When the Rains Come
Oftentimes, when riding my bike alone, I listen to Tim Keller's podcast. For nearly 30 years he was the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC. In the late '80s, Tim and his wife, Kathy, founded the church and since they strongly believe in bringing the good news of Jesus to the city, Tim frames his talks and books in terms of the educated, cultural, and skeptical soup that is New York. When I listen to one of his sermons or lectures or forums I'm left shaking my head at the insights he can draw out of a text and the current applications he makes. Keller, to me, stands as our generation's C.S. Lewis. Literate, urbane, quiet, and for a couple of years now facing the very hard diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, this man of God is showing what faith looks like in times of personal bad news, when the hard rain falls. He and Kathy continue to pursue what they feel is their mission while doing the treatment dance with what is often an incurable disease.
A bit ago, I was out pedaling and listening to a round-table talk with Keller and some others. They addressed several topics then Tim was asked how the cancer diagnosis and treatment affected his work. His response circled around the idea that Jesus could be trusted with not just Keller's salvation, but every bit of his life, including the cancer, and hopefully used by God to further the kingdom work at hand. He talked about God's comfort and care and the encouragement he has drawn from his track record with Jesus, whom he trusts with all he has. I can easily imagine how many people have been comforted by what Tim has learned as they face their own challenge.
This is so much like what Paul teaches at the outset of 2 Corinthians. This church in an urban center not unlike NYC had loads of issues, some of which made up the bulk of his first letter to them. In this second letter, Paul will have to deal with more rough spots and accusations against him, but it is interesting how the letter begins. Listen to it from the Message:
All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too.
In this paragraph, Paul drives home his point with repetition. Ten times in the first seven verses he uses the Greek word, parakaleo, which is most commonly translated as "comfort." This well-traveled term literally means "to call alongside." The picture is of one person walking alongside another for a spell over some rough terrain. You know how that makes you feel: encouraged, emboldened, uplifted ... comforted.
First, he boldly asserts that our Father comes alongside us in the midst of our mess and does the work of parakaleo. We experience the comfort of God and the message that we are not abandoned nor unloved, not even forgotten in our troubles. He strengthens our resolve to stay faithful to all that matters. Then, almost like we have been tutored on how powerful and useful this can be for folks, someone often crosses our path who needs just that same message. We become co-laborers with God in this. How fun is that!
Use a Bible app and read these verses in several translations to see how Paul weaves in a most powerful message through the repetition of the key term. His point looks in and then out in sequence. The given is that in this world, hard times come. Never entertain the idea that your suffering is God's punishment for your misdeeds, or that your faith will insulate you from harm. It is the price of doing business in a yet-to-be-redeemed world. In his "kingdom come" all will be right, but now ... not so much.
When our hard times knock on the door, count on the Holy Spirit to walk alongside you through it all: this is the "in" of the sequence.
The "out" comes when we take what we learn in our hard days and encourage others along our way. We are in this together. We face our challenges by ourselves, but not by ourselves.
Tim Keller's cancer story is still unfolding, but in the meantime he writes and speaks and counsels as from a follower of Jesus who has tried him and found him faithful. Tim and Kathy's hope is not tied to this world but for all that lies ahead. Comfort comes from our conviction that this life is just the first letter of the first word of the first sentence of the first paragraph of the first chapter of an epic story yet to be finished. And his story is yours, as well.
So, friend, take heart when rain falls. Look for his umbrella for shelter, then be ready to offer yours to others caught out in the weather.
In and out, just like breathing. Take in the Father's comfort, then breathe it out to others. Let's go!
How about some music...
And a couple of dumb jokes for the week...
Two friends were driving through Louisiana when they came to a sign that told them they were almost to Natchitoches. They argued all the way there about how to pronounce the name of the town.
Finally they stopped for lunch. After getting their food, one of the guys said to the cashier, "Can you settle an argument for us? Very slowly, tell us where we are."
The cashier leaned over the counter and said, "Buuurrrrrr-Gerrrrrr Kiiiinnnnnggg."
________
John: What's the difference between a lemon, an elephant, and a bag of cement?
Philip: I give up, what's the difference?
John: You can squeeze a lemon, but you can't squeeze an elephant.
Philip: What about the bag of cement?
John: I just threw that in to make it hard.