Kingdom Harbor

Many of us can “talk the talk” when it comes to faith; but the sincerity of one’s faith is really tested in the fiery furnace of trials and tribulations that life brings our way.  Todd Johnson has been fighting terminal brain cancer since October 2008.  I had the opportunity to sit down with him this past week and ask how God has sustained him and his family through these challenging days.  

In Luke 17:20-21, Jesus said that the power and presence of the Kingdom of God comes to inhabit believers (“The kingdom is within you”) when we put our trust in God through Jesus Christ.  I love writing about the power of the Kingdom.  I love thinking about what it looks like when the kingdom “comes on earth as it is in Heaven.”  Yet, even more alluring and irresistible is sitting in the presence of the Kingdom incarnate.  Todd Johnson beamed radiantly, like an angel and saint combined, as he shared candidly how his battle with cancer has allowed him to minister even more effectively to those who don’t know God’s power.  

Todd has been involved in prison ministry for years and even during his weekly chemo and radiation treatments he continues to take the hope of the gospel into the prisons.  As we chatted the other day I realized that Todd embodies the following words of the Apostle Paul:

“Everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die. They didn’t shut me up; they gave me a pulpit! Alive, I’m Christ’s messenger; dead, I’m his bounty. Life versus even more life! I can’t lose.  As long as I’m alive in this body, there is good work for me to do. If I had to choose right now, I hardly know which I’d choose. Hard choice! The desire to break camp here and be with Christ is powerful. Some days I can think of nothing better” (Phil 1:21-24). 

It’s one thing to read and believe these words.  It’s truly heroic to live them!  I hope you are all blessed by Todd’s testimony in the video below.