Val

I stopped by my parent’s house today and on the way to the door grabbed the mail from the mailbox. Amid the junk mail, I noticed a personally addressed note from a long-time friend of the family, Val Ham. I mentioned the note to my mom, which prompted her to update me with the news that Val has cancer—of the terminal variety. She couldn’t hold back the tears as she talked about her beloved friend, the friend who has called her every day on her birthday for thirty-something years. The friend who faithfully stood with her in prayer through my dad’s deep, seven-year-long depression. The friend who, on into her seventies has poured time, money, and prayer into a little Eastern-European country called Moldovoa (the poorest country in Europe), going on regular trips to offer medical care, lead Bible studies, and always filling her suitcases with items to bless those in poverty.

I went on one such trip with Val in 2005. Her energy and enthusiasm for serving others and telling them about Jesus have left an indelible impression upon me. I spent a couple days with her in Maryland, where she lived at the time, and was able to observe how she lived. On one of the days, we were shopping for supplies for the trip and she was adamant about finding the best deals for everything. “So we can have more to buy things for the Moldovans,” she said. I learned something valuable about money that day—that it is a powerful tool for good in the hands of the right person, and that with each purchase, we demonstrate where our priorities lie. For her, it was (and is) helping others and telling them about the love of her Savior.

Val most likely will not make the headlines before she breathes her last. While people are amazed at Lady Gaga’s Oscars performance and other stars fade in and out of the limelight, she’ll quietly, but boldly live the remainder of her days faithfully following Jesus. But I know that there’s One who takes notice and who has noticed all along, and I’m confident that when they first meet face to face he’ll say something like “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord.”

As my own brief life stretches before me with the unknown number of days it will total, I think about this awesome responsibility of stewarding a life—one life. What does it look like to do it well? As I piece together my mental collage of inspiration--of people who embody a life well-lived, it's Val and others like her who are front and center. Some are still living, these unassuming saints, who teach me more in their struggles than any celebrity--Christian or otherwise--ever could. Others have gone on to be with the Lord, but their words and actions remain etched in my mind and heart, giving me courage to press on and hold fast to Christ.

In the note to my mom, Val  closed with the words, "With the chaos around us[of cancer, chemo, and her husband's own serious health issues], pray that we can be a witness for Christ." Enclosed was a support check for the ministry my dad leads.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2