UPDATE ON JOE: (40 days since he was admitted to the hospital) Ive been sick myself the past week and havent been able to visit Joe, but have kept up on all the things, good bad and ugly behind the scenes. My own frustration and pain as of late cannot be compared to Joes, but I wanted to share something that God has been teaching me. Its not about me. Nor has this whole endeavor with Joe, now or before, been about Joe. Its about Jesus. Our world has been entered into by God himself to do what we could never do for ourselves: rescue, redeem and renew humanity from evil, brokenness and death. Its not a nice idea, philosophy, a piece of good advice, a program, an inspirational talk or mere moral code. The Gospel is an announcement of Hope we all need to hear. Joe the artist, singer, creative mind, life of the party, fun... is not the point for Joe to come back to. These gifts were never meant to be his identity. As any of our talents or achievements were never supposed to be ours. Gifts from God point us to our true identity found wholly lived only in Christ, as all other successes or pleasures gained in this life are merely temporary. My prayer is that when God decides to take Joe (at a ripe old age).... He would be remembered for far greater things.... As I pray for my own lifes eulogy: I want my life to be a walking pronouncement that my JOY was in The Lord I LOVED, not my circumstances, and that I loved and cared for others more than I loved or cared for myself. Jesus came to serve, not be served.... - Matt. 20:28 My honest question to all of you who have been following Joes story.... Is DO YOU KNOW THE REAL STORY? .... And give His life as a ransom for many. - Matt. 20:28 (continued) For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. - John 3:16-17 Joe is one of my best friends, but friendship with Jesus is first in my life and always will be. I pray you know the relationship of Jesus that is true Christianity, (not the religion or hypocrisy that Christians so sadly display). Look to Jesus my friends. Hes the one thats perfect- we are just the sinners he came to save. Please pray that Joe knows his best friend Jesus more and more. Joes soul recovery and healing is of far greater importance than the regaining of his physical abilities. I pray for each of us to be praying for our own healing in these simple truths as well, every day. Ill leave you with a quote from C.S. Lewis on suffering and a sovereign God: The more we believe that God hurts only to heal, the less we can believe that there is any use in begging for tenderness. A cruel man might be bribed...But suppose that what you are up against is a surgeon whose intentions are wholly good. The kinder and more conscientious he is, the more inexorably he will go on cutting. If he yielded to your entreaties, if he stopped before the operation was complete, all the pain up to that point would have been useless. But is it credible that such extremities of torture should be necessary for us? Well, take your choice. The tortures occur. If they are unnecessary, then there is no God or a bad one. If there is a good God, then these tortures are necessary. For no even moderately good Being could possibly inflict or permit them if they werent. Either way, were for it. C.S. Lewis
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 06:36:34 +0000
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