Prozac. Maybe that's what I need before I watch the news again. Because I know I'm going to be hit with stories and numbers that just quantify a lot of hurt in a lot of lives right now...jobs lost...homes lost...loved ones lost...record numbers living in poverty...struggling families...devastating disasters...and always, always, people dying.
But this week, as I called a bunch of friends about an upcoming event, I kept running into that hurt in people I know. Kathy's husband died of from a massive brain tumor only days after they returned from their family vacation. She's trying to figure out life without him.
One friend poured out a heart broken by what's happening to their family. Travis talked about the collapse of the construction business and their battle to save their own home and their son's. Rob - Mr. Healthy - is suddenly in a pain-wracked battle to beat the cancer that seemed to come out of nowhere. More calls, more pain. And that's just one day's phone conversations.
It's a reminder that behind all those statistics and news stories are very real, very hurting people. These conversations have elevated three strong realities that sometimes slip off my radar. One - I don't pray enough for my friends. Two - my problems really aren't that big. Three - well, this one takes me back to an unforgettable moment in a funeral home.
Bob, the young assistant pastor at our church, had died suddenly. And by human reckoning, way too soon. I struggled for what to say as I walked up to his casket where his widow Judy stood with their three young, unfinished children. Before I could try to comfort Judy, she comforted me. She held her kids close and simply said three words - "Jesus is enough."
And that was the recurring bottom line in my phone conversations. Because my friends weren't just talking about hurt. They were talking about hope. They were talking about their Jesus who continues to be "enough." Because "the Lord is close to the brokenhearted" (Psalm 34:18) - they are feeling Him unusually close. They have His promise that "your strength will equal your days" (Deuteronomy 33:25). And they're telling me about uncommon strength they cannot explain.
They're believing that "all things work together for good for those who love God" (Romans 8:28). A chapter may be over, but their life isn't. Because there is a Plan! My friend in construction can see some of the Plan in the pain - he said, "Because of it, we're closer to God and each other than ever before." There is a Savior who provides for you, whether or not there's a paycheck...who sustains you when you can barely move...who holds you when no one on earth can help.
I honestly don't know how folks do life's deepest valleys without Jesus. He is literally the margin of emotional and spiritual survival. "And though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." Why? "Because You are with me" (Psalm 23:4). Jesus promised, "I am with you always" (Matthew 28:20). I know He'll never leave me. Because if He was ever going to, it would have been when He was pouring out His life for me on a cross. To pay for everything I've ever done against Him. He didn't leave me then. He will not leave me now.
Our suddenly-widowed friend, Kathy, said there are some days she pulls in the driveway from the grocery store and says, "I don't even know how I got there and back." I think I know how.
When our son was three years old, we visited the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. I can remember him looking up that massive flight of steps and probably thinking, "There's no way." Right. No way. But that little guy did make it to the top. Because his daddy carried him where his own strength couldn't. God said, "In the desert you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son all the way" (Deuteronomy 1:31).
When you can't walk, your Father will carry you. I really can do "all things through Christ who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13). Because Jesus really is enough.
P.S. - John and Nancy are precious friends, frontline spiritual heroes. I just got a call from my wife, crushed by the news that Nancy died early this morning after a long, grueling battle with cancer. Our hearts are heavy. But a few days ago, Nancy said, "The only question is where I'm going to get healed - either here or in heaven." She has walked through the valley of the shadow of death with Jesus by her side all the way - and that was all the difference. And John - well, his Daddy is carrying him.