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No More Cat-Scans!

/ pastorpete51 / 16 Comments 
I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. 
Psalm 34:1 KJV

Our appointment last week was almost exactly six years to the day since Nancy’s cancer surgery. The prognosis back then for stage three ovarian cancer was not great, and as her chemo treatments began the following month, we knew we were sailing in uncharted waters. But day by day, as we walked together through the long years of changes and challenges God has been with us. That afternoon as we sat in the doctor’s office, we were hopeful but still nervous as we waited for his report. What would those numbers from the latest blood work be? What would he say? Then the door opened, the doctor walked in exchanged pleasantries, and then asked. “So how are you feeling? Any pain here? Any changes since our last visit?” He poked, prodded and listened to Nancy’s heartbeat and breathing with his stethoscope, then sitting down and pulling up the results of her tests on his computer, he spun it around for us to see. “You see, you have been staying in the normal range all this time (five years), he said pointing to a graph. “Sometimes they are a little up, sometimes down. Your Cat-scan back in December looked normal. You’re doing great!” Then he gave Nancy a reassuring smile, and we both breathed a giant sigh of relief. Though he had told us the very words we had prayed for and longed to hear, it was still so unreal.

Then I asked, “So when will she have to come back for the next Cat-scan?”

Looking back at me as if I hadn’t understood, the doctor shook his head, still smiling. “No – no more Cat-scans. Why should she get all that radiation over and over again when everything is normal. We’ll just keep an eye on the blood work and take it from there.” Now, six years since her surgery, after five months of chemotherapy, dozens of tests, images of all sorts it all came down to one phrase: “No more Cat-scans!” We both held back tears that afternoon as we walked out of the office, thankful for the goodness of God that has carried us through. Then as we stopped to check out at the desk, I saw that the lady at the checkout had put up a little sign that said, “Stressed spelled backwards is desserts!” After six years of stress, that has drawn us both closer to Jesus and closer to one another, we certainly were ready for desserts and understood a little of what David meant when he said, “I will bless the Lord at all times.” Some of our times had been good, some bad and a few, even downright terrifying. But through every moment, God has been with us. Of course, not every journey ends with the earthly results we hope for, and not every prognosis is rosy, but we have learned through every situation, that we can trust the Lord. He is faithful and kind, and our lives are in His hands. He knows what is to come and we trust Him because of all He has brought us through. “His praise shall continually be in my mouth!”

What is the Name of Your Storm?

/ pastorpete51 / 6 Comments 
And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 
Mark 4:37-38 ESV

It is interesting that in generations past no one thought much about what to call a particular storm.  But in 1953, the National Hurricane Center figured out that naming a storm got people’s attention. Since the point of their forecasting was to help folks prepare, they decided that naming was a pretty important thing! The same is true for our spiritual storms. One thing I have learned as I have gotten older is that we rarely face the same storm twice. Circumstances I faced as a twenty-five-year-old with toddlers running around our apartment were certainly different from waiting up late nights waiting for them to come home when they were teenagers. Today our children have children of their own who are teenagers and we lay awake some nights praying for them. Someone once said, “The more things change, the more they remain the same.” But the real truth of the matter is that our storms really do change both in kind as well as ferocity and the only thing that remains the same is Jesus. Even though it may seem that He is asleep while we are going through life threatening circumstances, the truth is that He knows what we are going through and He is ready to come and help when we cry out to Him. No matter what our storm is named today, we are never forgotten, or abandoned. Jesus gave His life on the cross as the sky darkened and the earth shook beneath His feet. But as the blood flowed down the timbers, from the nails that pierced His hands and feet, Jesus cried out, “It is finished!” The cross has finished everything we need to deliver us from our storm, to still our seas and to calm the trouble around us. No matter what our storm’s name we can know that He loves us, He cares about our problems He is showing us new ways to trust Him, no matter what name of the hurricane that lies ahead!

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Jesus Must Not Like You Very Much!

/ pastorpete51 / 11 Comments

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 ESV

As some of you know who follow this blog, I served most of my ministry as a lay pastor (as in didn’t get paid). But far from being a problem, the lay pastor situation gave me opportunity to serve as an associate at a small Brazilian church for 14 years, and a volunteer chaplain at a large nursing home. Some days, it was like the Clark Kent/Superman scenario, where I rushed home to shower and change clothes, then hurried out to hold the Wednesday afternoon services at Allied Skilled Nursing. I loved serving both at church and nursing home, but it was at my secular job, that God taught me the best lessons. So, let’s rewind 30 years to a day when I was mowing lawns. My home state Connecticut could be named after a Native American word meaning, “Land full of rocks!” Practically every lawn we mowed had at least one large granite boulder to mow around. One very nice property in particular, was blessed with an abundance of enough stones to build one of our famous New England stone walls. My friend Noel, who just started working with us, was not familiar with our properties and so he accidently grazed over one unseen stony protrusion after another. Finally, He stopped, said a few choice words and stated, “You guys have the worst lawns I have ever seen!”

“Come on Noel.” I said trying to keep a calm tone. “These are the ones Jesus gave us.”

“Well then, Jesus must not like you very much!” Noel retorted, then restarted his machine and began mowing the back half of the property.

Now, I know Noel’s opinion isn’t proper theologically, but I have often felt a lot like him! Some days it feels like other folks have nice easy lawns to mow. They don’t have rocks to mow around or hidden outcroppings lurking just beneath the tops of the long grass. Sure, I know that Jesus Loves Me Because the Bible Tells Me So, but there are some days I wonder how much He likes me! The answer I have discovered after whacking a number of rocks in my 71 years, is that God allows rocks to mow around because He does care. He loves us so much that He has given us the chance to go back time and again to difficult people, hard places and sticky situations until we remember where the rocks are. Then we can give Him thanks, in every situation as we learn to mow around them!

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