Last Sunday I received a note from Alice McQuitty in which she gave a quick update on how Andy's treatments for colon cancer are progressing. I have written about Andy here and here. We have known Andy and Alice for 26 years and count them as dear friends. I wrote Andy a note saying that we were going to "dig in" and pray for him that God might see fit to grant him healing in the deepest sense of the word. And I have recently written two sermons about Praying for the Sick because we have been overwhelmed since early July with the news of dear friends struggling either with cancer or with other dire physical conditions.

Alice's note began with these encouraging words:

You are right on, my brother!  Healing is so much more than physical: it is about wholeness in every facet of our being.  That is what I am praying for Andy and myself and IBC in these days. I loved both your messages on praying for the sick - so encouraging.  Thank you! 

She added an update about the treatments and also some news about Andy's father who is currently in the hospital. "These are challenging days for sure," Alice said.

Then she closed with these words:

That is the essence of the true Christian position in the world. Sometimes things don't go the way we expect or hope or pray. But our faith rests not on what we can see or figure out or even humanly understand. As a beloved hymn says,

My faith has found a resting place,
Not in device nor creed;
I trust the Ever-living One,
His wounds for me shall plead.

And that He died for me.

The picture accompanying this entry shows a group of bikers wearing Keep Believing wristbands at the 2009 Bodock Festival Ride in Pontotoc, Mississippi. They wore the wristbands in memory of John Paul Frerer, a young man from Tupelo who was killed in a biking accident last month. He would have been a high school senior. 

Onward we go . . . still believing.

You can reach the author at ray@keepbelieving.com. Click here to sign up for the free weekly email sermon.