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I AM Standing Up

True Confessions of a Total Freak of Nature

This is a true story-it happened exactly the way I describe it, I promise.

Once upon a time there was a young girl who had big plans. She was from an all-American family. She had three big sisters and one little brother. They lived in a nice house on the right side of town. Her dad owned his own successful business. Her mom stayed at home, baked cookies, and wore an apron. Her parents also had big plans for her future. She would go to college, maybe become a teacher, eventually settle down with a respectable man, and live a safe, comfortable, predictable life.

But then something happened. She met him. He was handsome and mysterious. She fell in love. But her family didn't approve. He was a high school dropout from the wrong side of town. He drove fast and hung out with a really rough crowd. He'd been in the Army. He had sideburns and a tattoo-although it wasn't a very good tattoo. It was supposed to be a ferocious panther. Instead it looked like a really imposing sweet potato. As far as her folks were concerned, he was bad news.

But the boy and girl didn't care because they were in love. They had big plans for their future. They would date for a few years, and then once he got a good, high-paying job, they would get married. They were so in love. Then late one passion-filled November night, they consummated their love in the backseat of a Chevrolet. A few weeks later the girl found out she was pregnant.

Their big wedding plans sped up a bit, and they ended up eloping on a blustery winter evening. Their big plans had changed. Suddenly, they had big plans for a family: a little house with a nursery, a crib, toys, and a big backyard with plenty of room for a child to grow up.

Finally, the time came. Their baby was on the way. The boy drove the girl to the hospital. Because of some really heavy sedatives, she doesn't remember a lot about the actual birth.

All she remembers was coming out of her drug-induced slumber to find several very somber-looking doctors surrounding her bed. They explained to her that there were complications. Her baby was sick ... really sick. She had delivered a boy, but he was born with fluid on the brain. The doctors told her it was very unlikely her child would survive the next 24 hours. And if by some remote chance he lived, he'd be severely mentally and physically handicapped. He would basically be a vegetable and wouldn't live past the age of 12. Then the doctors left the young couple alone.

The mother did something she had rarely done before: She prayed. She prayed because she was scared and helpless, and praying was all she could do. She believed there was a God, but she had always kept him at a distance. She didn't bother God, and she hoped he wouldn't bother her. She was a good person and even went to church once a year at Christmas, but she had no real interaction or relationship with the Creator.

But now she was at the end of her rope, so she made God a promise: "If you let my baby live, I will give him to you." It was a desperate plea, but it wasn't a hasty bargaining tool. She meant it.

The doctors came in a few hours later. They looked a little confused as they scribbled on their clipboards and whispered to each other. Then one of the doctors cleared his throat and said, "We don't understand it, but your baby is fine. He's totally healthy." The baby was healed totally-it turned out God had some big plans.

I know this story is true because I was the baby. (Gee, you didn't see that coming, did you?) There's a cool lesson in the story of my birth. God puts broken things and broken people back together, physically and spiritually. I was born broken, and God healed me. My mom was spiritually broken, and God healed her. She has lived for Christ ever since that day, and she's one of the most amazing women of God you would ever meet.

Something to Stand On

I know God heals. I am literally living proof. I also know in the Bible it says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). So everything Jesus did while he was on this planet, he still does. He healed people then-he heals people now. I really don't understand how it works. I just know it does. Jesus was broken so we can be whole. Isaiah says, "He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5).

One really good definition for healing is "restoration of the original idea or vision." It's like restoring an old painting. Its original beauty is rediscovered.

Let's look at one chunky example. Luke says, "Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them. At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them" (Luke 4:38-40).

Jesus is still healing. He hasn't retired. The promises in the Bible have no expiration dates. But here's a question, and it's a really big question: What about when it seems like God doesn't heal? In the passage we just read, Jesus healed Simon Peter's mother-in-law. That's very inspiring.

But let me tell you about my mother-in-law, Sharon Mortimer. Sharon was the mother of eight kids. My wife, Diana, is the youngest. Sharon lived in Keokuk, Iowa. Several years ago she was diagnosed with cancer. Her family rallied around her, and she was treated. She started going back to church, and we got some great news. The cancer was gone. Everything seemed good. Sharon and her husband, Jack, celebrated their 50th anniversary. It was a good time.

But a week after the anniversary party, Sharon went to the doctor because she was having stomach pains. It turned out the cancer was back. This time it was in her liver. The family rallied. People all over were praying for her. But she didn't get better-she got worse, and cancer stole her life. What do I do with that? I'm sure many of you wrestle with the same question.

I know our understanding is earthbound and limited. Could it be God has a totally different perspective on healing than ours? His perspective isn't limited by time or space. He views our lives in light of the eternal, not the temporary. Our time on this planet is just a very small part of our lives. The best is truly yet to come-and that's not just some meaningless hype.

I've also talked to people who think when God doesn't heal, it's because people have sinned or have a lack of faith in their life. But I really don't buy that because healing is God's job, not ours, and his love and desire to heal is bigger than our sin or doubt.

I don't know how or why God heals or why he doesn't. I have more questions than answers, but I do know two things.

1. God is good.

God is continually good. It's more than what he does. It's who he is! God can't be not good. It would go against God's nature. He's good, and there's never a time when he isn't trying to bring about good in your life. Bad things happen because we live on a fallen planet held captive by an evil terrorist. We have a very real enemy, Satan, who's doing his best to destroy our dreams and lives.

Sometimes we also make stupid choices, but through it all, God is good. He causes all things to work together for good. He brings good from our pain and heartache. He brings sunshine from our shadows. But sometimes we don't understand how God's working in our lives, which brings us to the second thing I know ...

2. God is mysterious.

We won't understand a lot of things on this side of the curtain. We can't figure out God or put him in one of our boxes. We can't prepackage God. God is mysterious-sometimes that's the only answer we get, and it's enough, because without mystery, we wouldn't need faith.

"They all realized they were in a place of holy mystery, that God was at work among them" (Luke 7:16, MSG). The fact that we can't totally figure out God allows us to approach him with a sense of awe and wonder.

God is good; God is mysterious. The two work together. If God were good without being mysterious, he'd be boring. He'd be Mr. Rogers: Safe, sanitized, and predictable-too predictable. If God were mysterious without being good, he'd be creepy and harmful. People have tried desperately to take away God's mystery. They've tried to turn the Creator into a prepackaged formula and to control God. But the problem is, if we take away this mystery, we also take away God's power.

God is mysterious. I know he does (and will continue to do) things I have no explanation for. But because I also know God is good, even in the midst of mystery, I can trust God. That seemed like a pretty good place to start this story.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from I AM Standing Up by Luke Lang Copyright © 2009 by Luke Lang. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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