Ed Landry doesn’t believe that we should ever waste trials or difficulties. He says that what we think are the worst of times can actually be the best of times. Ed was on a plane when he turned to the man next to him and asked, “How are you?” The man proceeded to complain about the cold he had, and how miserable he felt. Then the man finally threw the question back to Ed: “How are you?” Ed replied, “I have leukemia, and I could be dead in a few months.” The man stared at him. “You’re joking.” “No,” said Ed. “I really do have leukemia, so how is your cold?”
Ed is no ordinary sort of guy. For years he was a firefighter with good retirement benefits, a home, and a great family. He was comfortable and enjoying life, and about then God began speaking to the Landrys about serving Him as missionaries. Leaving behind the known, the secure, and the comfortable, Landry went to Bible school, then took his family and went to the Philippines where he has worked with indigenous Filipinos, teaching them skills, showing them how to succeed in business, and showing them what a Christian is as well as what a Christian does.
Three months before his 55th birthday, Ed was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia—that explained why it had become harder and harder to run up several flights of stairs.
“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21).
During his seven months of treatment, folks in the hospital couldn’t quite figure him out. Why? He’s different. He’s got a sense of humor, an optimistic, bright outlook, and the full realization that God is good—all of the time, as Ed says. People recognized that he was different and they wanted to know more about his faith and what made him optimistic in the face of adversity. So, a steady stream of doctors and nurses came to his room after hours to talk and to share their personal problems. They went away knowing that God makes the difference.
Ed says that he has learned four lessons during this time of difficulty.
Lesson #1: God handles pain and problems better than we do.
That means Ed takes his difficulties to the Lord, understanding that he’s God’s child and God knows best what we can handle. Warren Wiersbe has said that when God brings trials to His children, He keeps His hand on the thermostat and His eye on the clock. He knows how much you can handle, how long you can endure, and He will never throw at you more than you can cope with.
Lesson #2: God wants our bodies fully surrendered to Him.
Ed believes that his body is a temple indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and therefore when we have given ourselves to Him as Paul says we are to do, presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, then what happens to them is completely in God’s hands. “Yes, there has been pain,” he says, quickly adding, “but the joy far overshadows the trial.”
Lesson #3: God gives special grace for special times.
Ed freely admits that we can never experience or taste of God’s sufficiency and grace apart from the trials we go through.
Lesson #4: We should never waste our pain.
He doesn’t. He hasn’t, either. I’ve never know anyone who was more on top of things, more cheerful, and more a participant in what Christ endured than Ed Landry.
I suspect that the man who talked with him for two hours on that flight—the one with the cold—will think twice when someone asks him, “How are you?” remembering the cheerful response of a man who knew exactly where he is going should the leukemia he’s fighting win the battle.
Resource reading: 1 Peter 4.
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