Billy

James 5:13-16  You did know that God heals, even today, past "the age of miracles"?  True, try it, dare you.

James 5:13-16 Is anyone among you in trouble?  Let them pray.  Is anyone happy?  Let them sing songs of praise.  Is anyone among you sick?  let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.  And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up.  If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.  Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.  The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

It is no secret to anyone that has been through me teaching a Bible class, that I have some tried and true verses that I come back to very often.  I don't know if that is a thing or not, but I have to admit it is true for me.

Some verses touch us deeply, and I think are planted there, in times of great emotion, for all the rest of our lives.  Sort of a tangible thing, a rock to cling to in the storm.  And so it is, with me, in these verses.  Jeremiah 29:11-13 kind of describes my overall belief about my relationship with God, James 5:13-15 kind of describes my overall approach to living life.

I have been in trouble.  I have been happy.  I have been sick.  And I have most definitely sinned.  These verses are meant to encourage the reader, people of a very real and fragile faith, that their life is not unique.  This is not "happening" to them.  It is sadly, just the reality of the broken world in which we live.

It is a heavy spiritual debate about why God would allow sin to exist in His creation.  Most of the times I have taught these verses, I have ended up in that debate.  I don't mind, I like to debate.  I learn the most, when people challenge me the hardest.  And, I am by no means qualified to deny anyone else's understanding.  It doesn't mean I think they are right, but I am not God, and I cannot judge them in His place.

But, I think this morning that these verses laid on my heart all night for a simpler reason.  One that is very personal to me and my family, and perhaps not "worldwide" in concern.  But, my cousin, Billy, was in a very serious boating accident.  He hurt his right arm severely.  That hurt my soul bad enough to keep me awake a very long time.  I am always hurting when any of my family suffers.  My niece lost her dog to an accident last night, and that had me teared up this morning.  Never saw the dog except in pictures, but she, her husband and those sweet kids are going to go through a lot of loss and pain.  I just always feel some responsibility to make it better.

I take my responsibilities seriously.  Always have, and hopefully, always will.  While that contributes to a certain amount of stress in my life, it is because I care.  And I can't imagine living, and not caring.  But, these verses in James point out to the kind of lie I tell myself all the time, which is why they are so important to me.  It is not my responsibility, taking away pain.  It is my responsibility to take pain to God.

The verses are straightforward.  Are you in trouble?  Then YOU should pray.  Are you happy?  Then YOU should rejoice with praise.  Are you sick?  Then, and it is an important then, call for others in your faith family, to pray over you, and anoint (consecrate you) in the name of the Lord.

See, if you are in trouble, or happy, or unhappy, or successful, or emotional, or weak, or blessed, then YOU should PRAY and PRAISE.  Not a very difficult formula, and that is one of the reasons I like the book of James, and am kind of concerned by the book of James.  Simple does not mean easy, nor does it mean natural.  When we have something happen in our lives, a challenge or a blessing, God wants us to make Him first in our lives.  We are to PRAY (thanks, relief, help, calm, care, ...).  Take it God, and be brutally honest and open, acknowledge to Him, that which we lack.  And, we are to PRAISE (shout, sing, dance, smile, laugh, love, ...).  Show to God our appreciation, by pleasing Him that we do acknowledge the good He works, constantly, in our lives.

These are very personal and cornerstone to a strong faith life with God.  Lots of other verses point this out as well.  This is not shocking theology in the Christian world.  We just struggle with it, because shame and guilt get in the way of accepting grace.  That is true for every Christian there is.  Even the Pope struggles with that, because grace is foreign to our sinful nature.

If we don't follow these simple instructions, it is impossible to show God that we love Him with all our heart, all our mind, all our soul, and all our strength.  One leads to the other, but is inseparable from either.  But, back to this morning and Billy.

When we are sick, injured, damaged, emotionally or physically, we are asked to do the most powerful thing that Christians can do.  We call other Christians to our side, for wherever two or more are gathered in His name, God is there also.  And, we are to make the sick person part of our personal relationship with God.  That person needs to become so dear to us, that we approach God for that person, exactly as we approach God for ourselves.  And we make that person special, to God, purposefully and faithfully.

It says, without question, that the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well, the Lord will raise them up.  If, and is almost a certainty, that sick person has sinned, they will be forgiven.  Not all of this is about the physical.  I don't know why God decides to intercede physically where He does.  In my own life, God has reached out and healed me, when I did not deserve it.  And He has chosen not to heal me when I have begged for it.  Without getting too long, there are lots of reasons I could guess, but the bottom line is I do not know for sure.  And, that is a hard thing to say to people that are suffering, are hurt, ill, in pain.  I don't know why God decides, so I don't know what God decides, before He does it.  I just have to have faith.

So, if we cannot EXPECT God to heal us physically every time we ask, and the Word of God is true, what do these verses mean.  Some of the most difficult conversations I have ever had with myself and with others are about that question.  In a place of pain and suffering, our limitations as humans only add to the burden.  But, the verses here do not say that the sickness or injury will be cured.  They say that the sick will be made well.

I don't believe God causes suffering for us, to teach us things.  I believe that God allows suffering to occur because that is the wage of sin, and I am without question a sinner.  The difference between cause and allow is huge here.  Everything is in God's control, He can stop any suffering, any pain, instantaneously and forever.  We are not undergoing something outside of God's control or plan.  There is nothing that falls out of His scope.  But, it is very wrong to assume that the best thing for us is physical healing immediately.

God, who works all things to our good, promises to make us well.  That may mean giving us the strength and grace to weather the particular suffering, for an ultimate purpose that we cannot see.  Emotionally and physically, God makes us well, not necessarily whole.  I don't understand, I can't explain, how He sees all the connections in the spider web that is a world of essentially 7 billion people.  But, I know that He does.

When we come together, in faith, and make another person as important in our relationship with God, as we are, when we do that genuinely, God provides healing.  Healing for us, that we can manage the situation and continue to care for and watch over our loved one.  And healing for our loved one.  In the soul, in the body, in the mind, in the heart, in the grace, somewhere, God flips the right switch to turn on the right thing, so that all things turn out for all of our good.

For example, I don't know how God worked my Daddy dying for our good.  Nothing about it felt like it was good.  In the moment, it was so painful and so overwhelming, I did not know even how to touch the enormity of it to me.  But, others came together and prayed over us, all of us in the family, and the right switch flipped, and we made it.  I miss him so much I can't express it.  I miss that voice telling me it will be alright son.  I miss having someone on this Earth, whose son I am.  It hurts to this day, like I can't explain.  But, we made it, together.

I don't know how many people at the hospital, even the priest, told us how much our family touched them.  Praying, together, loving, all of us clustered around and touching Daddy.  Maybe, in that network of interaction, that large and intricate spider web, not only did we make it, together, but maybe we gave someone else that thing they needed that moment, for that issue, so that they made it.  We will never know, but it is possible.  I have to have faith.  I have to leave this gigantic, painful hole in my heart, at the altar of my prayers, and have faith that God made Daddy well, which is what I prayed for.  It certainly would have been great if he had healed my Dad, restored him to the robust man from when I was a boy.

But, healing is not always about making better.  After almost 20 years, maybe it was time for God to heal Daddy's heart, and give him back his brother, his wife and his Mama.  Those losses were so painful for him.  Maybe the healing of Daddy's soul was more important to God.  I only know that we came together, many of us.  And we prayed together for my father, we even anointed him with oil.  And, shortly after, he was at peace.

So, I have many examples in my life where James was true to his word in these verses.  God is amazing.  Now, though I don't write these posts so much to ask for others to do stuff, I want all of you that read this, regardless of your faith, regardless of your personal journey, to please take a small moment, and please hold my cousin Billy up in prayer.  But, also hold up my family, his sisters Debbie and Joann, my brother Lorne, all of the other cousins, Morgan, Leon, Robert, Mark, Beverly, Becky, Amber, Greg, and all the rest of the folks that see Billy as their family.  Like ripples in a pond, each tear drop flows through our lives, and the impact magnifies.  Prayer, positive energy, good vibes, kind thoughts, whatever it is that you subscribe to, have so much more effect and power.  Instead of dropping like a tear drop in a lake, it is like a boulder in a bathtub.

No greater power exists than love.  Let's all feel a little love today, please.  Put Billy's name to it, and mine and my family, and I will put my faith in God, and encourage them to do the same.  Billy's whole life has been about serving and building others, about how to make others the greatest self they can be.  He deserves to see that love returned, a hundred fold.  Maybe that is the gift here, that God wants to give him, and we are the ones that are going to do the giving.  I don't know if that is the reason, but, it certainly should be, in my opinion.  Let a little love shine, please.  The world is a really dark place otherwise.

GLYASDI