Lazarus [Still] Died

If you read the title of this post and thought, “Well, obviously, Hannah…” and that’s a no-brainer for you, then keep reading. And if you didn’t think that, then definitely keep reading.

Here’s the thing: I know the story of Lazarus. I can’t overemphasize how many times I’ve heard it and learned about it. It’s amazing. But you know what? Not until I read a book this summer did I think about the fact that Lazarus still died.

I don’t mean that he died and Jesus famously wept and then even more famously raised him to life. I mean after all of that—the death, weeping, and resurrecting—Lazarus still died. For some reason, that thought had never once occurred to me.

“Okay, great…” you may be thinking, wondering what the point is. Well, the fact that Lazarus still died has been a transformative idea in my life and way of thinking over the past few months, and it’s had a significant impact on the way I view ministry and what I’m trying to do with Still Waters, the faith-based cancer retreat I’m starting.

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A Rogue Reminder

I want to start this post by circling back to my most recent post: “Introducing: Still Waters Cancer Retreat.” In it, I shared about the reminder Jesus gives us that the Kingdom of God is like a treasure in a field, and I explained how I’ve been having to remind myself of that before closing, encouraging readers to do the same.

Below, I’ll share about another lesson I’m reminding myself of—or rather, another image, really—but I want to make clear first that, when I share these things and offer up an encouragement or exhortation at the end, my words are not a sermon coming from someone who has it all figured out. On the contrary, most of the time, I read and re-read my posts to remind myself of the truths I’ve been learning and which God has been teaching me, so I’m preaching to myself as much as to anyone else.

I think it’s so important to keep reminding ourselves of what we know is true—and for me in the past year, that’s often even meant actual verbal reminders, especially through worship songs that help me affirm out loud the truths I know about God and need to say aloud as a way of “talking myself into believing” and claiming those truths.

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Introducing: Still Waters Cancer Retreat

Last month, I wrote about “My Summer of Cliff Jumping” and promised to share more about Still Waters Cancer Retreat, the nonprofit I’m starting. Today is World Lymphoma Awareness Day, “a day dedicated to raising awareness of lymphoma, an increasingly common form of cancer” {which sounds just like what you’d think it is}. This retreat isn’t just those for lymphoma, but because lymphoma is part of my story, I figured today’s a pretty good day to follow through on my promise. So here goes!

The American Cancer Society publishes its Cancer Facts and Figures report each year {which I keep in my iBooks app on my phone and which is totally normal, right?}, and basically, the rates of cancer have been pretty steady for a while. They estimate that 41/100 men and 38/100 women will get cancer in their lifetimes, not including basal or squamous cell carcinomas, since those aren’t required to be reported. Check out the link here, if you, too, are also semi-morbid and want to read through them: ACS Facts and Figures.

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