Brad and I recently found out our pastor, Ed Heck, from the time we graduated college and were married passed away earlier this month. That brought back a lot of memories for us and sadness for our church family in Kankakee, IL. I was watching a tribute made to honor his life in Christ and I saw that he had posted a blog the day before he died. I always love to know what people are saying and thinking as they are going through difficult times, so I was thrilled that we could read these words from his heart! There were even a couple blog posts made after his passing, so he must have been working ahead....I praise God for his life and faithfulness through his suffering!
In Job’s day, the shadowy land of Uz placed the burden for the spiritual life of the family squarely upon the fathers because there were no priests or clergy. What an incredibly novel idea, right? Just try to imagine if all the responsibility for the spiritual development of your family rested upon your shoulders and your shoulders alone today.
Peter Borger and his wife have written a book on the problems created when institutions and professionals take over the functions reserved for the family. With keen insight the Borger’s conclude that whenever and wherever the responsibility for family is turned to other mediating agencies — even the church — the problems we are trying to solve are significantly aggravated. This fact uncovers and highlights a very serious problem at work in our culture today: the family is no longer considered the center for spiritual development!
Instead, most of those responsibilities have been delegated to the church, the school, the government, and our peers. The tragic result is the family has become the weakest link in the chain of spiritual development when in fact it should be the strongest! I cite this disturbing reality because I don’t think there is anyone who can adequately substitute for parents who work out righteousness by “putting right” the relationship with their family.
If this is true (and I think it is), and if righteousness means being right, doing right, and now putting right, then practically speaking it means righteousness touches the nerve center of all our inmost desires to be consistent in character, honest in conduct, and responsible in relationships. What a monumental challenge.
Enter the world of suffering. Last evening, I listened as a very dear friend prayed for me and in her prayer she said, “The height of our joy will never exceed the depth of our suffering.” I have to be honest: I loved that! But at the same time, especially facing the enormous physical challenge I’m facing, I’m not sure that I liked it! What I do know for sure is that suffering is not a respecter of persons. Suffering enters the lives of the just and the unjust, the wealthy and the poor, and the young and the old. I’m 62 years old and embarking on the greatest depth of suffering I’ve ever experienced in my life. But have you seen one of those commercials for St. Jude’s? Are you kidding me? Young children, who should be frolicking through life, are immersed in unbelievable suffering and still able to muster the most contagious smiles you’ve ever seen!
Job’s experience confirms for me once and for all that there is no direct cause-effect relationship between sin and suffering. From Job’s example, we have learned a few very important things. First, we’ve learned that suffering is no respecter of persons. Job’s perfection in righteousness takes away the notion that he deserved to suffer. Once and for all, in Job’s example, the idea that you can establish a direct cause-effect relationship between sin and suffering is put to rest. Far too often this unsubstantiated idea has been twisted into a weapon that is used against those who suffer, and maybe even more importantly, against God who is deemed responsible for the suffering.
Now, let me make an observation that has only been highlighted in my own experience since my diagnosis with advanced, aggressive prostate cancer. This may or may not be true in every circumstance, but here’s what I’m starting to believe. Suffering, when experienced, rarely results in a dramatic reversal in either one’s character or conduct. I really don’t think it does. Instead, what I’ve seen and now experiencing myself is howsuffering only propels us in the direction we were already going at the time the suffering is encountered. In other words, suffering either draws us closer toward God or pushes us further away from God depending on where we were prior to the injection of suffering into the equation of our lives.
Suffering only propels us in the direction we were already going.
Allow me to lay this out for you and share what this has meant for me in the most recent days of my life. The weight of suffering and the intensity of struggle that accompanies it quite literally places us on a roller-coaster ride of physical, emotional, and spiritual upheaval. For some, this generates an incredible sense of nausea and physical discomfort. For others, like me, it stirs up the disposition of a boxer ready to jump into the ring and swing away at the adversary. Either way, suffering can, and will, effectively either drive us more toward God or away from Him! It’s part of the human condition and response to it. It’s not something that can be ignored, disregarded, or camouflaged.
I remember one of the very first illustrations or object lessons I saw depicting what it is like to live the Spirit-filled life. The person teaching the lesson held a glass of water in their hands and shook it. Water cascaded out of the glass and onto the floor. The point of the object lesson was simply that what is in the glass, when shaken, is what you can expect to come out of the glass. The application, of course, suggested that what is in your heart when shaken is what spills out.
Suffice it to say, I’ve been shaken like never before in my life. There are moments I find myself still shaking in the aftershock of what I am resolved in my heart to fight with every ounce of my being. My prayer is and has been from the very beginning that God spills out of my shaken life! Let me declare it while I still have the ability to do so: I am right with God, I am right with things, and I’ve put things right with others!
The shake of this suffering — while I’m not expecting it to be a lot of fun — is only going to draw me closer to God!
Love you and need you,
Pastor Heck
Medical Update – 9/5/16
Well, week one of post treatment is now complete. The anticipated side effects of chemo have been minimal: some initial insomnia, some bloating/constipation, general ache and pain as the chemo attacks the bones, and a much more stabilized sleep regimen that has enable me to have more strength and stamina during the day. There are some issues and occasionally as I am figuring out when/how to eat to avoid sugar fluctuations that sometimes results in dizziness and light headedness which requires me to sit down for a while.
Thanks so much for covering me in prayer. With God’s help and your prayers I was able to fulfill my commitment to speak to he softball players and their families at the National Nazarene Softball Tournament!
“ So far, SO God!”
