Inner-city Winnipeg pastor and social activist Rev Harry Lehotsky reflects on the news that he has inoperable cancer.  Last Monday Harry was told that he has only a few months to live.

How does a Christian man with a wife and children deal with the realisation that he is apparently going to die prematurely?  It would, I would think, be natural for Harry to suppose that an effective public advocate for the poor and unfortunate—i.e., someone like him—should be spared a painful, early death.  Based on decades of work in which he has repeatedly put the needs of others ahead of his own, he might be justified in concluding that he and his family deserve better.  Instead, however, he reacts with grace, humility, and thankfulness for what God has given.

My life is no more or less important than those multitudes of fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, lovers and partners that have received similar news. They too were loved and needed by those around them.

My life and efforts have been quite public, especially some of my achievements, advocacy, risks and sacrifices. But the public nature of my work makes me no more important than the many who struggle in relative silence, faithful to every one of their responsibilities and loved ones.

Is he mad at God?  Does he feel that the Almighty has dealt unfairly with him?  No: he is humbled by the undeserved goodness he has received from our Lord’s hand.

People have asked whether I'm mad at God.

If I was, I'm sure He could handle it. It wouldn't be the first time a loving parent dealt graciously with the confusion of an angry child.

But as I searched my jumbled emotions, I honestly couldn't detect a shred of anger against God. How could I be angry with the One who has given me more than I ever asked or imagined? I've received immeasurably more than I deserved.

During my teens, there was a period in which I spurned the love and example of my family. My random acts of stupidity and cruelty hurt many people around me. At one point, my pursuit of delusions resulted in an overdose. Fading fast, my "friends" were afraid of being stuck with a dead body, so they rolled me out of the car and left me by the curb.

I was rescued, ironically by one of the police officers I used to call a "pig." In hospital, I promised God the rest of my life if he got me through that day. He did, and I've had 32 years of a second chance to do better.

But it wasn't just about doing better. I've experienced a forgiveness beyond anything I deserved, and opportunities and hope I could never have manipulated for myself. All this from the hands of my loving Saviour. How could I be angry with the One who has given so much?

I know Rev Harry only through his writings and news reports of his activities, but based on that, he appears as a great man of God and a saint for our time.  What he writes today is nothing less than inspirational.  Read the whole thing.

A prayer of American Baptist minister and theologian Walter Rauschenbusch, whose work inspired Harry in his:

O God, grant us a vision of this city, fair as it might be: a city of justice, where none shall prey upon the other; a city of plenty, where vice and poverty shall cease to fester; a city of brotherhood, where success is founded on service; and honor shall be given to nobleness alone; a city of peace, where order shall not rest on force, but on the love of all for each and all.

Previous related post: Rev Harry Lehotsky diagnosed with terminal cancer.