Christ’s Love Burns Hotter Than the Furnace of Our Afflictions
GCD Weekly Newsletter 09/05/2022
Christ’s Love Burns Hotter Than the Furnace Of Our Afflictions
Last year a pastor near Philadelphia kept submitting articles to GCD. After forty years in pastoral ministry, he wrote with a fire that welcomed rather than repulsed. He wrote with conviction about the concerns he saw in the church, and how too many blended politics and faith. He wrote with theological precision and nuance about God’s sovereignty over every orbiting electron in the universe. He wrote with dexterity around both obscure and well-known Bible passages. And he wrote about the good news story of Jesus in a way that made the story seem as big and wonderful as it really is.
Over the course of the year, we must have published all of the half dozen articles he submitted. We invited him to join our team of staff writers and formally partner in our ministry.
This author is Tim Shorey.
And just recently he found out he’s dying of cancer.
Earlier this summer doctors told Tim that he has about three or so years to live. Devastating news. And while Tim has had other ongoing health challenges throughout his life, he and his wife have been through a lot since the spring. These kinds of cancer treatments, diet changes, and uncertainties would wear out the strongest soul.
But, at least for now, Tim just keeps writing. Every day, in fact, Tim emails some of us and also posts to Facebook an entry to his journal. He writes about his struggles, as well as the joys he experiences in the midst of suffering. Tim’s hope in writing the journal is to declare that, while cancer is a huge deal, Christ is an even huger deal, or to use his words, Christ is the big “c,” not cancer.
During this demanding season, rather than having Tim continue to write new articles for GCD in addition to what he’s writing in his cancer journal, we hope to publish one or two entries from his journal each month. We’re calling the series The Potter’s Clay: Faith Reflections from a Cancer Oven.
To preserve the feel of a daily journal rather than a published work, we have chosen not to submit these reflections to a rigorous editing process. At the same time, Tim doesn’t manicure his image; he tells us how it really is, the pastures adjoined to still waters and the valleys cloaked in shadows. We love him all the more for this honesty.
The first article went up last week. I hope the series will bless readers as much as it blesses me.
Last Week at GCDiscipleship.com
Undersea Refuge and Strength
— by Timarie Friesen | www.timariefriesen.com
A picture of the gospel shows up in the life of a needy hermit crab, for as we, too, defer to weakness, we gain a covering in Christ.
The Potter’s Clay: Faith Reflections from a Cancer Oven (#1)
— by Tim Shorey
In this first entry in our new series, Tim reflects on the object of Christian faith and the famous line in the book of Daniel: “But if not.”
What’s Your Favorite Summer Holiday
In the United States, we have three main summer holidays, one at each end (Memorial Day and Labor Day) and one in the middle (Independence Day). Many workplaces give their employees paid vacation on each of these.
Thanks for reading,
Benjamin Vrbicek
Managing Editor for Gospel-Centered Discipleship