Dear Vinny,
That was so beautiful. Thanks so much for sharing that with us. I am
keeping it.
Love and Blessings,
Pat Ferguson
At 05:59 PM 2/18/2010, you wrote:
>I don't know if this is a true story, but it is beautiful.
>Vinny
>----- Original Message ----- From: "VIP Christianity Forum"
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>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2010 3:50 PM
>Subject: Zardoz - Doug's Last Wish
>
>
>>
>>2 Cor 12:9 My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made
>>perfect in weakness.
>> Doug's Last Wish
>>
>> Doug and Margaret Nichols have faced their share of
>> obstacles. After surgery for colon cancer in April 1993, Doug sat
>> across from his doctor and listened in disbelief. "I'm sorry,
>> Doug," said the doctor nervously, "but you do have a 30 percent
>> chance of recovery."
>>
>> "You mean I have a 70 percent chance of dying?" Asked Doug,
>> with a grin.
>>
>> "I wouldn't put it that way," said a surprised doctor. "But
>> my best estimate is that you have about three months to live."
>>
>> "Well, let me tell you something, Doc," said Nichols.
>> "Whatever happens, I have a 100 percent chance of going to heaven."
>>
>> One year later radiation and chemo treatments had left Doug's
>> body wracked with pain. Though he kept his humor well-oiled, both
>> Doug and Margaret knew the end might be near. But their world was
>> not the only one collapsing. Nightly news reports from Rwanda
>> indicated that civil war had spiraled out of control and more than
>> a million people had been slaughtered, many by their own neighbors
>> and trusted friends. The carnage was beyond belief. Terrified
>> Rwandans by the thousands had fled across the border into Zaire
>> and crowded into filthy, ill-equipped refugee camps, where
>> diseases such as cholera found a ready home. People were dying
>> everywhere-50,000 in three days alone in the little town of Goma.
>> As Margaret and Doug read the terrible accounts and saw the images
>> on TV, their hearts were broken. But what could one couple do?
>>
>> "I knew I was going to die," Doug told me, "but I wanted to
>> do something before leaving this earth. I just wanted to hold some
>> of those children in my arms and try to offer hope."
>>
>> Soon Doug found himself traveling with a team of doctors and
>> nurses through the heart of Rwanda, with no idea of the adventure
>> that lay ahead.
>>
>> A Rwandan Christian leader whom Doug had worked with before
>> had hired 300 refugees as stretcher bearers to bury the daily
>> masses of dead and transport the sick so doctors could do their
>> best. One day the leader approached Doug with an expression of
>> deep concern. "Mr. Nichols," he said, "we have a problem."
>>
>> "What is it?" Doug asked.
>>
>> "I was given only so much money to hire these people, and now
>> they want to go on strike."
>>
>> "What? In the middle of all this death arid destruction these
>> men want to go on strike?"
>>
>> "They want more money."
>>
>> "But we have no more money," Doug informed him "We've spent
>> everything. If they don't work, thousands will die."
>>
>> His friend shrugged his shoulders. "They're not going to
>> work. They want more money."
>>
>> "Well, can I talk to them?"
>>
>> "It won't do any good. They're angry. Who knows what they'll do?"
>>
>> Finally Doug's friend agreed. Walking over to an old
>> burned-out school building, Doug climbed the steps wondering what
>> on earth he could say. Three hundred angry men surrounded the
>> Rwandan who would act as interpreter. "Mr. Nichols wants to say
>> something," he called above the clamor as Doug desperately
>> searched for words that would get through to them.
>>
>> "I can't possibly understand the pain you've experienced,"
>> Doug began, "and now, seeing your wives and children dying from
>> cholera, I can never understand how that feels. Maybe you want
>> more money for food and water and medical supplies for your
>> families. I've never been in that position either. Nothing tragic
>> has ever happened in my life that compares to what you've
>> suffered. The only thing that's ever happened to me is that I've got cancer."
>>
>> He was about to go on when the interpreter stopped. "Excuse
>> me," he said, "did you say cancer?"
>>
>> "Yes."
>>
>> "And you came over here? Did your doctor say you could come?"
>>
>> "He told me that if I came to Africa I'd probably be dead in
>> three days."
>>
>> "Your doctor told you that and you still came? What did you
>> come for? And what if you die?"
>>
>> "I'm here because God led us to come and do something for
>> these people in His name," Doug told him. "I'm no hero. If I die,
>> just bury me out in that field where you bury everybody else."
>>
>> To Doug's utter amazement the man began to weep. Then, with
>> tears flowing down his face, he turned back to the workers and
>> began to preach. "This man has cancer," he told the crowd, which
>> suddenly grew very quiet. In Rwanda, cancer is an automatic death
>> sentence. "He came over here willing to die for our people," the
>> interpreter continued, "and we're going on strike just to get a
>> little bit more money? We should be ashamed!"
>>
>> Suddenly men on all sides began falling to their knees in
>> tears. Doug had no idea what was going on because no one had
>> bothered to translate. To his great embarrassment, one fellow
>> crawled over and threw his arms around Doug's legs. Dumbfounded,
>> Doug watched as people stood to their feet, walked over to their
>> stretchers, and went quietly back to work.
>>
>> Later, as the interpreter recounted the whole story, Doug
>> thought to himself, What did I do? Nothing. It wasn't my ability
>> to care for the sick. It wasn't my ability to organize. All I did
>> was get cancer. But God used that very weakness to move the hearts
>> of people. Because they went back to work, thousands of lives were
>> saved, and many heard the good news of Jesus Christ.
>>
>> "So many are discouraged by weakness," Doug told me later.
>> "We feel that God could never use us; we have nothing to offer.
>> But you can get sick, can't you? You can simply obey God and do
>> what He calls you to do-whether you feel you have the ability to
>> do the job or not. Sickness and weakness-those things we think God
>> cannot use-are many times the exact things God uses to glorify His
>> name. But so often much is left undone in the world because we are
>> so concerned about what people will think about us. We are
>> underqualified; we've never done that before. And so we sit back
>> as spectators."
>>
>> Callaway, Phil. Who Put My Life on Fast-Forward? Eugene:
>> Harvest House Publishers, 2002, p. 228-232. Www.philcallaway.com
>>
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