2 Years and counting — Jesus, Matthew, and the Whale
Exactly 2 years ago today I underwent a craniotomy where they removed a massive 7cm cubed tumour which turned out to be a grade II oligodendroglioma.
It was on the verge of killing me and I didn’t know it, and was found through the miracle of literally my glasses disappearing in the King Shaka Slow Lounge.
I am not going to go through all the details again, you can read that in my first post on Medium “Jesus, Matthew, and the Whale”.
But what I am going to witness about is what has happened since that fateful day.
When I woke up in hospital it was 5 days later and I wasn’t able to walk or move much at all because of muscle atrophy, and things seemed hopeless because I didn’t know if or when I would be able to work again and support my family.
My work very much requires my brain, and if that is damaged then what ?
All these things the enemy constantly brought to mind — that I should just give up and run away from everything because it was all too much to bare.
But I ignored that and held onto Jesus, and through much broken prayer, and much prayer from my darling wife, my wonderful church Kings Cross Durbanville, and unwavering support from its elders and brothers in Christ Werner and Rob, more has happened in the last 2 years than all my years before it.
Since then I had chemo, another craniotomy, and radiation. But you would never know it, because the impossible has been made possible, I have been healed and restored both in my brain and in my soul, and my business has embarked apon a project that I had been waiting to do for years but had not had the courage to do which has real promise and we are releasing in the 1st quarter next year.
Did I do all of this ? Did the radiation give me super powers like my brother Ross keeps teasing ?
No. It is simply Jesus. He is and has always been the author and perfector of my faith.
Every day I have not let go of Him, and He has not let go of me, never denying me the comfort of the Holy Spirit even though I have often fallen short.
This is the amazing grace of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. There is nothing we can do it earn this salvation. We can only accept it by believing in Jesus and accepting Him as our Lord and saviour.
Thats it — and the world says “its not that easy, it can’t be!”. So they walk on coals, give all the money to the things that give them the most honour, and think that through works they can attain the salvation offered by their dead “gods”.
There is only one alive God, one saviour who died and rose again, who was present and participated in the creation of the universe, and one Holy Spirit who brings to action all that God speaks.
Everything else is counterfeit. Everything else is a distraction from the enemy to get us away from God, to not believe in Jesus’s sacrifice, because he wants them in his kingdom which is hell literally.
So Jesus is the answer, He is the unfair gift to anyone who chooses to receive it.
That is why He said many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
It is not up to us, it is through Jesus’s sacrifice — that’s all we need.
And then we walk with Him, and He reveals slowly what needs to change in us, and He reveals His purpose for us.
And we do that not as works, but as the outworking of our faith. Out of love for Him. Scripture actually says that to love Him is to obey — such an amazing thing! It is not out of duty, but love!
So we are walking, in step with Jesus by His grace, into His purposes, for it is written:
‘You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. ‘
Genesis 50:20 https://my.bible.com/bible/111/GEN.50.20
So I must speak and witness what God has done, for Jesus gave us the great commission, and never mind all the other things God is doing, it is my testimony about what Jesus has done is all that matters, that you may read it and turn to Him who is faithful, and able to so much more in us as it is written:
‘Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.’
Ephesians 3:20–21 https://my.bible.com/bible/111/EPH.3.20-21
Amen!
