The Steve Brown Show

Here’s the link to the interview on the STEVE BROWN SHOW

Feel free to discuss it over on Steve’s blog or come back here to discuss it. Here’s one comment that’s come up already:

I hear you on trusting God to save our butts and not worrying about if he’s pissed.  I wasn’t so much concerned with him being mad though, instead I was thinking about how in my life, trusting him hasn’t dealt with the fear associated with the pain of life.  Even knowing that he will be with me in it and that I’ll be given the strength to endure, I still don’t end up less afraid.  I’m talking about worrying about my kids, finances, etc.  He might sovereignly and lovingly take one of my kids.  I’d trust him, but that would still suck.

Let’s address that concept that “He might lovingly TAKE one of my kids.”

God doesn’t TAKE kids. He didn’t TAKE my father, or your daughter or even your favorite dog. It isn’t in God’s nature to be a TAKER. He’s is a GIVER. He is the GIVER of life. He is the BREATH of life.

DEATH is God’s enemy, not his tool. There is only one Destroyer and his name isn’t the CREATOR of Life.

So study on that for awhile. And don’t be coming after me with your comments about the Old Testament. If you don’t own one, beg, borrow or steal a New Testament. (He’ll forgive you for it.) Read up on death and how Jesus approached it. It was his enemy. Something to be feared. Something to dread with every drop of our blood.

We ought to abhor it. We ought to rail against it.

The process of dying sucks.

Losing a friend or a loved one is devastating. It is the reason why Jesus wept at Lazareth’s grave.

Not because he didn’t believe in a resurrection. Heck he was the resurrection and the life.He wept because he didn’t want to see his friend that way. It’s okay to be afraid of death. It’s okay to fear dying.

The problem arises when we let the fear of death or dying keep us from living. When we cower away from life and the pleasures and joys that God meant for us to enjoy simply because we can’t bear the thought of the bad things that will come.

Let me give you a real life for instance. When I met Gordon Wofford I knew he had cancer. I knew he was in treatment for it. He would say to me often that he knew he didn’t have much time.

If I had let fear have its way with me, I would never have allowed myself to get so involved with Gordon’s life and his problems and his family.

If I hadn’t gotten involved it wouldn’t hurt so much now that he’s gone, but think of all the life I would have missed out on, all the stories, all the laughter.

Does it suck to lose Gordon?

Yes.

But God didn’t take Gordon. Cancer did.

God gave me the gift of Gordon’s friendship.

My life is so much fuller because of that.

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Living boldly

Connie called this week. She was on her way out the door to apply for a job at the jewelry store. Isn’t that great? She heard they needed part-time sales clerk and she figured it was the perfect job for her, working around all that beauty. I love that.

What should a person do when dealing with advanced cancer and your spouse loses his job?

You go looking for a job at a jewelry store.

Connie teaches me how to live boldly, joyfully.

The girl from Mobile and I went out for dinner the other night. We did a progressive dinner thing. Ate eggrolls at Ashtens. Too expensive and too cold. Went over to the pub and had shrimp & grits. Then to Tripp’s for apple cobbler.

We’re too old to bar hop so we food hop. 🙂

I’m prepping this morning for an interview with the guru Steve Brown. You should tune in at noon EST. My friend Patti Callahan Henry says he’s got the voice of Buddha. Actually he’s got the exact same voice as Joe Galloway.

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