Free Indeed

Next week, I am pleased to write, is the fourth anniversary of the start of my second battle with cancer. I have an appointment with my oncologist for a check up the day before that very well remembered day that marked my first major surgery followed ten days later by another. Following the surgical procedures, I was, much to my dismay, encumbered by intravenous and feeding lines hanging off two I.V. poles on wheels. I also had had multiple drainage apparatus that had to be connected to the poles before I could get up and walk. I had been bedridden so long that fluid was beginning to build up in my lower extremities. I learned that week that one of the biggest dangers a man or woman can face during illness is the inability to move. The solution offered to me, besides medications of course, was simple enough. I had to get up and walk twice each day. It was much simpler to say than to do. I was determined to get up and move. At first, I had to require the assistance of the nursing staff to get me on my feet with all of the machines and lines organized and to make sure I was decent prior to a public walk down a hospital hallway. The first few days I was assisted and watched carefully by staff as I pushed and attempted to steer two very full and top heavy I.V. poles on wheels around various hospital floor hazards. I was weighed down physically and emotionally and was exhausted after only a very short walk.

As my recuperation progressed, my load was lightened and the duration of my walks increased as I become stronger. Every so slowly, it seemed to me, various tubes and machines were removed. The load was lightened. On the final night of my hospital stay, I could no longer sleep through the noisy surgical ward night and I was walking the hallways at 3:00 A.M. As I walked long distances that night, the final I.V. connection quite simply fell out of my arm. I returned to the nursing station to gladly return my final pieces of equipment and stipulate rather forcefully with their smiling tacit approval that the line would not be placed back in my arm. I then turned and walked out into the main public promenade of the hospital and experienced a feeling of joyous freedom that is difficult to explain. I was free of the cumbersome, painful, awkward and weighty things that were obstructing my progress. It was wonderful! There I was, striding (in my mind I was striding) down the hallway past the smiling security guard who had watched my progress or lack thereof on other nights at 3:00 o’clock in the morning. I was free. Today, the sweet memory of that freedom reminds me of the words of Jesus in John 8: 31-36.

31 ¶ Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.

32 "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

33 They answered Him, "We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will be made free’?"

34 Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.

35 "And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.

36 "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

It occurs to me that the feeling I experienced that night in the hospital falls short of the elation and freedom I felt on the day that I accepted Jesus as my saviour. If we study His teachings and obey as best we can those teachings, we come to know the truth. It is that truth that makes us free. When we finally listen to that small inner voice that tells us to come to Him, we are finally free of all the cumbersome, painful, exhausting, awkward and heavy things that are obstructing our progress. We are free indeed.

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