The
king of Aram had great admiration for Naaman, the commander of his army,
because through him the Lord had
given Aram great victories. But though
Naaman was a mighty warrior, he suffered from leprosy. 2
Kings 5:1 (NLT)
896 B.C.
The
commander of the world's most powerful and feared armed forces awoke one
morning and began his regular routine of preparing for the day. As he splashed some rose scented water over
his face, his mind thought back to the recent ceremony where he had received
his nation's highest honor. What a
glorious day that was, having his place assured in history, and the admiration
of all those people.
Putting on
his uniform, he mused, "Who knows, maybe I could even get into
politics. After all, I've gone as far as
a soldier can go. There may be more to
conquer than just some other country's armies.
Life is great," he thought – "life is exciting...hey, what's
this?" he wondered aloud, as his eyes noticed a small, irregularly shaped
circle of white near his elbow.
For Naaman
life was too good to entertain any thoughts of his world falling apart. He had seen circles like that before; but his
mind wouldn't allow that it could happen to him. He could not picture himself with ugly, open
sores all over his body. He couldn't
imagine what it would be like to lose those strong fingers that held his
sword. But worst of all was the
unimaginable scene that flashed through his mind – of people turning away from
him in disgust and loathing.
Naaman was
a handsome man, strong and virile. The obscene
thought of people treating him like he was dirty, something to be avoided...it
was more than he could stand. That could
not – it would not happen to the Captain of the host of Syria's armies.
He wouldn't
let it!
For the
next several weeks the spot was observed every morning. As much as Naaman tried to tell himself that
the spot wasn't growing, when that other spot on his neck appeared he began to
panic. Daily (it seemed) other spots,
and small brownish red blisters formed.
Naaman lost his usual hearty appetite.
It was an easy thing to give up food, as nothing seemed to stay down for
long anyway. Long sleepless nights
became his constant companion. Lethargy
was creeping into the daily routine.
Naaman no longer looked forward to planning strategic military
campaigns. He constantly felt
feverish.
There was
no denying it – Naaman had leprosy. His
life was about to change…forever!
Fast-forward
2,900 years
R. B. Ward
was my dear friend. He was the chief of
detectives for the Gainesville, Florida Police Department, and a member of the
church I served. He was a strong
follower of Christ, and served on our leadership board. When he joined the church I asked him, should I call you, “Captain Ward” or “R.B.”? He said “Just Richard”. I said, “OK, Richard, the
Justified shall be Just Richard! It became a running joke with us. We corresponded for years after I left that
church, and he always signed off, Just
Richard.
In the fall
of 1990 Gainesville and the University of Florida had a serial killer unleash
his fury on 5 college students. It took
months and months of intensive investigation and following this trail of evil,
but Danny Rolling was finally caught.
In the
middle of that all-consuming investigation my friend found out he was suffering
from what the doctor described as terminal
cancer of the lungs. Aggressive
chemotherapy and radiation treatments were successful, and R.B. was in
remission.
After
fighting the killer loose on the streets, and the killer loose inside of him, R.B.
was interviewed on a national television show.
My friend, Just Richard told the viewers this simple sentence:
Walk
with the Lord daily;
death is only a breath away.
For You, Today…
If that one single breath
that separates you from meeting your Creator was going to be drawn today…what
would be different about how you live this day?
No comments:
Post a Comment