Common Grounds Online

Matt Chandler: The Lord's Goodness As He Walks Through Brain Cancer

Matt Chandler, Pastor of the Village Church

http://fm.thevillagechurch.net/blog/pastors/

Prayer requests:

1. Healing

2. Side effects of chemo and radiation

3. Protection from viruses from his children as his immune system is down

4. Village Church, that the Spirit will work powerfully through the preaching of Colossians

Mount Hood Climber Tragedy, Deja Vu

In December 2006 I was drawn into the tragedy of three missing climbers on Mount Hood because one of them, Kelly James, was the brother of beloved professor and friend, Frank James (then president of RTS-Orlando, now provost of Gordon-Conwell). Frank and Carolyn are friends and comrades in the gospel, and I fervently prayed that the Lord would rescue Frank's brother and the other two climbers.

The Lord didn't rescue them, so all who loved the missing climbers grieved.

This morning, while sitting in the waiting room of a doctor's office, I saw the headline news on TV. More missing climbers on Mt. Hood, one found dead.

I wondered if Frank or another survivor would write something in light of the news. Frank did. Read this piercing post about his grief over his brother Kelly that he shares with more families this year.

Deja Vu, by Frank James

Excerpt:

I don’t exactly know what this will mean for each one. For me, it has meant that I can shout out loud my frustrations and even say things I don’t really mean; I can weep quietly in my bed in the middle of the night; I can look up into the sky, stretch out my arms and ask why? In all of this anguish, God was present even when I felt alone. I don’t understand this paradox: how I can feel so alone and yet sense in my bones that God is near? David describes much the same experience in Psalm 10. David cries out in verse 1: “Why, O Lord do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” But then David declares unequivocally in verse 17: “You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry.” It is a mystery—somehow both are true at the same time.

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As for me, I'm praying for Frank and Carolyn and the families of the 2006 and 2009 families who lost loved ones to Mount hood. Lord, have mercy.

Matt Chandler's Post, Prior to Brain Surgery: My Heart Is Full & I Am Thankful

Matt Chandler is the pastor of the Village Church in Flower Mound, TX, north of Dallas/Fort Worth. Because he's a pastor, perhaps some readers will yawn at this verbiage: Matt loves Jesus.

He really does love Jesus. It's not perfunctory or staged. It's not schtick or a spiel. Matt is a servant to a King, a disciple to a Master, a son to a Father. His fondest ambitions are not the human-fabricated benchmarks of "success." Matt is not about building an empire, he's about growing the Kingdom.

Last week, after Matt experienced a seizure, doctors diagnosed a brain tumor. The doctors scheduled the surgery for today, Friday, December 4. Read what Matt Chandler wrote at his blog prior to the surgery.

My Heart is Full...I Am Thankful

Excerpts:

I am grateful for the men of God in my life, namely John Piper who taught me to hold my life cheap and to join with Paul in saying “I don’t count my life of any value or as precious to myself if only I might finish my course and complete the work that He gave me to do to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God. I’m nothing, I just have a job. God keep me faithful on the job and then let me drop and go to the reward.” Without this strong view of God’s sovereign will, I’m not sure how you don’t despair in circumstances like mine.

I am thankful for my wife Lauren. “Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: ‘Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.’” “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.”

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Please pray for Matt,  his wife Lauren and their three little children.

Harvard Law Professor Bill Stuntz Interview About Cancer

Bill Stuntz was a law professor at UVa for many years before taking a job at Harvard Law. He is also a thoughtful and committed believer. Jeff Barneson, on InterVarsity staff at Harvard, interviews Stuntz and asks him about his cancer diagnosis.

Dr. Bill Stuntz from twentyonehundred productions on Vimeo.

Cody Chambers, The Fruits of Adversity

Yesterday was noteworthy for two reasons. First, I joined a bunch of 20-somethings many years my juniors in taking the first exam of our medical school careers. It was certainly a unique event for this author who last took Anatomy and Physiology fifteen years ago. However, just as noteworthy was the sight after the test: a sea of humanity spread out from those lecture halls buzzing about those mean questions from those mean professors. We were all, suddenly, the best of friends. A guy I had never seen before smiled and said, “Hey, man, how'd ya do?” That lab mate who I thought had forgotten my name all of sudden wanted to run down the answers with me. We had been through the fire, but we had been through the fire together, and that made all of difference.

Sleeping for Sorrow, take 2

A few years ago, I wrote a piece for CommonGrounds Online called “Staying Awake.” Its premise, in a nutshell, was to call believers to stay awake even in the suffering seasons. My example came from Luke 22: 45, when the disciples could not stay awake with Jesus as He sweat bled and wrestled with the Father’s will. Luke says it was "for sorrow" that the disciples slept; the three could not bear to be with their friend and face his pain with Him. His inner circle checked out.

 I still stand by that call. But a trip to the hair salon expanded my view. The gift of "presence" is beyond treasure. As Margaret Guenther suggests in The Art of Spiritual Direction "compassion is never a cheap or easy gift." It costs to stay awake, and so many of us fail in the face of our friend’s struggle. 

Justin Holcomb, "Filth and Crowns"

8:18-24 tells us that our current sufferings will seem slight when compared to the glory that will be revealed. This is not to deny suffering. Paul concedes that suffering is numbingly and painfully real. But in comparison with glory, suffering looks different because it is dwarfed by the grandeur of glory awaiting believers. One of my friends gave birth to her first child a few weeks ago and this is exactly how she talks about birth. The pain of birth was intense and there was lots of groaning, but she said it didn’t even compare to the euphoria of having her daughter in her arms.

Please Pray for Alden

Last week I received another stark reminder that all is not well in our world. On Tuesday morning my boss, Steve Malachowski, sent out an emotional e-mail saying his daughter Alden had been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Alden is wonderful 11-year-old who’s kindness and cheer have always been a comfort to those around her. Last year I had the privilege of teaching her guitar lessons, so I have seen her joy and warmth firsthand. She has always been a healthy and happy little girl, so the news came as quite a shock to everyone. After her diagnosis she was immediately admitted to Dell Children’s Hospital here in Austin and has already begun her first round of chemo. Our fervent hope is that this initial round of treatment will eradicate the leukemia from Alden’s blood and that her tests will show a low risk of relapse. Please keep Alden and her family (parents Steve and Shelley, sisters Lauren and Cady) in your prayers. To learn more about Alden, please visit her Caring Bridge page.

As I think about Alden’s ailment, I cannot help but remember the ways the Lord has been at work in my life throughout my wife’s sickness (click here for a little background). In the past I always found it difficult to empathize with others when they underwent trials and tribulations. Because I had yet to experience much pain, it was hard to understand the pain of those around me. But the process of enduring sickness with my wife, of being in and out of hospitals, of seeing the pain etched on her face and dealing with the uncertainty and anxiety that come with illness has changed my heart. In gaining a deeper understanding of what it means to suffer, it becomes easier to enter into the suffering of others. It certainly makes my heart ache for the Malachowskis’ current situation. Moreover, the care we received from our family, friends and neighbors has had an equally profound impact on the ways we care for those in need. Just as we love Jesus because he first loved us, we are more able to comfort because we ourselves have been comforted in the past. Reflecting on all of this it is my prayer that Alden will not only be healed of her leukemia, but that the Lord will use this time of suffering to shape her heart so that in the future she will be better able to care for those who suffer. May this current heartache become a future boon for the Church and for the Kingdom.

Amy Lauger, It’s Friday, but Sunday’s Coming!

Many friends of mine are undergoing unimaginable struggles as I type this post. Several are suffering through the physical afflictions of their young children. Other families are being torn asunder by addictions and abuse. Some are wishing year after year for a mate or family of their own, while others are forced to watch their parents or beloved spouses suffer through any of a number of debilitating, degrading conditions. So many hopes are unfulfilled, so many dreams left shattered. Here at home and abroad unspeakable tragedies and injustices happen every day, including slavery, forced prostitution, starvation, perpetual wars, and genocide.

Cody Chambers, The Saints in New Orleans

A week before Christmas I visited a place I had seen only through a TV screen—post-Katrina New Orleans. My hosts, my aunt and uncle, had told me about the state of the city time and time again, but I was unprepared for the sheer magnitude of the destruction.  The news shots of dilapidated buildings had given me some idea of the damage, but only a ride past block after block after block of decimation gave me an idea of the massive scale.

 

Stanley had been in his house two months.  That's right, two months.  Katrina struck over two years ago.  After my aunt introduced me to this office colleague and friend, we went through the niceties of talking about repairs to the house and how his health problems were clearing up.  “We really like how the kitchen turned out.  My wife always wanted a fridge like that.”  “Yes, Stanley, it looks great.  And it looks like your paneling in the living room worked out well.”  After a lull, the conversation turned to the trial of being a New Orleanian.  I wasn't sure how I could broach the subject of what it's like to go through something like this, but Stanley volunteered his thoughts.  “You know, we couldn't have done this without Jesus.”  He looked me straight in the eye for the first time.  His eyes lit up while at the same time the graveness of what he had been through remained in his countenance.  My aunt and I fell silent as he spoke of the Lord's gift of endurance and hope through the dark times.  It was quiet in the room.  This was not a man going through the points of a Sunday School lesson.  This was a man who had faced the fires of a world gone awry, having his faith tested and proved true.