Bad X-ray

A few months after I moved to Wilson I developed a persistent nagging cough. It was just there in the background literally for weeks, until I developed a fever and decided I’d better have it checked out. It was my first visit to a Doctor in Wilson and it was unforgettable. It was the weekend before my very first attempt at Directing Camp Lapihio and I could not believe that I was having to deal with a doctor’s visit at such a time.

I soon had my perspective restored. The doctor took an x-ray and found a suspicious mass in a part of the lung that usually didn’t show pneumonia. He sent me for a CAT scan and I received a suspicious diagnosis. All of this happened within a 24 hour period. One day I was worried about a nuisance visit to the doctor and the next I was worried about what would happen to me and my family if I had lung cancer. I remember the church praying and I remember having a few heart to heart conversations with the Lord myself. It turned out to be pneumonia and it was gone in time for me to be at camp by Monday night. Of course, I was praising the Lord for my deliverance.

But I am aware that for every story of deliverance there are several where the diagnosis does not get better, it, in fact, gets worse! How do you look at those situations? How can you make sense of this unevenness when it comes to our relationship with the Lord?