February 5, 2015 Member Letter

Dear Brethren,

As you may imagine, I receive a lot of mail each and every day, mostly email. In an average day, I receive and answer close to 100 messages. Some of them are simple and require only a few minutes to answer, but others are more complex and require research and additional time to provide an appropriate reply.

I also receive a number of messages in a week’s time that I find very encouraging. Here is a recent email message that I received from a member in Kansas:

Dear Mr. Franks, 

I don’t know if you remember me, but I met you on the Last Great Day in Steamboat Springs. You put me in touch with Jason Ranew to assist me with a tenured instructor, who was refusing to allow me to take a test I would miss while keeping the Feast. It was quite a process—I asked three times; the assistant dean asked at least twice; … I asked a third time, once I got back, at the direction of the assistant dean; Mr. Ranew sent an email and a letter; and on the day before grades were to be submitted I received an email letting me know that the test would be waiting for me at the testing center.

Going through this situation seems like such a minor thing, but for me it was a bit daunting due to the timing. I lost my 16-year-old son in July, and this was my first semester at this school. I was really scrambling to keep my head above water mentally and emotionally, and it was affecting my school work and I needed to pass this semester.

The day the assistant dean called me into her office she was in the middle of a very bad flu, that she ended up having for a total of five or six weeks, and had come in solely to handle my situation. When I left her office that day, I was flooded with scriptures coming so fast and so loud I couldn’t hold on to them all and I sat in my car for about 45 minutes physically, mentally and emotionally overwhelmed by what had taken place in front of me. As I sat there, one scripture was tugging at me—there are several places where it says “stand still,” but there is one that says, 

“‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem! ’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD is with you.”

In my little corner of the world it was a big scary battle, and I was just a tad worn down. I wanted to let you know I passed with an A, and I deeply appreciate the assistance of the Church in helping me do so. I hope sometime in the coming years I will be able to attend FI and be fully immersed and surrounded by those with a deeper knowledge and understanding than I.

Since this was a personal note sent to me only, I have chosen not to provide the name of the author; but needless to say, it was encouraging to read about this example of God’s intervention.

Of course, not every trial ends in such a positive manner. Often we hear of trials of sickness that end in the death of a dear friend and brother. I am sure we have all experienced this. My family experienced such a trial when my father died in 1998. He was a longtime member of the Church, having been baptized in the early 1960s.

The winter of 1998 was a particularly difficult time in the Church. I was involved in meetings in Arcadia, California, when I received news that my father was in the hospital and not doing well. Shortly after I arrived back home in Houston, I received a call from my sister informing me that my father wasn’t expected to live through the day. It was Feb. 17, and he was in the veterans’ hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, recovering from heart surgery. I got on the first plane to Memphis; and when I arrived at the airport, I had a voice message waiting for me. My father had died while I was on the plane. It was very sad and a difficult trial for our family. He was 69, which seems quite young to me today.

As we near another anniversary of my father’s death, I have been reflecting on trials and what we are to learn from them. While visiting the congregation in Mexico City in January, I gave a sermon on Romans 8:28. The sermon addressed the question “How can we say that ‘all things’ work together for good when there are so many bad things that seem to happen?”

I have to admit how hard it is to explain the “why” when these things occur. As a pastor in Houston for almost 19 years, I witnessed many examples of sickness and death. During those years, I performed approximately 100 funerals. Some were easier than others. In one case the lady was 96 years of age and was truly ready to die. But in another case it was a six-week-old infant who never really had a chance to live. How does one explain that? It is never easy.

Romans 8:28 is an important verse, but it’s only one verse. The Bible is a book about life. It begins with the tree of life in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2 and ends with the tree of life in a future world in Revelation 22. God offers eternal life to His servants, but He doesn’t offer an easy, problem-free life.

If you read Romans 8:28 in context, you see that the promise isn’t that there will be no problems in life. In fact, Paul ends this section with these words: “As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (verses 36-37).

Romans 8:28 is a spiritual concept. It isn’t telling us that everything in this physical life will be easy for us, but that everything will work out for good to the children of God. Each of us is a mosaic of all the things we experience—both the good and the bad. If we endure and if we remain true to our calling, eternal life awaits us. Paul describes it as follows: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Our future is secure if we remain true to that calling.

Satan will stop at nothing to discourage us, but we must rest in the confidence of Romans 8:28. God will see us through. Even when death is the ultimate answer to a trial of sickness, we have a future that is far greater than one can possibly imagine.

I began this letter with a message from a lady who enjoyed a miraculous intervention from God. This is our prayer, and this is what we expect. But we must be prepared to accept that life will have a few ups and downs along the way. It is in this context that we must read Paul’s words: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

The first month of 2015 is now over, and we are well into the second month. It truly seems that the ancient proverb “time and tide wait for no man” is correct. Before we can even catch our breath from 2014, we are in the second month of 2015! And if December and January are any indication, we are headed for another remarkable year! Please pray for our brethren around the world, always giving thanks to God for His abundant blessings.

Sincerely

Jim Franks