Page 4 - Preacher of Righteousness Magazine - Volume11 Issue 2

PAGE 4
I’ve noticed that part of the making of a champion is when the giant rises up and stares you in the face and threatens your very life. This can be cancer, depression, bankruptcy—the list of enemies is long, and the opportunity to meet any of them is probable. However, no matter which attack or giant challenges you, go on the offense. Attack. Use the name of Jesus,
and attack.
ask her what she thought. Each time I returned, she was there on the tarmac, waiting for me. As we came to port, I would be on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier, where I could look over the entire multitude of family members below, waiting for their sailor or Marine to disembark. Out of that multitude, I could pick out Vickie every time.
said to me, “Reverend, this is aggressive. It is invasive. It has already spread, and it kills most women.” Vickie spoke right up and with great boldness pronounced to him that we will receive a miracle. “You do what you do, Doc, and Jesus will do what He does, and we will be back with a great testimony.”
We learn from David’s record that he was an unknown before Goliath, but God knew him and had already marked his path and numbered his steps. It’s the same for you and me. It doesn’t matter what you feel or think about it. You may not see it, but God does.
When Vickie and I had children (two of them, Dawn and Joshua), she was more than a mother. She has always been the strength of our family. I am not a weak man, and I do not neglect my duties as hus- band and father; but it was Vickie who provided the glue that kept us together and moving forward as a family. I admire her for it, and I admire all wives and mothers who live biblically, whose anointing and strength keep the family together.
As we sat in the car that day (before we ever left the parking lot), we discussed how to fight
this battle. I learned as a trained combat Marine that you must face fear head-on. If you can’t beat the fear, you will most likely never beat that enemy. I asked Vickie what her biggest fears were. Was it dying? Was it living but in constant pain and battle? We talked bluntly about it, and then we spoke to that fear and submitted it to Jesus Christ.
I met Vickie when we were just turning 13. At 18 we married, and at 19 I left for Vietnam, where I served as a Marine leader for two tours—one for 10 months, and one for 11 months. Vickie was tough. She stood with me and prayed for me. She spent months and months without me. I think military wives are some of the strongest, toughest women alive. I salute every one
of them.
We are a family of miracles. I can choose from many to share with you. Would it be when my grand- son Malakai had a severe reaction to an inoculation, and it looked like he wouldn’t make it? Or maybe when Trish was diagnosed with cancer, or when my granddaughter Jadyn drowned in our pool but was raised again? We are living proof that Jesus is alive and still performs miracles today.
As I sat in that car in the doctor’s parking lot, listening to Vickie, the Lord spoke to me and said, “I did not come that day to kill Goliath. I did not need a testimony. Oh, yes— I could have just blinked My eyes and eliminated the entire Philistine army. It was My son who needed the testimony. I came that day to empower My son to kill that giant. And that’s what I’m going to do for you and Vickie today.” He told me that Vickie’s body is not hers. It doesn’t belong to her. It was bought and paid for at Calvary. It is the Lord’s body. Vickie just gets to live in it. Every cell of it was pur- chased by the spilt blood of Jesus.
The two times I was deployed to Vietnam, I can remember the look on her face and the embrace she gave me that was to last me almost a year. I watched her as we parted. I wondered each time if I would ever hold her in my arms again. I was hesitant and chose to never
Let me tell you just one of these stories. In 2008, Vickie was diag- nosed with cancer. I was in the room with her when the doctor