Control, Faith & Hope

On March 26, 2007 my co-worker Robert's life dramatically changed unexpectedly.

That evening while at work, waiting to leave for a dinner meeting, Robert suffered a seizure. By God's grace, I was at the office. I had been procrastinating for as long as possible to go to the same dinner meeting.

With five minutes remaining to be at the restaurant, I realized there was no more time to wait. I stepped into Robert's office and found him unconscious. I dialed 911 and was the beginning of a long chain of events that saved his life. What impacted me the most was God did everything but physically restrain me to be at the right place and time. I know I was there because that was God's desire for me at that time.

Brain cancer was diagnosed as the cause for the seizures. Robert immediately went into treatment.

On May 28, 2009 Robert's life ended peacefully while on a beach vacation with his family.

During the past two years, I was eager to see how God's divine plan would unfold in his family's life. Obviously, it was not God's intention for Robert to die alone, unconscious and on the office floor. So what was God's plan for Robert?

During those two years I had the opportunity to know Robert and his wife LeAnn more than I would have otherwise been able. I marveled at their faith in God and on more than one occasion said their marriage was a ministry to other married couples.

Life isn't always easy. It's not always difficult either, but when we say "I do," at the alter in front of our future spouse, minister, family and friends I think we sometimes don't remember the "in good times and bad times."

We dream of an idealistic life full of blessings. But life's dreams don't always come true. Some are never realized, and others aren't realized in our own time.

I know Robert never dreamed of being diagnosed with cancer or dying at 50 and leaving his wife and young children any more than I dream of losing my wife to an awful disease. But God is always in control and there is comfort in knowing there is a plan for all of our good and bad experiences in life.

LeAnn turned to this scripture in her most recent blog regarding Robert's condition: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perserverance. Perseverance must finish it's work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything" James 1:2-4

Even when Robert suffered a stroke in February and was partially paralyzed, his family never lost sight in God's control over their lives; never gave up in God's limitless power. In fact, they viewed the stroke as God's way of healing Robert. What an amazing testament of faith!

"I know, O Lord, that a man's life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps." Jeremiah 10: 23

Faith is believing in something unseen and otherwise unprovable. I am amazed by the faith of Robert's family during the past two years. Their faith in God never wavered. Marriages have collapsed and people's faith has been lost over much less trials and tribulations, and yet Robert's family maintained faith in God's plan.

Faith and hope, however, aren't necessarily the same. I know thousands of fervent prayers were sent to God's ears during the past two years on Robert's behalf. Thousands of prayers are sent every hour from God's creation to his abode pleading for his divine intercession in life.

We hope for so many things in life from trivial things to miraculous healing. Some of our hopes are realized. Others are not. And eventually we all reach a point in our lives when there are no more tomorrows.

You see, with 20/20 hindsight, I don't believe God had any spectacular plans for Robert after his seizures. At least, none that people in far-off countries will ever know. No biographies will be written about him. His life has slipped into eternity without world-wide notoriety.

However, how many times has someone died unexpectedly and you wished you could have said something to that person? Certainly, without his trials and tribulations during the past couple of years no one would have had the opportunity to say how much of a positive impact Robert had in their lives. For those people closest to Robert and LeAnn, they are an amazing testament to maintain faith in God even when our hopes aren't answered in the way we want.

Why did God spare Robert's life two years ago?

For one, Robert beat the survival rate statistics and because of people like him trial drug treatments for his type cancer are now approved by the FDA and will help save or prolong the lives of other people.

But more importantly, I believe it was to allow his family and friends to adjust to the unexpected. It was to give us the opportunity to say how positive an impact he had in our lives. Looking back, I believe his seizure in February was a signal that Robert's time was near. And by the time he was on that beach vacation surrounded by his family last week, I know Robert found ever-lasting peace when he slipped from our hands into the Lord's hands. I hope his family and friends are comforted not only by knowing Robert's final destination, but also by the time we had with him.

Robert, we will miss you dearly. But we will see each other again soon.