Kinley

“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  Isaiah 55:9 NIV

“His eyes are one the ways of mortals; he sees their every step.”  Job 34:21 NIV

So I met a man today who was given 18 months to live, 6 months ago.  How do you respond to that?  He is 51 years old and has stage 4 cancer.  By the time he knew anything it was too late to “fix” it and he knows it.

I go into a lot of houses and there are times it is easy to bring up faith.  But I am also in a lot of houses where bringing faith up is difficult.  I am a total stranger and they usually do not know I am coming until I knock on the door.  If I find a believer, it is easy.  If they are not a believer they may not be open to the strange man they just met talking to them about Jesus. 

Do you want to know what they will listen to?  A story about a spiritual warrior named Kinley.  If you don’t know her, she lives in our little town and we all got to know her story in a hurry.  Her mom posted a call for prayer after they went to the ER due to a headache and found out about a brain tumor.  The story moved quickly to an airplane ride to another city for brain surgery – the next day. 

To make the story even more compelling, she is 10 years old.  Everyone pays attention to a story about a 10 year old being rushed to brain surgery.  The prognosis could not have sounded more ominous.  Thankfully, the result could not have sounded any better.  She’s home.

I had the opportunity to see her this past week.  She doesn’t know me at all.  I expected to see a kid on the mend, moving slow, looking like she was recovering.  She does still have lot of recovery to do and a lot of follow up, but what I saw was a 10 year old running around like a 10 year old getting ready for a birthday party – hers.  She turned 11 years old last week.  Our daughter used to say “Double the one, double the fun.”  That is what I saw, running, laughing, and life.

So fast forward to a man who just told you he has 12 months to live and even with that diagnosis he will listen to a story about this young lady.  He will listen to a story about how the whole family has responded to this huge test of faith.  He will listen to a story about Kinley.

I think we underestimate the power of struggle.  Everyone struggles.  No one has an “easy” road.  What challenges me, may not challenge you and vice versa.  When I was young, I thought I could understand such things and probably tried to do so.  Now, I am old enough to know that I simply am not going to understand – anything.  God did not call me to understand.  He called me to trust.  Him. 

Kinley may not understand why.  She is too young for us to be able to explain why this happened to her and I think we should not claim to have the answer.  Be careful of anyone telling you they completely understand what God is doing.  His ways are not our ways.  But what I would want to tell her is that even though I do not have the answer, she is the answer sometimes.  She will help grown adults she will never meet get introduced to the peace only God can offer.  

What’s your story?

Have you ever thought that your story may be the very one God uses to reach another human soul?

Challenge:  Being willing.  Your challenge may be someone else’s answer.  It’s not brain surgery, except when it is actually brain surgery.  Sometimes it’s heart surgery in disguise. 

Rick Claiborn