“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our
tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any
trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by
God”
(2
Corinthians 1:3-4)
Do you ever wonder about the people who win prestigious awards? It
might be a gold medal in the Olympics, an Academy Award, a college
degree, or a medal for valiant service in the armed forces -
Something! Who ARE these people? and you might wonder to yourself,
“Why isn’t it ME?” Well, it CAN be you, and in Christ, you’ll receive
a much better reward in eternity than anything this world can offer.
We just spent another week in Washington DC, and are now on Manhattan
Island, in New York City. We were in DC largely because of the death
of Bob, my best friend, and the husband of Genevieve for 27-years. He
died 25-years after his service in Vietnam, because of a cancer caused
by the herbicide “Agent Orange” sprayed in that country during the
war. It was time to speak on behalf of Veterans again.
I have heroes in my life who have won my admiration, and one of them
is
Genevieve, Bob’s widow, who became my new best friend and now is
my wife of two years. She was devastated by the death of Bob, but
looked to other widows in her loss, finding a group of mostly younger
Christian ladies who had suffered a similar blow, many of whom were
now raising small children alone. I was impressed that she put on a
widow’s retreat for them in the mountains. Out of her grief and loss
she comforted others.
Genevieve barely survived that time, and the fact that she did is
largely because God entrusted her with concerns and actions that
benefit other people.
Out of her grief came the AOWAC – the Agent Orange Widows Awareness
Coalition (www.AOWAC.org).
Genevieve learned a lot about Agent Orange related cancers and other
problems in trying to help Bob. After his death, she formed an
organization that helps other Veterans and their survivors. Genevieve
and
Diane Bowles (another heroine) are instrumental in this
organization, and they’re providing important information to a LOT of
suffering Veterans and those who lost them.
It was also impressive that Genevieve testified before a Congressional
Subcommittee, seeking the allocation of several million dollars for
cancer research, placing Bob’s story into the 106th Congressional
Record. And she was the Chairperson for the “Long Beach Vietnam
Veterans Memorial Fund Raising Committee,” raising funds to build the
Vietnam Memorial, in Long Beach, California. Diane was also on that
Committee. Heroes are those who put aside their own pain and help
others.
Another heroine is Sue Beeney, a Registered Nurse who started “New
Hope Grief Support” out of her own personal loss, and from years
of observing, from a hospice perspective, what happens to families who
lose loved ones. Genevieve told me, about three years ago: “Ron,
you’re a pastor, and it’s time to get trained-up in grief support!”
And so, we took the training and became facilitators for New Hope. Sue
has been wonderful in enabling us to reach out to those who have
experienced great loss.
Another heroine is Faye Dietiker, herself a cancer survivor, who
founded “Breast Cancer Angels,” reaching out to those who are still
living but have lost much. Faye, along with her husband Don Dietiker,
does an amazing work in helping survivors of breast cancer (visit
www.breastcancerangels.org). They also selflessly give their time
in other ways, like serving as Board Members for Friday Study
Ministries.
All of these people and others have been touched by God in relation to
their own loss. He took them out of themselves and drew them to other
people.
I have a rock at my computer station, which has the inscription, “Real
leaders are ordinary people with extraordinary determination.” There’s
a huge truth on that rock. Note that ALL the heroes in history and in
Scripture were ordinary people who were given a “dream” by God, often
experiencing great suffering and pressing through many obstacles
before their “dream” was realized.
David would have remained an ordinary shepherd boy, except the Lord
intervened and made him a king. Many years passed and much trouble
occurred before God’s “dream” came to pass in his life. Elijah was
just an ordinary man (James
5:17), but then, so were Abraham and all the rest. Yet they became
heroes of the faith (Hebrews
11).
The difference was that when God touched them, they said “Yes!” The
Lord gave them a vision of the future and off they went. No amount of
trouble ultimately stopped them from becoming what the Lord wanted
them to be.
All who are truly in the Body of Christ, the Church, have been
personally touched by the Lord. I am convinced that all His people
have been, or will be given a “dream” by Him, an awareness of what
they are supposed to be and do. There is in each one of us, a deep
inner need to express, through the power of the Holy Spirit of God,
something of the Lord into the lives of other people.
Some are given “great” dreams and others “small,” but those
distinctions are only from a human perspective. All that is given by
and from the Lord is a precious treasure, infinite in scope.
And all in the Body of Christ will be injured inside; some greater
than others. Such problems are designed to reveal to us something of
the suffering in this world. “Our” trouble may not be about us – it
may be a tool God is using, an opportunity to reach out and touch
those with similar difficulties, for their benefit and for the glory
of God.
There are those who need you. Will you respond?
Father, we give ourselves anew to You. We trust in Jesus Christ and
welcome Your Spirit in our lives. Show us what to do and where we
should go. We will follow You. In Jesus Name. Amen.
