Mad About You and Red Stuff

Yesterday, as I picked up my Bible, I told God I wanted to know what to read, what to look at, to study. I want this time to be helpful to me, but also to help me help others, especially those closest to me. It seemed God prompted me to just go back to James 1:2-4 and start there. I can run references and gather other leads as I go through them. So I picked up my Bible – one that I haven’t used in a few months, and there, in the margins around James 1:2 are these words.

“Problems are not punishments but wake up calls. God is not mad at you, but mad about you, and He is trying to get your attention.”

Well, he certainly has my attention. There is a now a fresh dynamic of faith working here. I have been convinced for years of both the truth and exclusivity of the gospel, the efficacy of His salvation, and – perhaps most of all – His amazing grace. Now that my physicians have uttered the word "cancer" into my health evaluation, I have the warning “shot across the bow” that many never receive. Being sure of your relationship to Christ is way more than assuming everyone goes to heaven. More about that on another day.

In scripture, if you read the New American Standard Bible, you'll find that Esau traded his birthright for what is literally translated "red stuff." I know we usually think of it at "Jacob's Amazing Stew," but, whatever it was, apparently the color was red.

Today, I was surprised the have some "red stuff" myself during my second round of chemo. Through my own exceptional ability of misunderstanding what is said to me, I thought the two-medicine day was going to happen next Thursday. But this is what the doctors and nurses, were saying (and what my wife ws hearing) all along. So far so good. Pray that the side effects stay mild. Okay, that is the "health report."

Thanks for your prayers and notes of encouragement.