‘THOUGHTS FROM THE PASTOR’ - I am
sending these e-mail messages, hopefully weekly, to all St. John members and
friends whose e-mails I have. (I am always adding new names of friends
and members – in case you are just receiving this e-mail for the first
time.) However, if you don’t want to receive this e-mail, please let me
know, and I’ll gladly leave your name off my list for this message. . . Or, if
you know someone who would like to receive one of these e-mails, please send me
their e-mail address.
****
No comments:
Post a Comment