Death...and Life

I stole this from my Sister's blog:

Death - What a wonderful way to explain it
A sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to leave the examination room and said, "Doctor, I am afraid to die. Tell me what lies on the other side."
Very quietly, the doctor said, "I don't know."
"You don't know? You, a Christian man, Do not know what is on the other side?"
The doctor was holding the handle of the door; On the other side came a sound of scratching and whining, And as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room And leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.
Turning to the patient, the doctor said, "Did you notice my dog?
He's never been in this room before.
He didn't know what was inside. He knew nothing except that his master was here,
And when the door opened, he sprang in without fear.
I know little of what is on the other side of death,
But I do know one thing...
I know my Master is there and that is enough."

Donald Ricks
Last night, my brother-in-law's brother, Donald Ricks lost his battle with cancer. He was diagnosed about a month ago with a very agressive cancer and had started chemo and radiation but God chose to bring him home to him yesterday. Donald was an extremely talented man who had a voice straight from Heaven and played the piano by ear. He could play and sing anything. He was always loving and kind to me everytime I saw him. My heart goes out to his family and I know that he will be greatly missed.

Bro. Mo
Our pastor, Bro. Mo was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer June 2007. He was having pain in his stomach and went to the doctor for what he thought was a hurnea. It turned out to be cancer. Luckily, he had discovered it in time because most of this type of cancer goes undetected for a long time and by the time it is discovered it is to late. There is only a 10% survival rate for the type of cancer he had. On the Sunday before his surgery, we prayed for him at church. Bro. Harris (our co-paster) led us in prayer as we circled around him and his family. Bro. Harris prayed that the tumor would just jump out into the surgeons hands and the surgery would be a success. Well, those were almost the surgeons exact words and he talked to the family after surgery. He said that the tumer was the size of a lemon (they were previously told it was the size of a cantalope) and it came out so easily, it almost jumped out.
Our church rejoiced over this answer to our prayer. Bro. Mo went through chemo and radiation after that and had a really rough time but just before Christmas, he completed his treatments and thought all was well.
Well, a few weeks ago he started having pain in his stomach again and went to the dr. to see what was up. They did an mri and it showed a spot in the same place as the cancer was last time. His dr's confirmed that it was cancer and that he would need a pet scan to see if the cancer had spread to any other parts of his body. Last Friday, the surgeon called him and told him that the tumor seemed to be attached to his liver and was inopperable and the future did not look good for him. Of course, he and his family were devastated.
Last Sunday, our church surrounded he and his family again asking God to remove all cancer from his body and to let his pet scan come out crystal clear. It was a very emotional prayer.
He got the results of his scan this past Tuesday and....it came out crystal clear. NO CANCER to be found in his body, not even the spot that was seen on the mri. God peformed a miracle. We are rejoicing and are so overwhelmed with God's loving spirit. He DOES still peform miracles even today.

So the question is why does he heal some and not others? I don't know the answer to that question. I just know that God has a plan and a purpose for all of us. He knows best for what is to come of our lives. We just have to trust and accept his will.

But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. Exodus 9:16