Why Bring Out Your Champion?

On October 1, 2020 my life was shattered.  In the same hospital where my first child was born and brought back to life after an emergency C-section, I learned that my youngest child had a mass in his brain that would eventually take his physical life. This brought me to my knees before the Lord and I started to question everything about Him but more importantly, I began to question everything about myself.  Many would assume that a horrible thing like this would bring me to a place of anger and resentment towards God, but by examining my own heart I was brought to a place of submission, worship and gratitude.  During difficult situations I would converse with the Lord and he would give me amazing insight that encouraged me and I would feel an urging to write it down.  Embarrassed about my lack of skill in that area, I would scoff at myself and say, “that’s dumb”.  Often, after sharing my experiences with others, they would end our conversations by saying, you need to write a book!   I would laugh it off and tell them that in no way am I a writer.  After some pretty consistent urging that I believe were from the Lord and continued encouragement from friends to “write a book”, I decided to start writing stuff down.  Every time something happened of consequence where the Lord gave me some sort of insight, I would quickly jot it down.  I know that I am not author material but I have made some pretty long Facebook post so I thought that maybe I could just start a blog that would share our journey and the many spiritual lessons we learned as we weathered the storm of battling brain cancer.  

I know that Michael’s battle was for a reason.  I know that it was allowed to glorify our Lord and encourage others to battle well.  I have learned to battle well and it’s my heart’s desire that as I share the things that the Lord has shown me, He will also guide you on how to battle well. He’s doesn’t promise that our life would be worry free or trial free but He does promise us that He will be there to help us through and I know that this is a promise he keeps!  So, I would like to kick-off this blog with my first post sharing about why I decided on the title, “Bring Out Your Champion”.  This is a phrase I would tell Michael many times as he battled through his disease.  It is also a phrase I would tell myself as I wrestled with the trials that come with watching someone you love battle through a difficult situation.  If it was a rough day or if we got news that wasn’t very exciting, I’d say, “Michael, bring out your Champion”.  When I would send him off for brain surgery or get the news that wasn’t what we had hoped for, I would just whisper myself, “bring out your Champion”.  It would remind both Michael and myself that we have a Champion inside us that has already won the battle, no matter what happens on this earth, we are already a victor because of our salvation in Jesus Christ. 

This phrase came from the story of David and Goliath.  Although I am sure you know the story already, I’ll give you a quick reminder.  Goliath belonged to a people who waged war against God’s people.  He was a huge man, probably about 9 feet tall and wore some pretty impressive armor.  He was what they called, a Champion.  A champion, in biblical terms, meant the man of the space in between.  It was one man who served as the substitute on behalf of the people. He would be the one that would go out to the middle space, or the battle field, and fight the battle and either win or lose for the entire group of people.  On the other side, you had David.  He was a young teen, probably very thin and lanky, not old enough or big enough to be in the Israelite army and definitely not big enough to wear armor, but he found himself around the army and the action.  Each day Goliath would stand on his hill, yell insults across the valley to God’s people and call out for the Israelites to send out their man.  Basically, Goliath was calling on them to bring out their champion.  Out of fear, no one would go. Until David, this young boy who loved God with all his heart heard him and was so insulted that he was willing to stand up against the huge Goliath.  He was willing to be the champion to honor God’s name.  He didn’t go wearing armor or wielding a sword.   Instead, he went with what he knew, a slingshot and a few stones.  As David approached Goliath David shouted, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty,”.  David’s deep faith and understanding of who God was and the power He holds stripped him of any fear he may have had facing this giant.

This phrase came to have a few meanings. As Michael and I would discuss the lessons we learned from David and his unyielding faith in our Lord.  I would often call on Michael to bring out HIS Champion.  First of all, our true Champion is Jesus Christ.  He is the one who went to the battle field for us.  He fought for us and took on the war against sin for us.  So, at times, when I would encourage Michael to “Bring out his Champion” it was to encourage him to call on Jesus, the one who not only fights our battles but wins them!  Secondly, because we have Christ in us, we have a champion within ourselves.  When we bring out our Champion, we are calling on the power that the Lord Jesus Christ gives us to fight the battles that the enemy brings.  The Mental battles, the spiritual battles, the internal battles, the relationship battles, the physical battles, all the different battles we endure can be won when we bring out the champion and the power that we have through Jesus Christ.  As we weathered the storm of Michaels illness, there were many different battles that we fought.  We fought the fear of the unknown and the fear of loss, we fought the loss of joy.  We fought against sadness taking over. We fought anger.  We fought so many emotions and thoughts, but through it all I would whisper to myself or remind Michael to “bring out your Champion” and call upon Jesus to strengthen us to continue to fight and glorify him. 

My oldest son made the following statement after Michael’s death which I feel is a great description of how Michael was an example of “Bringing out His Champion” …

My brother was a champion. He was tougher than anyone I’ve ever known, and went through a battle with cancer that I could never even imagine. He was a fighter in life and was a fighter until the end. I will miss him tremendously, but I’m comforted and joyful in the fact that he is with the Lord in heaven.

Cancer brought Michael to his knees and stripped him of everything he knew that made him successful in life, but he found Jesus and surrendered his heart to Him through this hardship. Through this, Michael relearned what it meant to be a fighter. He began to fight from his knees for the first time in his life. Through humility and a life dependent on Jesus. It may seem like the cancer won in the end, but that’s not true. Michael’s story has impacted our family and brought us closer, it has changed people’s lives for the better, and even in death, Michael’s story continues to make an impact on people. Jesus said in John 11 “this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God”. This rings true for Michael. Cancer has not won this fight because Michael is in paradise. I will see him again. Michael is the victor because he depended on the One who defeated death.

Michael, baby bro….. you are currently experiencing more than I could ever imagine. You won little brother… you beat us all there. I can’t wait to get an earful of you bragging about that someday. I know I’ll never hear the end of it!

I’m proud of you, Brother!

Thank you for taking the time to read about the things the Lord laid upon my heart.  May the Lord Bless you and speak to your heart today!