“Heaven Is Going to Be Wonderful, You Know?”

sharing words from Dr. Stephen A. Hayner

LSM Note: Our dear friend, Steve Hayner, president of Columbia Theological Seminary (and former president of InterVarsity, dean at Seattle Pacific University and pastor at University Presbyterian in Seattle) and his wife Sharol live in Atlanta. Steve officiated at Inka’s Seattle memorial service back in 1981 (Mike’s late wife) and also preached our own wedding sermon in Menlo Park CA in 1984. Our daughter Fiona and their daughter Emilie were in pre-school playgroup together in Seattle and Sharol greatly helped me to transition into motherhood during those days…

Recently World Vision asked Steve to share a devotion on his life perspective amidst terminal cancer. As we enter a season of Thanksgiving, I wanted to share his words with you (with Steve’s gracious permission of course)- in Thanksgiving for the life and reach of Steve Hayner, and also the amazing presence and power of God.

STEVE HAYNER: “Over the last six months my life has completely changed. I haven’t been able to go back to my former job. I have had several surgical procedures, and I’m on a chemo-therapy every two weeks. On the weeks that I don’t have chemo, I currently feel pretty good and am able to carry on with a good schedule that includes time with people and projects. But I don’t know how long any of this will last, and I seldom know from day to day how much I can plan to do. The only certainty that I have related to this world is that someday, sooner than I had planned, I will go home to be with Jesus.

Facing death has a way of clarifying life. So let me tell you a few things that I’ve learned in the lasts months.

1. When Jesus is all you have, you soon discover that Jesus is all you really need. One of the creeds of my denomination opens with the phrase, “In life and in death we belong to God.” God created us …Jesus has redeemed us … and the Spirit transforms and gifts us for life everyday. It is Christ who gives us meaning, purpose, worth, and security. We look for these things in a variety of places: in our families, in our jobs, in our churches, in our convictions, in our health, or wherever we think it can be found. But only in Jesus will we find Life with a capital “L”-abundant Life which we experience now and will last forever. I’m in the process of losing everything that I have known on this earth, but I will never lose what God has given me in Christ.

2. As long as I have life on this earth, I have a call. God has given me work to do and continues to give me work to do. Over my lifetime I have had many roles to play and many jobs to fulfill. But it is not the particulars of being a husband, a father, a grandfather, a friend, a seminary president, a World Vision board member, or anything else that ultimately matters so much as the underlying call to be faithful. God has called me to follow Jesus in everything I do: to love the way Jesus loved; to listen to the Holy Spirit’s promptings; and to be obedient to God’s commands. Every day no matter how sick I become, I still have a call.

3. God will never give up in his work to transform me into the likeness of Jesus. I fail every day at being and doing what God has intended. But God has promised to use everything in my life to continue the process of helping me to become more like Jesus in my thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors. At this stage in my life God is using my disease to teach me. It’s not easy and I don’t like to change. But God loves me too much to give up on me. Therefore, God uses my circumstances, whatever they are, to continue the process of transformation.

4. Joy is not about my circumstances, but rather about being held and sustained by God’s love. Nothing can ever separate us from the love of God-not suffering, not want, not abundance, not sin, not anything. God loves us from beginning to end and through every circumstance. If there is one thing that I can trust, it is God’s love for me in Christ Jesus.

There is nothing new about any of these lessons. But God continues to remind me. And I continue to be grateful for every reminder. On Halloween an unexpected reminder came from a trick-or-treater, who was about 8 years old and was dressed like a little sheep. Surrounded by a flock of siblings, who were also dressed as sheep, he blurted out that they knew I was sick and were all praying for me. “Thank you,” I replied. And then with big sincere eyes, he looked at me, smiled and said, “Heaven is going to be wonderful, you know?” All I could think to say was, “It already is.”

May God continue to bless, encourage, sustain, and energize you for your call, too. Who you are in Christ and what you are becoming really matters in this world—as well as the next.”

- Steve Hayner, November 11, 2014

How will these 4 statements affect the way you and I LIVE today? I hope you will join me in continued prayer for Steve and Sharol Hayner and their family.

“Teach us to number our days,

that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90.12

under the mercy, Cindy

To read or write tributes to Steve Hayner,

go to www.ThanksToYouSteve.com

©2014 Stephen A. Hayner