Mighty Warrior

One of my very favorite moments from my very first mission trip happened in a remote village in Guatemala.  The medical clinic was in full swing, but for some reason that day there were more healthy children than sick children.  The kids were full of life and energy and curiosity.  They weren’t used to seeing gringos, so they swarmed around us waiting for us to DO something.  With the help of a great interpreter, we settled the kids down and got them to sit on the ground in a semi-orderly fashion.  I stood on top of a makeshift “stage” (a few cinderblocks hastily arranged on the dirt) and told them one of the greatest bible stories of all time.  It’s the story of a serious underdog overcoming staggering odds.  Who doesn’t like THAT?!  The kids were mesmerized, as the interpreter did her best to imitate my southern drawl.  They cheered from a raw place deep inside them when God showed up in the story to help a people who were seemingly defenseless.

I kept having flashbacks of that moment as I sat in the bleachers at Flowery Branch High School last night.   As the cheerleaders raised the traditional giant banner for the home team to burst through as they entered the field of battle, my mind began to review the story of Gideon.

After Moses led the Israelites (God’s chosen people) out of Egypt, where they had been enslaved for 400 years, a guy named Joshua led them into the Promised Land – a land the bible describes as “flowing with milk and honey.”  Life was good.  The Israelites seemed invincible – you could say they were in their “teenage years” as a people group.  They were strong, the land was good, and life was great!

But life can turn on a dime.

The Israelites encountered an enemy stronger than them.  The Midianites.  They were a particularly repulsive and nasty enemy.  They didn’t fight fair.  They allowed hope to soar in the hearts of the Israelites, because they would fade into the background while the Israelites worked hard in the fields to grow their crops.  Life almost seemed normal for a season.  But just as the crops were ready to be harvested, the Midianites would swoop in with overpowering force and steal EVERYTHING.  Crops ravaged.  Hope destroyed.  Land devastated.  This happened over and over again.  The Israelites were weary of the cycle.  Giving up and NOT planting a crop would mean certain defeat.  They would starve to death.  But planting the crops began to seem futile because of the Midianites.   Finally the Israelites prayed to their God.

Cancer and the Midianites have a lot in common.  Both are nasty.  Both are relentless.  Both fight dirty.

But God has always delighted in showing up and showing off where man’s attempts fail.  Scripture says in 2 Corinthians 12:9 that His power is made perfect in our weakness.  As if to underscore that statement, God chose a very unconventional method to answer the prayer of the Israelites.

There was a guy named Gideon.  He was just a guy trying to survive in a tough set of circumstances.  In fact, when we first meet Gideon in the pages of scripture, he is literally hiding in a hole in the ground trying to grind enough wheat to make a few loaves of bread for his family.  He had somehow managed to harvest some wheat before the Midianites swooped in to steal it all. 

The angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon – while he was in the bottom of a pit and said these words:

“The Lord is with you, Mighty Warrior!” (Judges chapter 6)

Gideon had a pretty funny, and very human, response to that.  “Really?  Coulda fooled me!  Well then Mr. hotshot Angel, tell me THIS...If the Lord IS with us, as you say, why has all this happened to us?  Where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about – you know, the Egyptian plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the battle of Jericho – ALL that.   Where is God NOW when we need Him, Mr. Angel?” 

Ever thought those thoughts when your circumstances weren’t the ones you’d choose?  I surely have.  “Lord, why has all this happened to us?  We’re the good guys, remember?!  We don’t drink, we don’t smoke, we don’t cuss (much).  We go to church every Sunday.  We pay our taxes. We vote and even watch the stupid debates.  We love our neighbor as ourselves. Aren’t you keeping score up there? Why did cancer hit OUR family – and why did it have to be BRAIN cancer?  How about Big Toe cancer instead?  Intellectually and spiritually, we know better than to ask those questions.  But emotionally… we just go ahead and ask them anyway.  It’s human.  Thankfully, God is bigger than our silly questions.

I love what God said in reply to Gideon’s questions.  “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand.  Am I not sending you?”

Gideon (as paraphrased in the little-known and seldom-quoted, “Aunt Marybeth Translation” of the Bible): “The strength I HAVE?  Are you crazy?  Don’t you know I have a huge scar on my head that I now have to cover with a bandana because my hair is falling out?  Did you FORGET that I am 22 radiation treatments deep into a 30 treatment regimen?  How about chemo?  You DO remember the chemo, right? – Exactly WHAT strength is it that you mean? And by the way, it’s pretty funny that you called me a ‘Mighty Warrior’ earlier… in case you haven’t noticed, I’m hiding in the bottom of a pit.  Nothing warrior-like about that.  You should think about submitting for a voluntary drug test, Mr. Angel of the Lord.”

The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.”

Most of the time, we’d rather stay safely hidden – and our strong preference is for God to just go annihilate the enemy by Himself while we passively watch.  But that’s not the God of the Bible.  Over and over again, He required plain ole humans to go out and FIGHT… in the strength they had.  

Keaton is #70

Remember that guy Nehemiah, who built the wall in the last post?  He said something AWESOME in Nehemiah 8:10.  He said, “Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord IS your strength.”

When we renew our minds, and we stop questioning God and instead trust Him to lead us through the valley – when we obediently fight and trust Him to supply what we lack, God SHOWS UP.

Gideon’s story is spread over a few short chapters in the book of Judges beginning in chapter 6.  You should go read it.  It’s got underdogs and villains and bloody battles and miracles.  Better than any novel.  How does the story end?  Well, I’ll let you read it from a real translation of scripture, as opposed to the Aunt Marybeth version… but it ends something like the final scoreboard from last night's game:

 Good Guys:  54     Bad Guys:  14

It was a great night of football.  Keaton displayed the strength of the Lord.  In the bleachers, we laughed, we cried, and we celebrated the fact that the Joy of The Lord IS our Strength.  We watched a true Warrior do battle on a football field, when the enemy tried its best to send Keaton to a pit.  (Based on the amount of chemo and radiation and active cancer cells in his body, the enemy figured Keaton would be home on the couch listening to the game on local radio.) 

The enemy figured wrong.  “The Lord is with you, Mighty Warrior!”

Enjoy these shots from the game.  And keep praying for Keaton!

Keaton's youngest cousin, Delk, was cheering him on!

Keaton #70 and His Fellow Warriors

Sorry #8, The Joy of the Lord is My Strength!

Keaton Clapping After The O Line Mows 'em Down.  Even I could have scored thru that hole!

Staying Loose Between Offensive Series

On The Sidelines After Yet Another TD!

The Cook Boys Swarm the Field to Find Keaton After The Victory

Post Game Huddle With The Coach

Fans Showing Some Love to KC

Proud Grandparents!

Gray Goes With Everything

For the past 12 years, my husband Keith, has had the privilege of working from home.  He works for a small, highly-specialized consulting firm and while his coworkers are few in number, they are flung far and wide… from Oregon to Atlanta and even a couple in London.  He occasionally has to travel to client sites, but for the most part his morning commute consists of two sets of stairs.  Personally, I would be an abysmal failure in that environment, but his God-given sense of self-discipline coupled with his West Point Military Academy training enables him to thrive. He is a hard-working man, but eliminating the commute (especially in traffic-snarled Atlanta) nets him much more time with his family than most dads have.  We are thankful for that.

The dress code for this work arrangement, as you might imagine, takes “business casual” to a whole other dimension.  Shorts, T-Shirts, and flipflops are standard fare.  A disproportionate number of his T-Shirts are gray.  Why… I have no idea.  Most of his shorts are khaki; nothing unusual about that.  But for almost 20 years of marriage I have been trying (intermittently) to explain to him that gray and khaki do NOT match.  Every single time I say it, he glances down at his “work attire” with a look of complete astonishment on his face, as if he’s never heard such a thing.  Then he very calmly tells me, “Gray goes with everything.”  And for almost 20 years, his answer has driven me crazy – in that small way that living with another human being in a fallen world can sometimes do.

But as of today, I am officially conceding the point.  As of today, I am choosing to AGREE with his position.  As of today, I stand shoulder to shoulder with my spouse and declare at the top of my lungs, “GRAY GOES WITH EVERYTHING!!”  Why the sudden shift in my perspective?

Well you see, I am officially a very proud member of “Keaton’s Warriors.”  The American Cancer Society has designated the color GRAY for Brain Cancer the same way it designated pink for Breast Cancer.  (Makes perfect sense)  Some of Keaton’s school friends had these bracelets made to show their loyalty and their support.  This photo captures my whole family.  It's the first time we've dressed alike without the wailing and vehement protesting.

I wear it with absolutely everything!  Khaki shorts?  Wearing the gray bracelet.  Fancy dress and high heels?  Gonna wear the bracelet.  Brown outfit for Fall?  Wearing it.  Gray goes with everything!

By way of update, Keaton reached the HALFWAY point of his radiation treatments today.  Fifteen down, fifteen to go.  He’s doing amazingly well, which I attribute to the prayers of so MANY who are faithfully lifting his name up to the heavens each and every day.  His side effects have been minimal, and his attitude has been incredible.  Did I mention he makes it to football practice every day after school?  Wants to win his starting job back on the O Line.  Won’t surprise me a bit if he does just that.

There’s no END to the football analogies I could have chosen for this “halftime” milestone in his treatment, but I figured after the last two posts… you guys were probably sick of an old lady trying to write about football.  So I’m going to just stick with what I know best. J

I attended the Women of Faith conference a couple of weeks ago, and heard Kelly Minter teach from the book of Nehemiah.  She was great, and God had given her some spiritual insights to share with us that I had never pondered.  I was inspired to go back and read the book of Nehemiah for myself.  It’s a short book – takes about 30 minutes to read the whole thing.  But I noticed something this time through that I had never paid attention to before.  I love that about the Bible.  No matter how many times I’ve read something, God can open my eyes to it in a different way.  That’s a great example of that verse in Hebrews 4:12 that says “scripture is living and active.”

The story told by Nehemiah is not a complicated one.  Essentially, the nation of Judah and the city of Jerusalem had been attacked and conquered by a powerful enemy.  In bible times, cities were “fortified” for protection, meaning that a literal WALL was constructed around it to keep the bad guys out.  Jerusalem’s wall had been flattened, the city had been burned to the ground, and the citizens had been hauled off to the conquering land of Babylon.  Nehemiah was born in captivity, so for him… the horror of Jerusalem’s demise was simply a history lesson – the way our kids study Pearl Harbor today.  But Nehemiah was a very patriotic soul, and he wanted God to restore Jerusalem to the splendor it once held.  So with God’s help, he set out to do that very thing.  Rebuilding the wall was his first priority.

That’s just the basic storyline, and I’ve read it many times.  It’s exciting.  It’s got lots of action and adventure, and it’s an easy read.  (You should read it.)  So what caught my eye this time that I had not noticed before?  In the New Living Translation, Nehemiah 4:6 tells us these words:  “At last the wall was completed to half its height around the entire city, for the people had worked with enthusiasm.”

I actually laughed out loud at God.  He is so amazing and so personal with us.  I had been thinking about Keaton’s upcoming “half way point” with his radiation treatments, and God focused my mind on a passage of scripture that addresses a “half way point.”  How cool is THAT?  So I began reading with very focused attention.  One thing I noticed from the passage is that when a project is NEW, people jump on board “with enthusiasm.”  Keaton has had such an incredible outpouring of love and support from family, and friends, and heck - from people he’s never even met.  We are so grateful for all of you!

But enthusiasm is not an easy thing to maintain over the long haul.  So this pep talk isn’t for Keaton at ALL – it’s for all you wonderful people who wear the gray bracelets.  Personally, I think Keaton’s support system is the best that’s ever been!  And I know we want to stay sharp.

Cancer is a fierce enemy, and defeating it will not be quick or easy.  But we are determined!  So was Nehemiah.  In his story, it was  at the half way point  of building the wall that the enemies surrounding Jerusalem began to take notice and step up their  game. The going got a little tougher at the half way point, and the workers felt the heat.

Verse 8 says,  “The workers are getting tired and there is so much rubble to be moved.  We will never be able to build the wall by ourselves.”    I love the humanness of that verse.  Fifteen roundtrips from Flowery Branch to Egleston DONE… but the “fifteen- to- go” might just start to get old.  Keaton would probably like to swap commutes with his Uncle Keith for awhile, but he doesn’t have that option.

As chemo and radiation build up in the body, fatigue becomes a factor.  Cancer IS a physical battle, but do not underestimate the mental aspect of the fight.  A friend of mine has a husband in the fight.   His is Pancreatic.  Here’s a quote from a recent Caringbridge entry of his, “The war against cancer is a constant battle of attrition.  It tries to wear you down until the patient simply gives up.  It is impossible to fight 24/7.”

Nehemiah understood this aspect of his fight, and he took steps to make sure no one gave up.  And I want to make sure that Keaton’s Warriors get ready to step in the gap if fatigue (mental or physical) becomes a factor!  Listen to what Nehemiah did (again from chapter 4, verses 13 & 14.)   “So I placed armed guards behind the lowest parts of the wall in the exposed areas.  I stationed the people to stand guard by families, armed with swords, spears and bows.  Then as I looked over the situation, I called together the nobles and the rest of the people and said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid of the enemy!   Remember the Lord who is great and glorious, and fight for your brother!”

What are Keaton’s “lowest parts of the wall?”  Well, I don’t know for sure (teenage boys aren’t the most verbally expressive creatures on the planet)… but I think it might just be the isolation his treatment routine brings.  He DOES make it to school by 4^th period and to football practice after school, but his mornings certainly don’t look like other 16 year-olds.  And so, as Keaton’s Warriors, God has stationed us to stand guard at these low parts.  How do we do that?  What are our swords, spears, and bows?  Well, as we're sitting at the breakfast table eating our Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs, Keaton is on I-85 headed in the opposite direction of Homeroom.  What would you want in that situation?  Probably nothing elaborate – the little things mean so much.  How about text messages, or instagrams or other social media words that I have absolutely no idea how to use?  How about a note now and then to let him know we haven’t forgotten and we are absolutely remembering to pray! I have become convinced that Keaton’s Warriors are the most creative people on the planet… so I have no doubt that you guys will figure this out!

As the last half of Keaton’s wall gets built (the last 15 radiation treatments), let’s pray that God will supernaturally empower those treatments to SO obliterate this brain tumor that cancer will FLEE from his body forever!   Nehemiah 6:15-16 “So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.  When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.”   If Keaton’s blood counts cooperate, his wall will be completed on October 24^th.  Now you know the prayer between now and then!

On October 12^th, there’s a special football game at The Branch.  It’s Cancer Awareness Night.  Keaton’s Warriors will be out in masse.  There will be T-Shirts to go with our beloved bracelets. 

Remember… GRAY GOES WITH EVERYTHING!!!

Isaiah 49:22,23(b) This is what the Sovereign LORD says: See,  I will beckon to the Gentiles; I will lift up my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders.  Then you will know that I am the LORD.  Those who hope in me will not be disappointed.”