Touching a Nerve

“OUCH!” My dentist, the ever-calm, always Christian gentleman Dr. Phil Yancho, was drilling around inside my mouth. He told me several times that if I felt anything, to please let him know. I always, yes always, hated to go to the dentist. I felt totally helpless against someone who, in the name of “fixing” the problem, tried to hurt me unmercifully. I found out early-on that I could not take a lot of pain. Yes, in this area, I am a complete wimp. Because of my fears of the dentist’s office, I held off going to the dentist for many years, resulting in major problems. Finding the good Dr. Yancho, the ever-calm, always Christian gentleman, I found a Brother in Christ who was concerned about my pain as much as I was. He taught me that even his looooong needles’ shots could be very bearable when he pinches just right. Numbing from the neck up is what I always requested. He goes the extra mile. Of course, I realize that he does not attempt to find all the open nerves in my teeth and prove to me that he knows where they are by touching them with his really (really) sharp steel instrument. Actually, I should rescind the first statement (the OUCH!). Because when he hit that nerve, I actually could only get out (remember, he was inside my mouth with all of his instruments also) the word “ULPHRUUFF!!!” I do not know what the word means, but I think it must be from Hislop’s Two Babylons, and is a reference to an Egyptian goddess of pain.

This is NOT Dr. Yancho! My dentist is pain-free.

Well, Dr. Yancho, I know exactly how you feel now. I guess I touched a nerve. Seems like each comment on the last post represented dozens that called me, and those represented hundreds that read the post. I am averaging about 300 visits a day according to my “Site Stats;” and have been averaging that for the past fifteen days. So, what do I make of the responses? I do not really know. Most of the people visiting the web log have been folks looking for cancer-related material. Perhaps they are trying to find someone going through lymphoma, who is expressing the thoughts, both high and low, of what it is to have a Cancer growing inside you with no treatment going on. Some readers are friends, desiring to know what is going on in my life. To these friends I have great appreciation for their concern for my well being.

Watch out! Reality Check Coming!

Still, in spite of my reflections on being prepared for the future, preparation is something that everyone of us should consider. I asked a widow not too long ago, expecting to hear some definite counsel, “What did your husband do, once he knew he had Cancer, to prepare you for a future all alone?” I completely expected this Christian widow of a very godly man to tell me the “list” of things he had done to prepare her for life without him. I took out my pen as I asked the question, expecting to write words of wisdom that I would hear. She looked at me across the table and said, “Nothing.” I was taken aback. “Nothing?” “Not one thing,” she emphasized. I thought to myself, “How is that possible?” But the truth set in as she explained all that she had to endure after his death. I realized then that we really do not prepare for the worst. “After all,” we think, “God will not forsake me, and He will heal me in the eleventh hour.” But God does not have to heal any of us physically. Death (falling asleep in Jesus) is the ultimate healing, ushering us into God’s presence for an eternity of serving Christ and enjoying the pleasures of Heaven.

Looking for that Blessed Hope...

It is not only our privilege and pleasure to “live” for Christ, but it is also our privilege and pleasure to “die” for Christ. Psalm 44:22 states, “Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.” The most interesting use of this verse is when the Apostle Paul uses it in his letter to the Romans, chapter 8, and verse 36. It is interesting because verse 35 asks the question, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Then Paul lists seven personal difficulties which we can encounter: tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and sword. Then he quotes Psalm 44:22. In other words, to paraphrase, We are killed for Christ’s sake, and He accounts us as sheep for being slaughtered for Him. Then, Paul states: “Nay, in all these things (tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword) we are more than conquerors through Him (Christ) that loved us.” The capstone of the matter is revealed in verses 38 and 39. Paul is persuaded that “death… (and nine other things – cannot) separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Click to Enlarge

In life, we shall praise and glorify Him. In death, we shall praise and glorify Him. “So now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.” (Philippians 1:20)