1. Matt Chandler, a pastor that i really respect from texas, had a seizure, fell, hit his head and had to go to the hospital. he was found to have a brain tumor and had surgery on friday to remove it. pastor chandler has a wife and three kids.
2. the suicide of Acts29 network pastor thomas young. tragically, he chose to take his life during a marital dispute with his wife and did not make it to the hospital alive. he left his wife and three children.
3. the tragic hit and run accident of a young woman from mars hill church. she had recently met jesus, as had her boyfriend, causing tremendous life change in both of them. they married and were growing in their faith through the church. the accident put her in a coma for many weeks, and she has been in the hospital for several months. she will be soon leaving the hospital, but prognosis is still unclear. she is in tremendous pain and can barely walk.
my three actual responses to these stories (in addition to tears and deep sorrow):
1. i should stop using my cell phone so much. it could give me a brain tumor.
2. i definitely should be a better wife so that alex doesn't take his own life.
3. i should stop riding my bike so that i dont get hit by a car while riding it.
all three of these responses are very self-centered and presume (falsely) that i am in control of my life. i was grounded by this tweet from pastor john piper:
"if God wants us home no doctor can keep us here and if God wants us here no disease can take us home."
i love my life way too much. oh, lord, please give me the type of faith that i can echo the words of pastor chandler right before his surgery:
“I don’t count my life of any value or as precious to myself if only I might finish my course and complete the work that He gave me to do to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God. I’m nothing, I just have a job. God keep me faithful on the job and then let me drop and go to the reward.”
found it to rather intriguing that you personalized those stories to you own life. If you are worried about the cell phone get Bluetooth, I don't think alex leaving you by means of killing himself has never entered his mind. The last one about the bike is over the top but I'd say something possibly worth being concerned about. In fact walking instead of biking could be just as bad.
ReplyDeletei think the reason that i personalized each of the stories is because i am selfish by nature. and yes, there are things i can do to be safer or less likely to get sick, but in the end i cant micromanage my life; its in God's hands. :)
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