Many of the most poignant times of my pastoral ministry have been walking with families through the valley of cancer.  I do not consider myself to be very emotional and sensitive, but ministering to families enduring the affliction of a terminal disease like cancer strikes one of the deepest chords in my soul and heart.  I recently read an article, “Cancer’s Unexpected Blessings,” by Tony Snow, President Bush’s Press Secretary.  (You can link up to the article on my pastor’s blog www.tommyclark.blogspot.com).  Tony Snow endured a fight with colon cancer in 2005, and just recently, this 51-year-old husband and father of three learned that the cancer returned in the form of tumors in his abdomen.  He is presently undergoing chemotherapy.  Christianity Today asked Tony Snow to share the spiritual lessons he has uncovered as he has walked through this valley.
       Snow responded, “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.”  It is natural for us to ask the why questions when we face something as terrible as cancer, but as followers of Jesus we should not let the why questions rob us of the steadfast hope we have in God.  Snow emphasized this hope by saying, “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 the now and the moment we meet our Creator face-to-face.” 
       Another lesson Snow shared is learning how to open your eyes and heart to what God is doing around you.  He says, “God relishes surprises.  We want lives of simple, predictable ease—smooth, even trails as far as the eyes 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.” 
       When God takes us “off-road” and leads us through a valley like cancer, it’s not because God loves to watch us hurt, or be scared, or writhe in pain.  Through our moments of greatest fear and anxiety, God manifests his incredible power to sustain us by giving us courageous hearts.  Some of the most courageous people I have met in ministry have been cancer-stricken followers of Christ.  I remember one such lady many years ago for whom I prayed in a hospital room.  She was in the last stages of cancer.  I was a young pastor and wasn’t sure exactly what to say and knew that any words that I did saw would fall clumsily to the floor.  So I prayed for her the best prayer I could pray, hoping that she would be encouraged and fling her hope on Christ.  After the “amen,” she looked at me with a gleam of hope in her eye, the kind of sparkly hope that only Jesus can give, and she said to me, “Now….let me pray for you!”  And this follower of Jesus, whose physical body was falling apart because of cancer, turned her heart and soul toward me for a moment of prayer, and interceded for me and my family.  This is one of hundreds of poignant moments in ministry that have sent me to the floor in humility.  Cancer is not the end for a follower of Christ; it’s just a battle to be endured.  The cross and resurrection truly is our steadfast hope.  As Snow says, “God likes to go off-road…but by his love and grace, we persevere.”

Category : Tommy Talk