A Tribute to Sam....

Today is the anniversary of the death of a friend....he was one of the most courageous guys I've met in a very long time. Yes, he was a marine....but he was so much more...he was a true solider of Christ. I have had the experience of seeing a few people die from cancer....I can't say that I have seen anyone battle cancer like Sam. In a day and age...where we don't always believe the miraculous...Sam believed..absolutely believed that God would heal him....to his very last breath...he believed. He claimed victory over death....and in all his prayers and scriptures..that he read..had us read to him...he came forth as gold.

I had the privilege of spending time with Sam about a month before he died...and he had me laughing so hard and eating ice cream...this man who had a tube in his stomach to clean out anything he ate....played a joke on me and had me rolling...I couldn't believe he was as sick as he was....and before we left..we prayed..it was such a sweet and powerful prayer. I knew when I walked out that door that I may not see him again till heaven...but for the first time since loosing other relatives to cancer and feeling so disheartened....I decided to continue to pray just as Sam was praying....for healing. I decided to trust in God once again...that He knew best...but I would lay all that I had at His feet....I fasted and prayed like I have never done in my life.....God changed me and gave me the faith to truly believe that if He so desired..in a moment...with one word....I knew that Sam..could be healed and just as Lazarus woke from death...Sam could be freed from cancer.

With each passing day...it seemed that God was desiring to bring Sam closer to Him....I was praying harder for mercy and no pain...I was begging God for a miracle...I reminded God of what He could do with a young man who is 24..who was broken and empty for Him...and God reminded me that He loved Sam the most..and He had a plan for him. I kept praying and I would read the updates...that Sam was still believing God for a miracle. So at the point that I wanted to waver in my prayers...and pray...just take him Lord..I would change my prayer to heal him Lord....because I knew that that Sam was still believing in God to heal him. I know this because of the emails and blogs posted on his behalf......but nothing stirred my heart like the truth shared at his memorial service...of what he did hours before he passed.
Before Sam's transition into heaven ....he tried to make his way to the bathroom to see a mirror...they helped him get to the mirror... Sam said... I just want to see what I look like... so that I will know how great the victory that God has done for me when I get my new body.... Satan will not have the victory over me...God will heal me. I was so taken by this that it hit me....this is how we as christians should die....this is how we die well. Satan does not get the victory over our lives...for Sam it was cancer. Each of us has our own battle....we can not give in...or quit. Oh how tempting it is so many times. Especially when we don't see things going our way. But I am so thankful that Sam saw that it wasn't about him...and ultimately not about things going his way...but it was about God and His glory. It was about trusting Him and believing Him till that very last breath.

I can not even tell you all the things that I learned from my very short encounter with Sam...but I can tell you my life is forever changed. My faith forever strengthened like never before....even writing this...I am reminded...and I guess that is why I write...so I have to remember. I desire to honor a dear brother who so loved our God and trusted him with His last breath. I pray so differently now. I am learning not to be afraid to ask more for the impossible....to believe in ways I hadn't before. Not that I don't still struggle because you all know I do..but Sam still comes to my mind. I think so much because...God used his cancer to break some hardened places of my heart....it was honestly hard to think of praying for Sam at first...because every time I had prayed for someone with cancer God had taken them....so I was frustrated a bit with God...but with Sam...because of how he lived...he challenged me to pray big-huge-...to believe with Him for greater things...impossible things. When he passed last Aug 12....it wasn't a death...it was a transition and I know Sam got his healing...and I was not the same person. I am so very thankful for his life. Sam...just like you and me...... had a choice...he turned his life around and gave Christ all He had...he lived and died for the glory of our God. I will never be the same because of that. It's so not about us. He is good...all the time...all the time God is good... and He forever loves us.

If you would like to meet Sam ...you can go to http://www.myspace.com/samiamtheman