Monday Morning Insights

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    Matt Chandler’s Faith…

    Matt Chandler’s Faith…

    A great article from Associated Press writer Eric Gorski on Matt Chandler:  Matt Chandler doesn't feel anything when the radiation penetrates his brain. It could start to burn later in treatment. But it hasn't been bad, this time lying on the slab. Not yet, anyway.

    A little more from the article:

    Chandler's lanky 6-foot-5-inch frame rests on a table at Baylor University Medical Center. He wears the same kind of jeans he wears preaching to 6,000 people at The Village Church in suburban Flower Mound, where the 35-year-old pastor is a rising star of evangelical Christianity.

    Another cancer patient Chandler has gotten to know spends his time in radiation imagining that he's playing a round of golf at his favorite course. Chandler on this first Monday in January is reflecting on Colossians 1:15-23, about the pre-eminence of Christ and making peace through the blood of his cross. 

    Chandler's hands are crossed over his chest. He wears a mask with white webbing that keeps his head still when metal fingers slide into place on the radiation machine, delivering the highest possible dose to what is considered to be fatal and incurable brain cancer.

    This is Matt Chandler's new normal. Each weekday, he spends two hours in the car - driven from his suburban home to downtown Dallas - for eight minutes of radiation and Scripture.

    At the hospital, Chandler sees other patients in gowns who get chemotherapy through catheters in their chests and is thankful he gets his in pills before going to sleep at home next to his wife.

    Chandler is trying to suffer well. He would never ask for such a trial, but in some ways he welcomes this cancer. He says he feels grateful that God has counted him worthy to endure it. He has always preached that God will bring both joy and suffering but is only recently learning to experience the latter.

    Since all this began on Thanksgiving morning, Chandler says he has asked "why me?" just once, in a moment of weakness.

    He is praying that God will heal him. He wants to grow old, to walk his two daughters down the aisle and see his son become a better athlete than he ever was.

    Whatever happens, he says, is God's will, and God has his reasons. For Chandler, that does not mean waiting for his fate. It means fighting for his life.

    You can read much more here...

    Join me today as I pray for Matt.

    Todd

    Comments

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    1. CS on Wed, February 10, 2010

      Matt Chandler is an amazing preacher and a wonderful pastor.  I’ve loved hearing him on YouTube clips and sermon jams.  I wholeheartedly recommend giving him a listen and praying for him.


      CS

    2. Leonard on Wed, February 10, 2010

      Matt is in my prayers as well, he is a gifted man of God!  Be well Matt.

    3. Angel Schlesser on Mon, February 15, 2010

      Matt Chandler is a great preacher and a wonderful pastor

    4. Shawn Wilson on Fri, February 19, 2010

      I am so thankful to see God use a man’s suffering for His GLORY!!  Matt and Job have this in common, their suffering has brought glory to our God!!  God Bless Pastor Matt!!

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