Jim’s Good Story

I really didn’t know what else to title this blog.

I love a good story, and I love a crowd of people gathered around to hear one.  And if you’re a Christian and you follow Jesus – you’ve got a story to tell.  In fact, I would argue that not only do you have a story to tell, you are obligated to tell it.  Sharing your story should bring you great joy, and always, always point others to Christ (not to yourself).

My friend died today, and he had a great story.  “Cancer is the best thing that ever happened to me,” he told me one Christmas as my friend and I walked through the live nativity with he and his wife.  I asked him that night if I got a crowd together – would he come over and tell his story?  He couldn’t wait, but we never got around to doing that, and I’m sorry tonight.

Jim often told me that if I knew ANYONE who was diagnosed with cancer, he would LOVE to talk to them.  He loved to tell others about Jesus, and Jim loved to tell his story – the story of his salvation, and what Christ did for him (and for you) on the Cross.

Tonight I’m sad for his family, and he will be missed by so many, and I’m sad even as I write this, but I am so very confident that my friend is in the arms of his Savior, Jesus tonight.  What a comfort.

I am sad that I never got that crowd together to hear Jim’s story, so I’ve decided to tell the very short version of it for him, because if you’re reading this, I know he’d want you to hear it.  In fact, I know he’d want the whole world to hear it.

There are people who use cancer and COVID and every illness or tragedy to say that there is no God.  There are people who say those of us who claim to follow Jesus just use Christianity as a crutch.  Oh my goodness…..    How I wish you could hear Jim talk of how much his relationships grew during his most difficult days of dealing with cancer – with his wife, with his family and others – and most of all with Jesus.  He wouldn’t have traded that for anything.

And yes, you most certainly CAN have a relationship with Jesus.  John 10:27 says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me!”

Other people who claim Christianity often rebuke the diagnoses of loved ones saying they “won’t receive that,” or they “claim healing” in the name of Jesus and will accept nothing less that perfect health and healing.  How dare we make demands on God.  Jesus modeled no such thing for us.  He submitted to the Father, even to death on a Cross for you and me.  So please stop listening to Joel Osteen.  He’s a false teacher, a wolf in sheep’s clothing.  Theology matters.  It does.  Jim knew that, and I know he’d be perfectly fine with me telling you that.

Does God still heal people?  Of course He does…     But sometimes, often times, God says no.  Sometimes, God uses cancer and COVID and loss and heartache and tragedy and trouble in ways that we never saw coming.  Always he uses it for His glory and for our good – even if that “good” doesn’t look or feel like something we would have chosen for ourselves – because it hurts so, so bad.  But God always wants us to become more like His son Jesus, and it’s always during the most difficult times in our lives when that happens.  I look back over the hardest days in my own life, and though I’d never choose to walk through them again – I wouldn’t trade any of them because they brought me closer to Christ.  That’s why it was so easy for Jim to tell people that cancer was the greatest thing that ever happened to him – because for a true believer, once you get a glimpse of Christ in times like that, and experience a true relationship with him – God’s irresistable grace and mercy and love become something you just can’t help but share.

Jim’s cancer gave him an opportunity to know Jesus in a way he loved telling others about.  He may not have gotten the opportunity to do so in my living room, but I can’t help but grin tonight, confident in the fact that his last breaths were very likely spent telling everyone about his Savior, Jesus.  I’m so grateful for that tonight.

Jim wanted everyone to know Jesus.  He wanted them to know how much God loved them, that He sent His son to die for them, that they could be forgiven and free, and have a deep, personal, and intimate relationship with the God who loves them, (and that there is absolutely no need to go through all of his friends and family to do so!)  “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.”  1 Timothy 2:5-6

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”  John 3:16

So…   what’s your story?  If you’ve got one – I’ve got a living room that fits about 15 people.  Come tell it.  Tell it for Jim’s sake, for your sake, and for Christ’s sake.

And if you don’t have a story (yet)…    Let’s chat.