I Am A Strong Man

"For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:10

On January 12, 2019, my father passed away in his sleep at the age of 89. Around the time of my mother's passing in 2006, I overheard my father having a conversation on the phone with one of his friends. The conversation must have been about how my father would go on living without my mother. My mother passed away just four days shy of my parents 53rd Wedding Anniversary. I don't remember the exact words my father used in his response, but he said something like, "Me and Al (my mom) weren't that way. I will just keep going forward." It has been over 12 years since my father uttered these words. In hindsight, it doesn't surprise me one bit that he would say this. At the age of 52, my father suffered a stroke so severe that he wasn't expected to survive the night. The stroke left him partially paralyzed on the left side of his body and unable to speak. Through lots of therapy and hard work, which included pronouncing the names of Bible characters, he managed to get his speech back and also learned to walk again despite his paralysis. Six years after my mother passed, my Dad suffered a heart attack. Again, he was able to pull through and recover. These are the two most significant physical traumas he survived. He also lived with Type 2 diabetes, overcame a Baker's Cyst behind his left knee, had various surgical procedures to his eyes and back and having to take over a dozen prescription medications on a daily basis. He once asked me, "Do you know what getting old means?" I said, "No, what?" He replied, "Going to the doctor." A moment of clarity from a man who had grown tired of being poked and prodded, but he kept going forward. From the outside, when looking at my father, one may think he was weak and feeble because of his physical limitations. However, from my standpoint, and that of many others, he was the strongest man I knew. Perhaps, he was not necessarily physically strong anymore, although, in his prime, he stood about 6' 3" tall and weighed over 200lbs. Plus, he had one of the deepest voices and strongest handshakes of anybody I know. The strength I speak of is the strength that can only come from his relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I had the privilege and the honor of being able to be around my father on a daily basis. Each morning when I called to check on him he was always reading through the scriptures; a daily regimen of his. Every evening when I visited him I would walk in to discover him studying the scriptures, listening to a teaching on his CD player or watching a Christian program on television. Over the years we had many conversations about different topics related to the Lord; iron sharpening iron. But, the thing I will remember the most about him is that when he was lying in bed, with the lights off, preparing to fall asleep, he would pray. He was always thanking the Lord for another day, for his children, for various other people important to him and for the strength to keep going forward.

One of the most well-known chapters in the Bible is 2 Corinthians 12. In it, we read of the Apostle Paul's prayer to the Lord to remove his "thorn" in the flesh. He asks God three times to remove this thorn, but the Lord says to Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).” In other words, God told Paul, "No, I will not remove your thorn because, through it, I will be glorified." Nobody knows for sure what was Paul's thorn. Many believe that his thorn was his poor eyesight. After all, Paul was blinded by the Lord on his way to Damascus to persecute the Church (Acts 9:8). While he did regain the ability to see again, it apparently was not the same as before. If his poor eyesight was the thorn in his flesh, it would definitely be a physical limitation and it also would humble Paul. The Bible says, "For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).” No truer words have ever been spoken. All we do is look at the outward appearance of someone and judge them accordingly. We believe a strong physique equates to a strong person. But, when someone is physically weak, we think they are a weak person; especially spiritually. However, it is when we are stripped of much of our physical strength that what truly makes us tick is revealed. Paul would go on to say that he was content with his weakness because "when I am weak, I am strong." That strength was the Lord and His grace and mercy shining through Paul. Even when it came to Jesus Christ, it was said that "he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him (Isaiah 53:2)." Yet, He was God in the flesh; the Man who lived a perfect life, healed many, died for our sins and conquered death through His Resurrection. It is not about the physical, but the spiritual. I was 11 years old when my father suffered his stroke. For years afterward, I would pray to God each night to heal my father's body. It never happened and now I know why. God used my father's physical weaknesses to focus my attention on his spiritual strength. As my father's body failed, his reliance on the Lord grew. "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16)." The words of Paul seem to be written specifically about my father. As his body succumbed to trial after trial, his inward strength and reliance on Jesus Christ renewed day by day. In his final days, as my father recovered from a bout with pneumonia, one of the things he said was, "I am a strong man." Yes, he was. And it was all because of his faith in his God and Savior, Jesus Christ. I love my father and miss him dearly, but I am strengthened by the fact that he is with the Lord. One day, because of my faith in Jesus Christ, I will see him again in glory. If you remember anything about my father, remember that, although his body was weak, his faith in God is what gave him the strength to go forward and why I say he is the strongest man I ever knew.