Don't Hide from God
…he returned home to his father. Filled with love and compassion he ran to his son. Luke 15:20 NLT
“Robbie? Robbie!” Her frantic voice called from a few aisles over in the grocery store. I could see he was around seven years old. He was at the end of my aisle, peeking carefully around the corner toward the voice.
Uh-oh, I thought, Robbie’s hiding.
Again she called. “Robbie?” As she rounded the corner at the other end, he took stiff soldier position, chin up, stared into the air and spoke in clipped robotic monotone, “YOU—ARE—TRANS—MITT—ING—I—AM—NOT—RE—CEIV—ING—RE—PEAT—YOU—ARE—TRANS—MITT—
I left the area.
Robbie had not gone far, but he reminded me of another disconnected son in another time. He moved away to a distant land and wasted his fathers’ money on wild living. It took others’ selfishness, a famine, the desire for pig food, and near starvation for him to want to reconnect. He was dying of hunger and feeling unworthy but knew he did not deserve to go home. A cancer patient put the same feelings this way: “I did what I wanted to do when I was young. I didn’t want to pay attention to God, so I didn’t. Won’t he know I’m coming to him because I have cancer and I’m so scared? Why would he want me now?”
When Robbie’s mother saw her son, she ran to him in tears, put her head down to his, and held him close (his lecture likely came later). When the father saw his prodigal son, he ran to him, welcomed him with open arms, and threw a party. My cancer patient friend accepted Christ’s invitation to her and received the spiritual peace and comfort of His welcome.
Would your heavenly Father do any less for you? He calls because he loves you. Make no mistake, now is not the time to play a game. He expects you to come. Don’t let cancer, whether cancer of the body or the cancer of sin, keep you from walking to His waiting heart. He will run to yours. Trust him enough to answer his call.
Venita McCart, founder of Faith Force Cancer Support Ministries has, with her group, ministered to hundreds of patients since 2005 through group meetings, personal contacts, writing, and speaking. A cancer survivor herself, Venita is currently working on materials to comfort and encourage cancer patients and their loved ones, and to help others create support ministries for the same. She and her husband live in central Illinois. Venita may be reached at venitamccart@yahoo.com.
