Written by Cliff Witte

Psalm 119:105  "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and light unto my path".   Last month's blog, "walk" part I, about surviving Death Valley National Park turned out to be advance prep for a much more serious challenge in my life.   God "speaks" to us, not only through His written Word, but, through the circumstances He engineers for us every day of our lives.  Death Valley was a small test strengthening me for a bigger one later.  When Goliath challenged the Israelites their reaction was dismay and fear.(1 Samuel 17:11)  David told Saul that he could defeat Goliath because he had killed the lion and the bear while defending his sheep and the Philistine would be as one of them. (17:36)   David was battle-hardened from time spent defending his flock from lions and tigers and bears, oh my!  Okay, okay, there were no tigers!   People don't gain strength for  a battle, they gain strength from  the battle.   Just about a month after Teresa and I returned from Death Valley she noticed a mole on my chest was changing shape and color.  She scheduled a doctor's appointment at Kaiser where we had the mole biopsied and found it to be malignant.  Two weeks later I had out-patient surgery to remove the mole and some surrounding tissue for biopsy.  It was time to practice what I preached in my blog:"Keep the faith", I had said.   I felt confident in the Lord, strangely detached, like a third party, not worried at all.   As big and strong and fierce as Goliath was, he was no match for a young David ( 15 or 16) with eyes of faith that only saw a defeated enemy.  The word "cancer" has the same impact as the word Goliath did back then, but remember that even though Goliath's size, armor and reputation put fear into the hearts of the Israelites, he, in fact, never did fight.  He was, as they say on death row, "dead man walking".   I have said before that "negative" experiences are not necessarily bad because God is trying to show us something or have us see or perceive a truth that we wouldn't have seen if we hadn't gone through that so called negative experience.   The amazing thing God revealed to me while going through this trial was that even though my first impulse was to say, "Jesus, am I going to thank you when those test results from the biopsy come back negative!",  the revelation was that I must praise and thank Him regardless  of the results!    If I am claiming to belong to Christ, then my best prayer is what Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane as He faced His crucifixion : "?O My Father, if it is possible, ?let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, ?not as I will, but as You will.?"   I glimpsed something past my humanity that for a higher purpose of God, whatever the results, they were the results God intended for me.  I hope this testimony will strengthen you to keep on keeping the faith...oh, by theway, the results came back negative!