Just a little vacation time coming up for me in the next few days - so I thought I would post a thought before I head out.

In the Trenches

I didn’t know much about the former White House Press Secretary Tony Snow.  I do know a little more about him than I did before.
I didn’t learn it from his funeral on television, I didn’t watch it. I actually learned it from Snopes.com and yes what they said was that the information about Tony Snow on the internet was actually true. So I followed a link that led to an original article that was published by Christianity Today © magazine that contained an essay that Snow wrote in response to the question – “How has this bout with cancer affected you?”
I am not going to pass the whole article along to you – you can find it at –
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/july/25.30.html
But suffice it to say that his words are meaningful and impacting. I do want to share an excerpt from his essay – and pray that you will take it to heart...


BLESSINGS ARRIVE IN UNEXPECTED PACKAGES—IN MY CASE, CANCER.
“Those of us with potentially fatal diseases—and there are millions in America today—find ourselves in the odd position of coping with our mortality while trying to fathom God's will. Although it would be the height of presumption to declare with confidence What It All Means, Scripture provides powerful hints and consolations.
The first is that we shouldn't spend too much time trying to answer the why questions: Why me? Why must people suffer? Why can't someone else get sick? We can't answer such things, and the questions themselves often are designed more to express our anguish than to solicit an answer.
I don't know why I have cancer, and I don't much care. It is what it is—a plain and indisputable fact. Yet even while staring into a mirror darkly, great and stunning truths begin to take shape. Our maladies define a central feature of our existence: We are fallen. We are imperfect. Our bodies give out.
But despite this—because of it—God offers the possibility of salvation and grace. We don't know how the narrative of our lives will end, but we get to choose how to use the interval between now and the moment we meet our Creator face-to-face.
Second, we need to get past the anxiety. The mere thought of dying can send adrenaline flooding through your system. A dizzy, unfocused panic seizes you. Your heart thumps; your head swims. You think of nothingness and swoon. You fear partings; you worry about the impact on family and friends. You fidget and get nowhere.
To regain footing, remember that we were born not into death, but into life—and that the journey continues after we have finished our days on this earth. We accept this on faith, but that faith is nourished by a conviction that stirs even within many nonbelieving hearts—an intuition that the gift of life, once given, cannot be taken away. Those who have been stricken enjoy the special privilege of being able to fight with their might, main, and faith to live—fully, richly, exuberantly—no matter how their days may be numbered.
Third, we can open our eyes and hearts. God relishes surprise. We want lives of simple, predictable ease—smooth, even trails as far as the eye can see—but God likes to go off-road. He provokes us with twists and turns. He places us in predicaments that seem to defy our endurance and comprehension—and yet don't. By his love and grace, we persevere. The challenges that make our hearts leap and stomachs churn invariably strengthen our faith and grant measures of wisdom and joy we would not experience otherwise.”

"This article first appeared in the July 2007 issue of Christianity Today. Used by permission of Christianity Today International, Carol Stream, IL 60188." (parts in bold were added by me for emphasis)

I highly recommend you go to the earlier mentioned website and read the rest of Snow’s essay. Until then I simply ask you to think, to ponder, to meditate on your life and on the gift that is, bestowed by God.
Snow’s words said – “...we get to choose how to use the interval between now and the moment we meet our Creator face-to-face.”
God is not a “puppet master.”  You choose the path that you will walk today, you choose how you will use this gift of life you have been given.


What are you doing with it? Will it take cancer or some other disease or incident that brings you close to the brink to make you consider your path?


Did you make a child laugh today?


Have you kissed your spouse for no apparent reason today?


Did you encourage your children with a word of confidence and praise?


Did you stop for a minute as you left the house today to listen to the birds?


Did you pause as you left the office thanking God that you had a job in this economy?


Do you see your current circumstance as a blessing rather than a curse?


Today - Did you tell a family member or maybe a friend of the loving grace of God and salvation in Jesus Christ?


Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.”  James 1:2-6


In the trenches
DOUG