This is the last of the highlights of my time with friends of my friend Terry. We heard from terrific guys, following Jesus wholeheartedly, some despite difficult circumstances.

The third speaker was Joe, a track star when he was in college. Joe’s theme was “people help you get through life and grow in your faith.” Unlike many of the men, Joe’s collegiate discipleship training was not with The Navigators but with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). He said, “FCA was not nearly as hardcore as Navigators!”

Joe said that a verse that really helped him was Proverbs 3.4 – 6, which he quoted from The Living Bible:

If you want favor with both God and man, and a reputation for good judgment and common sense, then trust the Lord completely; don’t ever trust yourself. In everything you do, put God first, and he will direct you and crown your efforts with success. (Proverbs 3.4 – 6, Living Bible)

He said another FCA concept that helped him came from Colossians 3: FCA called it “total release.”

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. (Colossians 3.23, NIV)

As Joe rose through the ranks in the military, he encountered an officer who was being considered for promotion to brigadier general, but who honestly didn’t care whether he was promoted or not or whether he retired or not. (I have written about this before under the theme “indifference.”) The brother shared this verse with Joe, which ended up helping him later:

For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. (Psalm 75.6, 7, KJV)

Later, at the peak of his career, while a student at the Air War College (attended by the best of the best), Joe was diagnosed with cancer. His flying career was over. He fell back on Psalm 75.6, 7, and also this affirmation from the Apostle Paul:

…a thorn was given me in the flesh…Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 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 12.7 – 10, ESV)

Joe said, “God has used the cancer for good and his glory” and ended with this excerpt from a poem:

Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, 
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.

Taken from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, edited by Arthur Bennett.