To Fly a Coop
In early September, my Dad, Rafael, got some life-changing news. He had terminal cancer and his life-expectancy was short. As our family grappled to come to terms with what this meant for all of us, we came to realize the hard conversation of death was not something we could put off. I had just wrapped up a Masters in Justice and Advocacy at Fuller Seminary and my last class was literally on death and dying. I questioned why it couldn't have been health and healing! We prayed for healing of course, but as it became clear this was not God's plan for now, I pondered the best thing I could do to help my family and myself process this. I concluded the best thing I could do is give my dad a microphone and let him preach just the way he has always loved to preach about the love of Jesus.
I flew from LA to visit my family in New Mexico, about a month after his diagnosis. Armed with mics and a recorder, I told my dad about the idea and he was all for it. So, most every day I was there, before my youngest and husband came, we sat in their back-backyard and had these conversations near the chicken coop. If you’ve happened upon this podcast you probably know my dad and so I welcome you to hear more from his heart. If you just happened upon this podcast for no reason, know this… my dad had you in mind. His prayer is that this would help someone unexpected and that God would use it to speak to someone who needed a word of encouragement and a reminder of the unsurpassable love of Jesus
Intro Music found at Pixabay.com from sergepavkinmusic "happy-warm-days"
To Fly a Coop
The Kingdom of Heaven
Episode Seven: The Kingdom of Heaven
Recorded October 2023
"You can’t see it. Touch it or taste it, but it’s all around." This is what God told dad in his early salvation. In this episode we delve into his thoughts on the kingdom of Heaven. We first talk about the Kingdom of Heaven and how God sees it around him now but ultimately in Jesus. Later we delve specifically into a sign of the coming of the kingdom – miracles.
I personally grapple with why God heals sometimes and sometimes he does not. Early in my dad’s fight with cancer, he believed he would be healed. Not that God owed it to him or that he expected it, but that he would be healed because others in the church had confirmed it. I asked him about this as I did not have the same confirmation and belief. This conversation sent me researching lots of miracles. There is a tremendous amount of evidence and personal experience for miracles. Yet, the common, lived experience does not often include healing – not in this dramatic fashion.
It’s important to note that this episode is published the day after his funeral. God did not choose to heal my dad in this lifetime. Later he would say that his early belief in healing was a “deception.” I would disagree in that I don’t think it was deception but human hope. Hope is not wrong. Faith can steady us in our hope and I think he did the right thing in his response – he believed in healing and, like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego – he also was more than willing to go into the fire and to put his faith in God even though he had a pronounced death sentence.
Faith is a strength for us in difficulty, as is hope, but what happens when we want something that is not in God’s will for us? I don’t know. I’m grieving dad’s loss right now. I know he is healed in heaven, but selfishly, I wish he had been healed on earth. Dad, in this episode, points us to the eternal, Heavenly Kingdom, and the mystery of its breaking into our everyday. I'm personally experiencing the grief of when the kingdom of heaven does not break through in this lifetime. Looking forward to a day when the Kingdom of God, God's goodness and kindness reign and there is no longer this evil disease called cancer.
Scripture Referenced: Luke 17:20-22 John 14:11 Acts 10:15 Psalms 148:13 Isaiah 66:1 Matthew 3 Hebrews 11:6 Luke 15:11-32 2 Peter 3:8-10 John 14:6 Daniel 3 Romans 10:17 Matthew 4:4 Matthew 18 Matthew 17:14 Acts 3:1-11
Want to learn a little more? Check out the site https://www.toflyacoop.com/
