A Second Chance For Marty

A Second Chance For Marty

When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is joyful. Proverbs 29:18

Marty was a shadow of his old self. His weight loss over just the past few months was dramatic and ominous. But he seemed to have no idea how serious his situation was.

“I know you keep telling me to quit smoking,” he said, “but I’m just not ready to clean up my act and fly straight. I’ve been smoking since I was fourteen, and it’s the only thing I enjoy doing.”

“Marty, this is serious. You need to get a chest X-ray.”

He looked at me, surprised. “What for?”

A few days later, he was back in my office for the bad news. The chest X-ray confirmed my suspicion. He had a 3 x 3 cm tumor on the lower lobe of his right lung.

“Do you think it’s cancer?” Marty asked. He was much more solemn than he’d been earlier in the week.

“I’m afraid it has the appearance of cancer, but we won’t know for sure until we do a biopsy.”

When the biopsy revealed adenocarcinoma of the lung, we scheduled Marty for surgery.

I saw him before he went under, and he stopped me and said, “Doc, will you pray for me? I’ve never been one to follow God’s direction in my life, but I want to change that now.” We prayed together, and Marty said he was ready for whatever happened.

The results we received the next day were encouraging. The skillful surgeon had been able to remove the tumor, and by all indications, Marty was completely healed. I shared the good news with him, and we rejoiced together.

Six months later, Marty was back in my office, and I asked him the same question I always asked him: “How much do you smoke, Marty?”

This time his answer was very different from before. “Because of the grace God showed me, I have changed a lot of my ways. I cleaned up my act, and I’m doing my best to fly straight.” He looked at me and smiled. “After forty years, I have quit smoking. God gave me a second chance at life, and I figured I would honor him by trying to take care of the body he has healed.”

TODAY’S RX

It’s never too late to start on the right path.

Lord, thank you for showing me your mercy. You forget my sins and right my path, bringing me joy.