When Frogs Hop Out of a Friend’s Mouth

EVEN BEFORE MY SURGERY, the phone calls and casseroles began to overtake our home. If Methodists could cure cancer with food, the disease would’ve been eliminated long ago.

I WAS REMINDED OF JOB’S FRIENDS. Although sympathetic at first, a few managed to say all the wrong things. “What could you have done to cause this?” one asked.

“YES. IT IS SCARY, isn’t it?” I said.

HER SAD EYES CONFIRMED IT ALL. If melanoma had struck me without warning—as healthy as I appeared to be—why, it could strike her too! Where was the order in the universe? How could a person who didn’t play with carcinogens be roasted in the fire of cancer?

OTHERS FOLLOWED. Some hinted that I was paying for some sin. “Well, there are certainly plenty to choose from,“ I admitted, “but, I’ve asked for forgiveness, and I think I’ve received it.”

THEY ALL MISSED THE POINT. The question isn’t, “Why did you get this?” but rather, “Why have you been so lucky up to now?”

MERIT HAD NOTHING to do with my previous escapes from illness, and the wages of sin hadn’t given me cancer. If God were only about justice, believe me, I’d have been taken long ago. The cause-and-effect my friends are looking for just doesn’t exist. The simple truth wouldn’t comfort my friends—I have this because it’s my turn.

AND I WANT TO COMFORT them because they are my friends, and they face fear and loss just as I do.

FEAR HAS DISCONNECTED THEIR BRAINS from their hearts and caused frogs to hop out of their mouths. They don’t realize how condemning their questions are, and I prefer to leave it that way.

JUST THINK. Job’s friends asked those same froggy questions nearly three thousand years ago, so I think I’ll just cope in the name of friendship—like Job did.

You’re blessed! Be a blessing.