Monthly Archives: March 2016

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HOPE in a Haircut!

Shaving to raise awareness and funds for childhood cancer research.

Ready . . . .

Ready . . . .

My middlest brother, Joel Emerson, has a heart of gold! He also has a passion for helping others. One way he demonstrates his passion is by participating in the annual St. Baltrick’s Shave to raise awareness and funds for research in the fight against childhood cancer. Last year, and again this year, he honored me by asking me to “do the honors” of shaving his head and chin! And last year I shared a little of what that means to me. With a few updates, I’d like to share my thoughts again after yesterday’s shave!

Set . . . .

Set . . . .

Like my brother, Joel, I’m a cancer survivor. And like everyone, I’ve had friends and family touched by cancer, either by a glancing blow or a fatal encounter. My brother, aunts and uncles, grandparents, father, in-laws and friends have all fought the cancer battle. Some have overcome, others won the ultimate battle and were rewarded with heaven. I refuse to say “They lost their battle with cancer!”

Done!

Done!

Few escape this life without an encounter with cancer. The difference for each of us is how we face the enemy. How we fight the battle. The war is already won. Jesus paid the ultimate price, fought the deciding battle, and won the war. Next weekend, as we celebrate Easter, we remember His sacrificial death on our behalf, we are reminded of God’s love for us in sending His one and only Son to pay our penalty, and we are grateful for the guarantee of our victory over death, even death by cancer.

Sharing the shave . . . .

Sharing the shave . . . .

So how do we face the enemy? My strategy was to fight with all the resources God had given the medical world. Not because I fear death, but because I believe God has provided those resources to give us more days in this life to do the work that He has for us to do. I believe that when God is ready to take me home, He will … and if that time had been 10 years ago, then all the medical knowledge and technology in the universe wouldn’t have overcome His plan. However, I also believe that He has gifted researchers and doctors and other medical professionals in order for them to discover medicines and cures to help cancer-stricken people win the battle and go on to serve and minister in His name.

Double Done . . . .

Double Done . . . .

I’ll be honest, cancer was an awful experience, but at the same time, it was one of the most blessed times of my life. Thanks to cancer, I came to a richer, deeper, and fuller relationship with God and with my family. Thanks to cancer, I had to slow down and savor the life that I had begun to rush through and take for granted. Cancer is terrible, the side effects of treatment are horrific, but looking through the lens of HOPE, I could see God’s Hand leading me through that dark valley of the shadow of death, onto a new path.

Having experienced cancer myself, I was better equipped to be a care-giver for my dad during his year of cancer. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t all-wise, all-knowing, and super-strong … I was just “experienced” and compassionate due to my own journey. Now as we face my husband’s cancer recovery, I’m a little more experienced not just as a cancer survivor, but also as a care-giver. God works things out that way … preparing us to be the instruments of His love as we minister to others in His Name.

Having said all that, I want to make two things perfectly clear:

First, I don’t believe for one second that God causes cancer! Cancer is the consequence of a sinful, fallen world. Our society throughout history has lived in rebellion against God and His laws. Laws put in place to protect us, but which we have ignored. I believe that rebellion has created the atmosphere in which cancer has flourished. And the result is an epidemic of cancers that plague even the young and innocent. Could God wipe out cancer with a flick of His hand? Of course, but He has given us the gift of free will, the privilege to choose to follow Him. And even when we abuse that privilege, He won’t force us to change. Therefore, we have to live with the consequences of our bad judgement, our wrong choices, our SIN. And children, as well as adults, have to bear the burden of those consequences, including the burden of cancer.

Second, even though I have found my own cancer experiences to be laced with blessings, I don’t wish that children should have to suffer cancer. Just as God allows us to experience the consequences of our sin, He also gives us the wisdom to discover cures and remedies for many of those consequences. I remember the plague of polio when I was a child. And I remember the joy of the world, when a cure was found. We hear of fewer and fewer cases of many of the childhood diseases that I grew up knowing about and being vaccinated against, because medical technology has found cures. I know that God is pleased that mankind is seeking a cure for childhood cancer. I know that He blesses the efforts of the medical world as they research and experiment until they find ways to alleviate the effects of cancer, and someday eradicate all traces of the disease in all its forms. And I’m sure His is pleased at the efforts of lay people whose hearts are touched by the faces and stories of children and their families ravaged by cancer; and who are motivated to do whatever they can to help erase the threat and fear of childhood cancer.

I am humbled to have the opportunity to contribute, even minutely, to the cause of eliminating childhood cancer.

And I am so proud of Joel for taking up the cause to raise awareness and funds to defeat childhood cancer.

And I’m grateful that an organization like St. Baltrick’s is in place to raise awareness and funds to fight the battle for the beautiful, innocent children who are caught in the grip of cancer and all its ugliness.

In 2 Chronicles, God’s prophet tells the king who is facing insurmountable odds, “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.” God is on our side. He will win the battle and the war against cancer. But as we see in the passage, He expects us to work with Him. Listen to what He tells the king, “Tomorrow march down against them.” In other words, He didn’t tell them to sit back, step aside, and let Me do this for you. He went with them into battle. They fought the battle together, with God. So I encourage others to join the battle in whatever ways God leads – shaving or sharing!

For us, the message is this: trust God to win the war against cancer, but in the meantime, “march down against” cancer with all we’ve got to do battle with – whether that’s science, or medicine, or money, or whatever else God has given us to use in this war! The battle is God’s, but the army is us!

In His presence,
bb

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No HOPE in Daylight Saving Time!

clock confusionWe interrupt the regularly scheduled blog post about spiritually single ladies in the Bible to write an assignment for the 7-Day Blogging Challenge I’m trying to participate in. I say “trying” because I completely lost a day when LIFE happened on Day #2 and on Day #3! So, I’m skipping the assignment for Day #2, for the moment … I’ll be back to catch that later today – that is, unless LIFE throws me another one of “those” days!

Yesterday’s assignment was to write a post that picks a fight. Our challenge leader, Jeff Goins, gave a number of reasons why we should approach writing from this perspective, and trusting his wisdom, I’m going to give it a shot. But, this is not an easy assignment for this grandmother. You know grandmothers are supposed to be peacemakers and mediators. We’ve spent our whole life mediating fights between our kids and, and now, their kids, attempting to bring peace and love and joy into our homes. We’re supposed to be sweet and loving, wearing smiles and aprons with a bit of cookie dough smeared on the front! And, although, that’s NOT a picture of this grandmother, I still am a die-hard non-confrontationist (Is that even a word?)! So the very idea of “picking a fight” just goes against the grain for me!

That was true until yesterday! I mentioned that LIFE happened and threw me off-track. I was busy, busy, busy, but just dragging through the busy-ness. I’ve had busy days before, and I usually take them in stride and plow on through. But yesterday I just couldn’t catch up. I was frustrated because I couldn’t get through the “have-to” list so I could get to my “want-to” list (like the Blog Challenge!). Then I realized that my get-up-and-go left with the hour we lost Sunday morning when Daylight Saving Time arrived!

Now I prefer living life within the rules! I don’t like to make waves. So if Uncle Sam says “spring forward” I tend to spring; and then when he says “fall back” I follow suit! However, with every year I gain and every hour I loose, I get a bit more frustrated, if not downright angry, with good-ole Uncle! Whoever thought up this concept of “Daylight Saving Time” must have been crazy! Can we even save daylight by stealing an hour of time? And what’s even crazier, is that NO ONE seems to like it, and yet we ALL keep changing our clocks back and forth as we grumble and complain about how stupid it is!

I suppose there are those who actually like the teeter-totter, back-and-forth, energy-sapping, and schedule-skewing of DST. But, I don’t!

It seems to me that God, in His Ultimate Wisdom, created the world with a PERFECT scheme in place to coordinate waking and sleeping, working and resting, sowing and reaping, and all the other systems of life. But man came along with his appointments and deadlines, clocks and watches, and decided to improve on perfection! I guess we can no longer depend on sundials to get us up and at it in today’s world, but somehow I don’t think we need to mess with that one hour every spring and fall! And how does one little hour make such a major impact on life anyway!

It has been suggested that we “split the difference” and then leave well-enough alone! So come November we should “fall back” only one-half hour, then never touch the clock again! Problem solved! Except for those few rational states that never adopted the stupid crazy DST idea in the first place!

But, alas, like most issues of a political nature, this craziness will go on, and on, and on! It seems once we create a rut, no matter how insane or senseless, we can’t ever get out of it! DST is most likely here to stay, whether we like it or not, whether it makes sense or not, we’re stuck with it! SIGH! I guess it’s silly to waste energy that’s already sapped on a lost hour! We’ll get it back in November, right! Yeah, right!

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Hope for the Spiritually Single

from women in the Bible who were spiritually single.

ladies-bible-studyA few years ago I led a young women’s Bible study class called the Hope Class. As the wife of a non-attender, I saw the need for this type of class, a support group as it were, for women like me – I needed encouragement and HOPE to help me in my journey as an unequally-yoked believer. As I looked around our small congregation, I realized that a number of other ladies in our church family were in the same situation. And so, the Hope class was born!

It was designed to meet the needs of, and offer encouragement (and HOPE) to, women who were “spiritually single.” We defined “spiritually single” as someone who attended church alone – either because she was unmarried or married to a non-believer or non-attender. Sometimes the wives of church leaders or ministers attended our class because their husbands were involved in their own ministry which did not include their wives. It made for a dynamic mix of personalities! Divorced, widowed, never-married, married to ministers, and unequally-yoked (Christian wife married to non-Christian husband) women gathered together to study God’s Word. We had sessions of laughter, tears, anger, fear, love, support, and hope based on the truth we found in scripture. Sometimes the truth hurt, but the class always provided a sense of belonging and community that we all needed.

Then I was forced to take a “leave of absence” while I battled cancer. The class continued for a while, but as is often the case, circumstances changed and the class disbanded. However, I continue to hold dear the memories of those ladies, wondering where they’ve all ended up and praying for them as the Lord brings them to mind. I’ve even considered trying to resurrect the class at church, but find myself in a season of life that prevents me from getting involved in activities outside of work and home. So every time I think about the Hope class, or spiritually single ladies, I wonder how I can offer Hope from my current situation.

Then, while reading my usual devotional booklet the other morning, I was reminded once again of the idea of ministering to the spiritually single. The reading that morning was from 1 Samuel 25. It was the story of David’s army being rebuffed by the evil Nabal, David’s determination to get even, and Abigail’s efforts to appease David and avert tragedy after her husband’s ill treatment of David and his men. As I read about Abigail, it hit me that this was a “spiritually single” woman!

How many more spiritually single women are recorded in scripture? And what can we learn from them? Is there a lesson here? DUH! Of course, it’s in the Bible, there’s got to be a lesson for us in each of their stories. And an idea for a new Hope class was born – an online class!

I’ve spent some time in the past couple of days checking out all the women listed in the Bible to see how many of them would qualify as spiritually single. It seems there are quite a few.

So I’ll devote the next several blog posts to those biblical ladies who have messages for us about how to live in today’s world as spiritually single. I’ll begin tomorrow with Abigail, since she’s the one who got my attention.

What challenges do you face as a spiritually single person? What help do you need? What hope can we offer you?
Although being spiritually single can feel lonely, we are never alone, because we are always …

In His Presence,
bb