Lessons learned (Part 2 - Refining)

Several months after I first began this blog, I wrote about the storms of life in this blog (it was on September 13, 2011 to be exact).  I called it “God is our refuge”; a phrase taken from Psalm 46:1, which reads, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”  This is a precious truth from God’s Word!  By the way, just so you know in case you were wondering: the Kevin of 2011 did know about storms.  It’s not as if I were unfamiliar with pain and suffering.  However, that said, there were incredibly shocking episodes that would come in subsequent years.

My father’s passing in 2015, for example, was an excruciatingly painful storm that changed my life forever; I certainly rejoice that he has been in Heaven for 10 years, but oh, how I miss him!  Another example is the year 2023.  This was actually one of the hardest years of my life; not just physically – as I brought up in broad strokes last time – but other episodes occurred that year that deeply injured me emotionally as well.  Finally, I have to admit that this year has also been challenging and stormy as well.   

Back to that blog from 14 years ago.  I brought up a creative video game level design from the game “Donkey Kong Country Returns” (released in the year 2010).  Incidentally, I love this video game, but I have to say I watched some highlights of it again on YouTube, and I marvel at the patience I possessed back then!  This game has some massively difficult – not to mention crazy stressful – levels in it.  How did I ever defeat that game?  Anyway, level 2-7 “Tidal Terror” is the level I cited in 2011.  Throughout the stage, massive tidal waves from the background come crashing into the foreground on Donkey Kong, and his companion Diddy Kong.  If they don’t take shelter, they die.  I used that as an illustration for the storms that hit us in life.  I want to share how I phrased it that day, because it helped me, all these years later, reading it again:

"The storms of life will come at us sooner or later – Jesus said in this world you will have trouble (John 16:33).  We have to run and take refuge somewhere.  The Psalmist [in Psalm 46:1] declares to us to take refuge in God.  What does it even mean to take refuge in God?  I think it simply means that He is the one that we run to for help and comfort.  For instance, when faced with trials some people want to run to things like sex, food, alcohol, or drugs.  These things are not legitimate places of safety and refuge; they will eventually disappoint us.  God is the one that we should run to in the storms of life.  He will not let us down.  He is, after all, “a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1)."

In the 90s, I vividly recall singing – along with a group of other students on Wednesday nights – the song “Refiner’s Fire” written by Brian Doerksen.  It begins with these words:

“Purify my heart; let me be as gold and precious silver.  Purify my heart; let me be as gold, pure gold.  [Chorus] Refiner’s fire, my heart’s one desire is to be holy, set apart for You, Lord.  I choose to be holy.  Set apart for You, my Master.  Ready to do Your will.”

I confess I probably didn’t fully understand what I was singing in the 1990s.  But I get it now!  The Bible says, “These [trials] have come so that the genuineness of your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may result in praise, honor, and glory when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:7; italics added for emphasis).  When I think about the fiery trials I have endured, whether in years passed or as recently as these past few months, I see that God has used them to refine my character.

One resource puts it this way: “To conclude, there is a similarity between gold and genuine faith.  For gold to become pure, it is heated to remove impurities.  Similarly, our faith is shown to be genuine when we go through the “fire” of trials.  The apostle Paul agrees, “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” (Romans 5:3-4).  Suffering is hard, but it is a comfort to know that our suffering is not in vain.  Rather, in suffering God continues to sanctify us, so our faith will become more like purified gold.”

(Source: https://www.gotquestions.org/more-precious-than-gold.html)

Kevin

A timely reminder

Last time, I introduced that I was going to have a series of blogs on things I’ve learned after some time away.  While I am certainly anxious to continue down that road, I want to put a pause on that, because today I am remembering – and celebrating – an event that happened on this day, two years ago.  Back in September of 2023, I went to a hospital emergency room; for three days, I was in that hospital.  I could go on and on describing the various details, but the bottom line is I was very sick, and not all that far from death’s door.  However, on 9/3/23, it was determined that I was able to leave the hospital, and finally return home!  What bliss washes over me, even now as I contemplate all this again, how exquisite it would be to sleep in my own bed again! 

I can’t recall if I ever shared this story in this blog before, but even if I did it is worth repeating.  Back in June, I brought up that the film “Batman Begins” was turning 20 years old (I’m still not sure how that is even possible; times flies).  I mentioned that this film has a very special place in my heart; and it does for many reasons.  However, one reason has nothing to do with the actual movie itself; it is because, two years ago today, as I was rejoicing in that hospital room that I was able to go home, the film that was playing on TV was “Batman Begins”.  I was praising God that He had used so many in the medical profession to save my life.  Like Bruce Wayne’s journey was continuing, so was mine.

There are certain milestones in my life that annually I celebrate; these events highlight the gift of life.  For instance, every April 24th, I celebrate that God, as a baby, healed me from a horrible disease that either murders its host, or leaves them a vegetable for the rest of their lives.  On April 24, 1982, God gloriously and miraculously chose to heal me from that disease.  Now I have another milestone event to celebrate: two years ago, the Lord chose to heal through the gifts of talented doctors and nurses.  I will forever be grateful.  The Bible says, “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were in your book before one of them came to be.”  It is a joy to consider how God has chosen to give me life to this moment in September of 2025.

In conclusion, let me answer the question of 'so what?'  Why bring all this up today?  As I once heard a preacher declare, looking back at what God has done in the past is a reminder of His faithfulness.  Lamentations 3 puts it this way: “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”  We tend to forget how God has shown up in the past.  I know this is true for me.  Most of 2025 feels like it’s been continuous stormy weather, and it’s easy to feel shaken.  Nevertheless, when I look back at everything the Lord has done in my life it serves as a timely reminder; it reinvigorates and reenergizes me.  When I look back at the storm of September 2023, and how God got me through that, it reminds me that He was faithful to me then, He will be faithful to me now, and He will be faithful in the coming days.

Kevin