Dedication

Preface

Chapter One - Where Were God and His Son?

Chapter Two - A Rescue Drama

Chapter Three - From Earthquakes and Floods to Hope

Chapter Four - Journey From the Worst to the Best

Chapter Five - When More is Less and Less is More

Chapter Six - It’s Blowing in the Wind

In Ecclesiastes 12:12 we read these words:

Go into any book store, religious or secular, and there we can find

a deluge of information, inspiration, challenge, drama and the arts,

and books of fiction. There are books that demean and destroy persons.

There are books that poison mind and spirit. We also find

biographies of noble persons and great books from great minds.

There are books of true inspiration and beauty that nurture mind

and soul.We can tell much about a person’s character and values by

what he or she reads and keeps in a personal library.

In recent years, among the many categories of words and books,

“self-help” has perhaps surpassed them all. With checklists, numbered

“easy steps” and individualized will power, self-help literature

proposes that we can help ourselves out of our problems with determination

and renewed self-reliance.

At this point in history we find ourselves in just such a place. I

predict that a deluge of books and writings will go into the minds

of readers following disruption and devastation in the lives of millions

of persons caused by hurricanes and other natural disasters

that seem so prevalent in our headlines of late. When we try to

describe these disasters in words, we need to come to terms with the

fact that we are trying to “express the inexpressible” and “describe

the indescribable”. How true it is that when the dikes of human

ideas fail, the torrents of words start flowing.

Commentators, with their reports and images, cannot possibly

paint a real picture of the terror and tragedy. A city under terrorist

attack. Cities sinking in infected waters with dead bodies floating by.

Thousands of persons who have lost all possessions huddled together

in stadiums and auditoriums without sanitation, water and food,

watching persons in their midst die. Persons on roof tops screaming

for help and rescue. Nor can commentators convey the hopeful

answer to such devastation. Valiant rescuers transporting lives to

safety, one by one or in groups. People from every state in the Union

ready to help, together with rescue operations coming from many

other countries.

Who can picture all of this in words? I cannot comprehend with

my thoughts and words the incomprehensible. I did not have to

endure the agony and the suffering of these tragedies. Oh yes, I care,

I cried, I contributed money and I prayed, but truly understanding

such events is beyond me, beyond all of us, even those who suffer.

So why am I writing a book? I write because these stories of our

day, significant and tragic though they are, do not represent the full

story. For amidst all of these current stories remains the everunfolding

story of God around us and within us, bringing the help,

hope and healing we all need.

At the very center of human history we see the intervention of

Jesus who entered into the suffering of the world. He suffered more

than any person has suffered in the history of the universe. In fact,

He endured indescribable pain and agony in the greatest rescue

operation our world has ever seen.

We learn of Jesus’ ability to bring the best out of the worst first

from God’s Word, but I have also found it to be true throughout my

own life experiences. I call this the “gift of firsthandedness”.

Most recently for me are the lessons I gained as a result of my

own illness. On March 2, 2005, at the age of 94, I suddenly collapsed

in my apartment. My strength was completely drained. That night

marked the beginning of a long battle with pneumonia and its

effects on the human body. Following hospitalization and time

spent in a rehabilitation center, it took several months for me to

recover enough strength to continue in ministry.

Perhaps the word “worst” is not the most accurate way to

describe my illness. However, in terms of my age and the long

process of recovery, I hope that my experience will reveal how our

Lord uses these “interruptions” and sometimes heavy burdens to

bring great blessings into our lives.

My Lord brought so many blessings out of both the experience of

severe illness and recovery, I can testify that it is hard to tell which

is the greatest blessing. Here are some of the lessons I learned:

1. In the rehabilitation process I learned that with prayer and

rehab specialists sent by our Lord, you can do the impossible; you

can do what you can’t!

2. Complete dependence upon others can be a very special gift

from God. It is the human drama of our ultimate dependence upon

Him. The journey from independence to interdependence and then

to dependence can help lead us toward maturity.

3. During each day, I spent many hours in meditation and prayer,

intercession and praise. It became clear to me that it is easy to

become so busy in service to our Lord that we neglect the “daily

quiet time” and God’s special place of renewal for us. God’s program

of rehabilitation for mind and spirit took precedence over

other exercises.

4. I learned first hand how long and tedious sleepless nights can

be for my many friends who have told me of this malady. Dr.

Theodore Conrad,my cherished friend and mentor, taught me what

I call the “ABC’s of Divine Medication for Sleeplessness”. In this exercise

of mind and spirit, I would try to recall a Bible verse beginning

It was a helpful exercise except for the frustration of missing three

or four letters. A similar exercise was used for the first lines of

hymns.

5. I learned that being a resident in a care center brings special

opportunities to witness for Jesus. My caregivers included those of

the Christian faith (Catholic and Protestant), Hindu, Muslim and

other religions. Only our Lord knows how effective or ineffective

my witness was. Missing opportunities to witness for my Lord and

Saviour, and often giving a weak testimony of His love for all persons,

have often burdened and convicted me. It is easy to say, “God

loves you, God bless you,” but it requires divine grace and guidance

to speak of Jesus in a loving and non-judgmental way. It is important

that our lives confirm our Christian faith.

I did have the advantage of referring to my books which were on

the table. Persons of all faiths seemed to be interested in them.

These books, which helped in my ministry there, are as follows:

6. I know that my Lord used loving and self-giving family members

in an indispensable way in my healing. Each morning I call the role of

my family, mentioning each one by name. Their daily visits helped me

more than medication, exercises or any other treatment. They came to

visit from near and far.While I am grateful for my family, each day I

pray for lonely persons who are without immediate family.

7. I learned to be more grateful than ever to my Lord for my

Church.My pastors came to both the hospital and rehabilitation center

to share the life-giving body and blood of my Lord and Saviour in

Holy Communion. Friends sent cards beyond my count telling of their

prayers for me. I know that the Christian Church today is suffering

from schism and confusion caused by varying interpretations of God’s

Holy Word. God grant that the Holy Spirit and Jesus will open the

scriptures to us, giving us minds to understand and obey! However, I

thank God for the Church. E. Stanley Jones, missionary and evangelist,

wrote in one of his books, “The Church has many critics but no

rivals in the work of human redemption.” So often I have witnessed

and experienced this truth, but my recent illness brought fresh gratitude

for this work of God’s divine grace in the world.

8. Several times a week I go with my walker three blocks from my

apartment to the Augustana Care Center to visit friends. I can now

relate more effectively to the residents there. I should add that the

persons I visit are ministers to me, God’s special gifts to me. Even in

the persons who no longer recognize me, I see Jesus’ mighty works in

their past lives, and I am inspired and lifted. How true it is that there

is no retirement policy in the Kingdom of God, either for healthy or

afflicted persons!

itself upon my mind, “Why was my life spared and why am I still

here?” It has become clear to me that one reason is to write this

book, even at the age of 95. Here again I want to share the anguish

and concern I feel in my spirit for those who have had to suffer far

more pain and discomfort than I shall ever have to experience. In

comparison to the pain of losing all earthly possessions, the indescribable

grief of seeing loved ones dying on every side and watching

the fury of nature demolish homes and hopes,my illness fades into a

gentle impact on my body. Yet this illness and other experiences

which have come into my life have shown me that if I trust in Jesus,

He will bring something good and many blessings out of the difficulties

we encounter in life.

It may sound easy for me to say, “Hang in there!” to someone

going through tough times. I recall a story that is related to this

“hang in there” greeting. It is the story of a father who was reading

his paper in the living room. Suddenly, he heard his young son

upstairs shouting over and over again,“Hang in there, hang in there,

you will make it, you will make it, hang in there!” Knowing that his

son was upstairs alone, he went to investigate. He found his son

bending over a book, repeating the same words, “Hang in there!”

Asked for an explanation, the son said, “Well, Dad, I was reading

about my hero in this book. He was having an awful time. I felt so

sorry for him. Then I turned to the last chapter of this book. I found

there that my hero came out just fine. But he didn’t know this. So I

have to come back to him and keep on telling him to hang in there,

everything will be okay.”

We may not have the luxury of knowing how the details will all

work out, but we can know the final chapter for ourselves. Traveling

with the One who walked the way of suffering before us,we can watch

Him transform suffering into a song of hope. He can turn burdens

into blessings. He can make pain redemptive and purposeful. He can

replace fear with faith. He can give us a new and reassuring view of

how the story comes out. So we can “hang in there” with hope.

In our struggles we wonder, “Is there more to dying than death?”

Oh for a thousand tongues to shout, “Yes!”We can hear, not a shout,

but a quiet, intensely personal and eloquent “yes” from a beautiful

daughter, wife, mother and friend who helped bring assurance and

hope to many in need in the midst of her own suffering. Our

daughter,Marcia, died at the age of 52, in the prime of her self-giving

ministries. Six months before she died, she wrote these words,

“Though my experience with cancer has not changed my

daily routine much, it certainly has affected my thoughts and

feelings about life. Things I previously took for granted—

like getting up in the morning and being able to go to work

or even something as mundane as going to the grocery store

— I now see these as things to be thankful for. Each new day

is a gift to be appreciated. I have been deeply touched by the

love, support, and prayers of family and friends — a blessing

beyond measure.

“Above all else, I have experienced the reality of God’s faithfulness.

I have realized that life holds no guarantees for any of

us and that the only constant, the only certainty I can hold on

to is His love and care, come what may. I am so thankful for

this faith in a personal, ever-present God, a faith that has been

nurtured through the years and that now has become such a

source of peace and strength.”

Many promises in the Bible assure us that our Lord will not only

sustain us in difficult times, but He will bring the best out of the

worst. This was Marcia’s experience.

The following illustration will help us remember this word.

ethicist, John Kavanaugh, and his visit to “The House of the Dying”

in Calcutta, India. On the first morning there he met Mother Teresa.

She asked, “What can I do for you?” Kavanaugh asked her to pray

for him. “What do you want me to pray for?” she asked him. He

voiced the request that he had borne thousands of miles from the

United States. “Pray that I have clarity.” She said firmly, “No, I will

not do that.” When he asked her why, she said, “Clarity is the last

thing you are clinging to and must let go of.” When Kavanaugh

commented that she “always seemed to have the clarity he longed

for”, she laughed and said, “I have never had clarity; but I have

always had His trust. So I will pray that you trust God.”

In the dictionary, the word “trust” is defined as “belief, confidence

in the honesty, integrity, reliability and justice of another person

or thing.” God, in His holy Word, reminds us to trust Him:

In the writing of this book, the question comes to my mind,

“Why write now, in the midst of flux and uncertainties?” I can only

answer that now is the time for me to write for two reasons.

First, I have the advantage of being 95 years old. This gives me the

midst of the deep depression years in our country. I lived through

the influenza epidemic of 1918, two world wars, the cold war, the

Korean War, the war in Vietnam and other wars. I have learned what

wars can do and what they cannot do. I have learned what we can

do with an atomic bomb and the dangers of living in an atomic age.

I have visited some of the most poverty-stricken places in the world,

such as Haiti, many parts of India and Palestine. I have served two

inner city parishes where I learned the meaning of “the Church

without walls”, and that the Church exists to bring the message of

hope and reconciliation to those outside its fellowship.

It is true, as someone has said, that wisdom comes with age and

sometimes age comes all by itself. My protection against age without

wisdom is not found in books created by human minds. It is

found in Jesus and His Word in Luke 24:45:

My prayer as I write is found in Psalm 51:6:

My second and most important compulsion to write is in response

to the promise of my Lord in answer to my fervent prayers for guidance

found in Psalm 32:8:

The greatest gift I have from my Lord as I begin writing this book

enlightened by eternal truth gives us another view of life. My life

partner of 55 years, my wife Marta who is now in Heaven, wrote a

“Skepticism”, we find a prayer for this gift:

“An acorn

fell on her head,

and Henny Penny ran around shouting,

‘The sky is falling down.’

Each friend she met joined her

and the dread news became

FACT.

Around and around they went

until they met Foxy-Loxy.

He swallowed up the news

and the newsmakers.

Let me never join

a Henny Penny parade.

Give me the gift of skepticism

about all the words that are spoken,

and all the words that are written.

Let me test them

in the crucible of

common sense,

history’s lessons,

and, above all,

Eternal truth.”

And so it is with the promise of God’s guidance and with the gift

of His perspective that we seek answers to some of the disturbing

questions of our time:

Where is God when disasters take place?

If Jesus is my friend, why doesn’t He take me out of my suffering?

If not Jesus, who do we believe can bring the best out of the worst?

Were those who are affected by tragedies any worse sinners than

those of us who continue to live in comfort zones?

How do we move past the “worst” in our lives? Do we settle for the

good that we can do rather than for the “best” that God can do?

How does God come into our lives and make His “best” possible

for us in every circumstance?

As we seek, we will soon realize that not only are these the questions

of our time; they indeed represent the questions of all time.

We will discover that Jesus has answered these questions with His

eternal truth.

Included in the best that Jesus brings out of the worst are what

right what sin had made wrong in the sight of God. A partial list follows:

In the earthquake following Jesus’ death on the cross, the high

priest, Scribes and Pharisees, enemies of Jesus, though unnerved by

the upheavals in nature, must have had a sense of satisfaction about

“their mission accomplished”. They thought they had eliminated

Jesus who exposed their hypocrisy and threatened their power.

However, their actions only magnified the wonder of the power and

glory of God. In the process of trying to destroy Jesus, they destroyed

themselves and their right to be trusted as religious leaders.

enemies of Jesus tried to get rid of him:

“How far can evil go in a world of this kind? How far can

force go? How far can lies and clever manipulation go? How

far can you cover up the designs of evil in the cloak of good

and religion? The answer is that evil can go a long, long

way—it can put the Son of God, the Creator of creation, on

a wooden cross—wood which He created. That’s a long, long

way. How far can force go? It can nail the Creator’s hands

upon the cross. And it can lift it up for all men to see what

force can do. How far can lies and clever manipulation go? It

can twist the truth of Him who was the Truth and make it

into a falsehood and can thus crucify Him on misquotations.

How far can evil designs be wrapped in the cloak of religion

and good? It can go a long way—it can make evil seem

good—they crucified Jesus in the name of God, His Father.

They made it appear that they were protecting the sacred

name of God. ‘You have heard the blasphemy!’ they cried.

Evil, force, lies, perverted religion can go a long way in a

world of this kind.

“They can do these things today and tomorrow, but the

third day? No! For Jesus gathers all these questions in His

body and answers them in His resurrected body and spirit

the third day!”

At the time of the Good Friday earthquake it appeared that the

power of an oppressive government had prevailed, and that political

intrigue worked well in the attempt to get rid of Jesus. However,

let us note from the resurrection story in Matthew’s gospel that following

the earthquake an angel came and removed the stone from

Jesus’ tomb. The soldiers guarding the tomb found Him already

gone and they trembled and became as dead men. The rolled-away

stone revealed that Jesus had within himself final authority; not

even death, much less the power of the Roman army, could hold

him. (Matthew 28:2-4).

There was another very significant correction that took place on

the morning of the earthquake and the removal of the stone from

Jesus’ tomb. It was the correction of the view of women in society

and in the Church. In Mark 16 we read that it was the women who

first discovered that Jesus was not there. In John 20 we find that

Mary Magdalene was the first person to whom Jesus revealed

Himself in His resurrection body. She was the first one to bring the

good news to the disciples as she announced, “I have seen the Lord!”

Peter and John came to the tomb, found it empty and left.

It was Mary who first told the greatest news the world has ever

heard — a woman who, in the society of that day, could not enter

fully into the worship of the temple. Jesus called her by name.Mary

Magdalene and the other women who stayed at the cross to watch

Jesus die and who came early on the Sabbath to the sepulcher were

not ordinary women of their day. They were followers of Jesus. They

were highly honored by their Creator God, not as second class citizens

but as first bearers of His resurrection good news. Unlike the

society in which He lived, Jesus affirmed that women were also made

in the image of God as told in the Genesis story. It could be said that

Jesus was the founder of the Women’s Liberation Movement!

Because of Jesus’ attitude toward the role of women,we are encouraged

to think of women in history as truly great leaders, pioneers,

professionals, volunteers, missionaries, teachers, front-line workers,

people of vision and courage. Above all, we think of the honor surpassed

by none, their calling to be mothers and preservers of the

Christian family without which society cannot prosper. Indeed,

women have been used mightily by God to bring the best out of the

worst.

Greater than any other correction issued by that Easter earthquake

was the divine correction of the power of sin and death. Because of

Jesus, funeral services were turned into Resurrection services. In

memorial services, surely tears will flow freely in the midst of deep

grief and suffering. However, now these can be celebrations of hope

and joy and praise in memory of the loved one and friend who was

released from suffering and pain in this fallen world and who is forever

with the Lord and Saviour in Paradise Regained. Jesus said in

John 14:2,3:

world following tragedy after tragedy, the cries for “more”

become the common language of the would-be problem solvers.

Cries are heard for “more government involvement”, “more financial

assistance”, “more donations”, “more working together”. Truly,

each of these is needed for the future, but it is easy to demand more

from others than from ourselves. What is the self-giving Christian

response to this situation? Are we also in the crowds demanding

“more” from others or are we willing to live with less ourselves so

that we can give freely to those in need, all in the name of Jesus? It

is a hard question but one which we must answer if we intend to

stay on the way with Jesus.

The urge for “more” is a human urge and common in our culture.

One of the crises of society today is consumerism. It is the

insatiable desire for more — more money, more power, more perks

and prestige, more fun and entertainment, more comfort and convenience.

This drive for more material goods forces us to work

more than we ever have as a society.We spend more.We eat more.

We owe more. Today we have more unfulfilled desires and less true

joy and satisfaction in life’s relationships. Philip Yancey, in an article

1960’s, which promised liberation, has resulted in a soaring divorce

rate and epidemics of sexually transmitted diseases. This is liberation?”

This could be called the “More is Better” myth. It leads not only

to frustration, but to a colossal waste of gifts and talents that our

Lord has given us, not least for self-giving, loving service to others.

MORE approval of sin and LESS power to rescue lost and confused

persons.

MORE of “doing what I please” and LESS of “being pleased

with what I do”.

MORE of personal rights and LESS of the rights of others.

MORE dependence upon military might and LESS security for

people and nations

MORE contempt for the Ten Commandments and LESS of the

life-giving protection they provide.

MORE of roaming in the vast wasteland of television and LESS

of self-esteem and respect for life.