SUR-THRIVERS "HYPER-NIKE"

Seattle, WA 35 degrees, rainy and cold wind.

The apostle Paul invented a lot of words to describe the never before realities that the Risen Christ brought into the world. One of them in Romans 8:37 is "hyper-nike". Nike, as the company by that name so wisely chose, means to be victorious. What the apostle Paul does is intensify nike into a spiritually supernatural by-product of our personal relationship by faith with God. Most of our translations go like this:"in all these things we are more than conquerors (sur-thrivers) through him who loved us. For I have become absolutely convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" Romans 8:37-39.

There's a huge difference between surviving and sur-thriving. Survival means we just barely hold on by the tips of our fingers and finally are either rescued or perish. Survival leaves us destitute, having lost all just to persist. Survival is often an inspirational story of our own ingenuity and the will to live and is a great virtue. However, hyper-nike, sur-thriving comes from a different source and has eternal consequences. Kriss' sister Patty Jo is a sur-thriver.

First diagnosed with cancer 35 years ago while pregnant with her last daughter.She has sur-thrived, by the grace of God. She has gone through more surgeries, treatments, chemo, radiation, and sheer physical pain than any cancer patient I have ever known. How did it affect her? Well, today she is here in Seattle to support Kriss, my brother and myself in our hour of need. Her love and devotion for Christ simply will not allow her to fail to serve others with God's love. She has never allowed her limitations to define her life. She faces each day with a grace, charm and beauty that make you want to keep her around forever. As a single
Mom she has been an inspiration to her children and grandchildren and they call her "blessed". She loves to quilt and leave behind things of beauty for which she will be remembered. She is an amazing cook and loves to show hospitality to others. When she arrived on Sunday, she came well stocked. She knew that I am battling high blood sugar, due to my other treatments, and so she brought bags of healthy and appropriate food  that will help lower those counts. She is a breath of fresh air for Kriss. They love to just sit and visit and go shopping and do all those things close sisters need to do, but don't find time to. If you would ask her about her life, she would give all the glory to God's grace and mercy. Despite all her trials and limitations, she is a living sur-thriver.

I am learning alot from Patty Jo about diet, self-control, perseverance and trust. She has been down this road with cancer 3 times longer than I and she has much to teach us all. In learning to adapt to new and often frightening experiences is where we encounter God's sur-thriving grace. Jesus assured the apostle Paul that "my power is perfected in your weakness". I don't think there is a time that I can remember when our nation and world seem so afraid and helpless to overcome the tremendous challenges we face. From next door to around the world, it would appear that chaos reigns and despair overflows into violence. Whether it is my battle with cancer, or my awareness of local and international events, I trust God's Word and promises that in all these things we are and we will be SUR-THRIVERS through him who loves us. I believe the essential element of sur-thriving is knowing God is with us and   within us. Despite all the reasons to run and hide and hoard the love of God, these are the times when sur-thrivers rise like cream and glorify the God of abundant life.

Harrah, WA, July-Sept 1972 Working on the ranch.

Everyone arrived safely home from Europe and it was time to go to work. In those days you could work a decent summer job and save up enough $ to go to College for an entire year. Both Kriss and I worked the rest of the summer on the family ranch and moved to Bellingham, WA where I had been accepted as a student. I needed to declare a major, so I picked French Education. That would normally have taken two years to complete since I hadn't taken a single education course and would have to student teach one quarter. Those type of bureaucratic restrictions always can be renegotiated and I marched into the Registrar's Office with my Transcripts from studying in France, all in French. We had a cordial visit and then I suggested we compare my French Transcripts with various requirements for my teaching degree. She literally took my word for the content and scope of every class and I was able to get credit for at least a Quarter's Credits, without falsifying anything, just a little stretching of that clothing dollar. Next, I discovered that there were some required courses that were so lame that if you paid the tuition and passed the final, you could get credit for the class, NO BRAINER! After Fall Quarter I bought the text books, studied over Christmas break and passed a couple more requirements. Getting in supervision and student teaching all in 2 Quarters was going to be a bigger challenge, but not insurmountable. I negotiated and took overloads. I was in a supervised classroom winter quarter and student taught, while taking one final French class under the table. I graduated in nine months from arriving in Bellingham and saved a lot of time in the process.

The greatest part of our first year in Bellingham was reconnecting with friends and christian fellowship. We tried to join and be part of the Navigators Ministry, but they requested we might be more comfortable in a less structured setting. So we went back to our Friday Night Bible Study in our apartment and it blossomed. People we had know from our past and new friends came. God blessed that group in wonderful ways and we met people like Paul and Kim Thorne who remain some of our closest friends to this day. We didn't know what a student loan looked like if it landed on your head. So we both worked. I did the weekend slop-job in the student cafeteria, Kriss started out at Herfy's Hamburgers before working as a CNA in a nursing home. I envied my friend from Bellevue who was still playing college tennis and assured me a spot on the team, but I was a married man with responsibilities. You can't prolong adolescence forever, so I consoled myself at the end of my shift with a couple of creme-filled donuts. We graduated from college debt free and then it was decision time about God's next step in our lives.