[1]
Colossians 3:2-3
Revised English Bible
Think about the
things that are above, not the things that are on the earth, for you died and your life has been hidden with Christ in God,
In 2016 I survived West Nile Virus. It is generally fatal in
people over 60, apparently more so than Coronavirus-19. It caused brain fever
in me, and there are five weeks of which I remember nothing, except for a few
very vivid hallucinations. I had friends whom it killed in fairly short order.
There were many people around the world who were praying for my survival. To this
day I don’t know why the Lord chose to let me live.
My urologist visited me twice while I was in hospital with
WNV. I don’t remember the first visit. On the second visit I was very lucid. He
told me, “When you are well, and up and about, you need to stop in and see me. We
need to start treating you for recurrent prostate cancer.”
After he left me, I looked up and prayed, “Why Lord? Why
didn’t you let me die while I was so sick with WNV? Why preserve me for chemo
and other nasty treatments?” This is one prayer, “Why?” that the Lord has never
stooped to answer, at least not for me! His answer to Paul, when he prayed for relief
from his “thorn in the flesh,” was “My grace is sufficient for you.”[2]
That has to suffice for me, too.
Sometimes I mention my experience to people who express interest.
They almost invariably respond with something like, “Well, He must have
something more He wants you to do!” Since He hasn’t spelled it out clearly
enough for me to read it yet, it’s up to me to follow the preacher: “Whatever your hand finds
to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, or planning, or knowledge,
or wisdom, in Sheol, where you are going.”[3]
In
October during a Deep Calling project at my church, I decided to return to this
blog series and published my blog of October 26. In November I started really
working on my memoirs of our time at Ikizu in Tanzania in the late 1960s and
early 1970s. About the same time I came down with very painful eye problems so
bad I couldn’t even read the big “E” on the eye chart. It just might be that
the enemy of all mankind was trying to discourage me. My eye sight is returning
to normal, so I’ll pursue both the memoirs and this blog until I learn differently.
Thank You, Lord, for
sparing me, and thank You for encouraging me to continue with my might until You
do lay me in Sheol.
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