Healing, Hope, and Joy

Suffering, Endurance, Character, Hope, Hope not disappointing us, and Joy: These are important experiences for anyone’s Christian life. Sometimes they are very painful and oftentimes very real. This biblical sequence also describes a significant part of the outline for this book, along with some reflections upon the author’s traumatic brain injury of 1998, his lengthy Christian ministry, and his healing and recovery since the injury. Moreover, these biblical experiences as they are defined in Romans 5:1-5 describe a major biblical sequence for anyone’s Christian life. This biblical sequence continues to be active and real in the author’s life today and in the lives of other Christian persons. All persons need at times these experiences of healing, hope, and joy. The author describes his traumatic brain injury of 1998 early in the book, which occurred as a result of a terrible bicycle accident and was accompanied by a lengthy coma, and a very long recovery time. After this injury and lengthy recovery, he realized that our human brains are able to heal and to reconfigure themselves in remarkable ways over time, even after a severe traumatic brain injury—under God's care and with many loving persons surrounding the survivor. The author had the accident and experienced the injury, and is now able to testify wonderfully to God’s healing touch in his life. Naturally enough, the author wonders why his life took such an unpleasant and unexpected turn, and why his life did not progress smoothly, the way that it was supposed to do and the way that it has done for many persons. His reflections in the book are somewhat personal, as a result, but they are also and more especially reflections which are religious and faith-based for all of us. Many of these reflections are theological, to use the academic term, and theology should often emerge from and mingle with the real world and with painful personal experiences by real people. The author is an active Christian believer and a United Methodist minister with many years of training, many years of ministerial experience, and now significant years of healing experience. The book moves primarily into reflections upon Romans 5:1-5 and the Christian Gospel, particularly the remarkable biblical sequence mentioned in the Romans passage, along with some related reflections about the author’s healing and recovery. These reflections offer valid content for Christian living and for solid reflections upon the Christian faith and understanding. One early chapter reflects with some depth upon Suffering in anyone’s Christian life. Another chapter reflects upon Endurance, how anyone must sometimes endure tough experiences, and may do so effectively with Christian faith. Another chapter focuses upon Character, specifically our personal lives as we respond to Jesus Christ and to the challenges of living, with all the prestige items and painful items associated with this. Another chapter focuses upon The Journey of Kings and the Gospel, particularly upon Jesus Christ as King and upon His life, death, and resurrection. Chapter seven asks and seeks to answer the question of “Why Does Life Turn out the Way It Does?” This chapter considers many issues such as our daily experiences and the hard usage experienced by most people some of the time in life. It also explores many of the modern day mysteries of the universe in which we dwell, and even some about how the ideas of parallel universes and parallel selves might apply to us in our Christian faith and understanding. Such ideas today are mostly imaginary but are being seriously considered by modern day scientists. The final chapters discuss hope, hope not disappointing us, and how God is with us in our lives and in our universe; and the last chapters discuss the Road to Emmaus in the Gospel story, and point to the wonder of God’s Creation.