So, Let’s consider: What do you say to a friend that’s just gotten the bad news?

So, it’s the Christmas season. The time where everyone is supposed to be bright, happy and of good cheer…
I got a ping from an old friend that they’d been admitted to the hospital for some tests. Our families have known each other for several generations and since the tests were taking a while and it’d been some time since I’d seen them, I wandered down for a visit. We talked for a while, the hospital doctor came in and tried his best to act competent. After he left we talked some more until I felt it was best that I left and let them get some much needed rest.
Shortly after I left, the doctor returned with the test results. It wasn’t good news. It was cancer…and in a big way.
Now, I’ve had 2 major death diagnosis in my life, and my father and I were both given cancer diagnosis within 2 weeks of each other back in 2001. He’s no longer with us. But what do you say to someone that’s never been in a hospital and just had a tonne of lead dropped on them? …and at Christmas…?
Simply: there’s hope for your future. Not that there’s some magic bullet cure, but that there’s hope in the reason we have the Christmas season. The same scriptures that lead us to the Christmas season also tell us in John 3:16 that we have a future if we believe in the person who’s life and gift we celebrate at this time of year…regardless of when the Christ child was actually born. “For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, that whosoever believes on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life…” This doesn’t mean that we’re not going to die in this life, but that we have hope in the next.
I’m not going to tell you I have all the answers. I don’t. In fact, I have way more questions than I have answers. But I believe there’s hope.
Many of us have been lead by preachers and self proclaimed theologians that we need to believe and practice the way they prescript. Frankly, I rejected that long ago. The only thing that matters is your own walk and relationship with your friend and savior. And I don’t think it’s really as complex as most organized religions would like us to think. I firmly believe that those that seek will be led in the path that is theirs to walk.
If you get the chance, pick up a copy of Tim Jennings’ book “Could it be this simple”. And get ready to unlearn and relearn a lot of what hope lies in your future. Hope really is that simple.
So, remember, there’s hope…and that’s the REAL reason for the season….
I’m Don Rima and that’s the view From Where I Stand.