To our
dear friend Diane Povis who has gone to be with
the Lord. May your memory
live on. You were both a lover and a warrior.
That song we just sang was
Diane’s favorite worship song. As you know it is
called White Horse. The Scriptures teach
that in the last days Jesus will return to earth
riding a white horse, with eyes flaming, a robe
dipped in blood, a sword in his mouth, a crown
of jewels on his head, and he will bring an army
with him on white horses, wearing white robes,
to wage war against the nations that reject him.
Honestly, it is an image we typically don’t
associate with Jesus. We think of him as a
lover! We imagine him holding lambs or children,
showing compassion for the outcast, and healing
the sick. Those images are true…but there is
more to Jesus! He will also come as a warrior to
wage war and judge those who opposed him. The
Bible says that in the end, everyone will bow
their knee and confess him as Lord. We just
can’t think of the portraits of Jesus we have
seen with a perfectly edged beard and flowing
hair parted down the middle that looks as if it
has just been blow-dried. We need to broaden our
mental pictures of Jesus to include the
double-edged sword in his mouth.
I’m not surprised
White Horse was one of Diane’s favorite
songs because She was also a lover and a
warrior! She did not just see Jesus as a Good
Samaritan who helped the oppressed and
downtrodden, she saw him as a warrior who would
one day come back with a sword in his mouth as a
hero. Diane lived her life as a lover and a
warrior! Ask Nick, her son, who ticked her off
one day so much that she kicked him out of the
car and told him to walk home, and all Nick
could do was to throw rocks at the fleeing car
and walk home in despair. There was never any
question that as a lover Diane loved Nick with
all her heart—but she also was a warrior and
knew that sometimes he needed a kick in the
pants to get his attention—a dose of tough love
so that he can grow into the kind of man she
envisioned for him. A man who stands for truth
and fears God! She wanted her son to be a lover
and a warrior for God. Like she was!
Yes, Diane was a lover.
One time I visited her house and she was
reclined on a hospital bed in the middle of her
living room in sheer misery because of the pain
in her arm. Yet, she still had the love in her
to ask me if I had seen the back yard. Surprised
I said "no" because I wanted her to stay put.
But she motions for us to help her out of the
bed and for Shirley, her mom, to find her shoes
and hat. I told her "no its okay Diane I can see
it another time; you need your rest"—but you all
know that didn’t stop her. She wanted to show me
the backyard because she wanted me to see its
beauty. So not wanting to wait for Shirley to
find her shoes—she motions for me to follow her
as she feebly walked and showed me the backyard
in her bare feet. The backyard was beautiful.
The pond, the fountain, the flowers, the bench,
the serene beauty. As I took it all in…she
motioned me to keep following her because there
was more backyard beyond the fence. And there
was; past the fence was an open range that was
so breathtaking it looked like a perfect place
to store white horses. Though she was suffering
as a warrior she wanted me to experience the
beauty as a lover. A God given lover despite the
pain.
But she was also a
warrior! Remember she had cancer over three
years ago and went toe to toe with it then and
won. A sweet victory over the gamma gun! She was
bound and determined to give it a go again!
Bring it on! For over a month she had an arm
that was so puffed up it looked like a
prosthetic. Yet though the pain was intense and
her arm almost dead because of a lack of
circulation, she was determined to keep on
fighting. When the doctor discovered she had
more cancer—she cautioned her about undergoing
more chemo. Diane was told there was only a
twenty percent chance of beating the cancer. No
one wanted to see her go through chemo again.
But Diane was determined to keep on fighting.
That's what warrior's do!
Later, when they took her
off the respirator; the hospital staff decided
to shut off the monitor because they did not
want the family to see the vital signs. But the
family insisted. They turned the monitor back on
and all the vital signs were displayed in the
color pink. The nurses said they had never seen
anything like that before. Vital signs were
supposed to be green and blue. But not Diane’s;
hers were pink like a beautiful carnation. Most
of you know pink just happened to be her
favorite color. I think the lover and the
warrior was trying to tell us something.
Diane lasted around twenty
hours without the respirator. It should have
been a couple minutes or at most a couple hours.
She lasted 20 hours! Diane was a fighter
to the end. Well she doesn’t have to fight
anymore. She has entered God’s rest. She is in
the presence of Jesus now and there is no more
pain in her arm; no more cancer in her lymph
nodes and breast; no more piercing pain to
pester her. She has is now staring face to face
with Jesus, our blessed assurance! Diane, the
lover and the warrior is with Jesus. And though
she is resting in the arms of Jesus she is still
fighting! She is fighting for you! She wants to
see you again…every one of you. You all know
there was nothing more important to her than her
family and friends.
But here is the reality.
There is only one way you will see her again.
You have to make sure your heart is right with
Jesus, the lover and the warrior! You see,
God doesn’t just let everyone into heaven. You
have to follow His rules. If you come over to my
house I won’t let you in if you don’t follow my
rules. You have to respect my wife. You have to
be polite to others. You have to respect the
fact that in my house we talk and pray to Jesus.
If you refuse these rules; you are not welcome
into my home! It is the same with God. The Bible
tells us if you want to go to heaven—you have to
follow God’s rules. If you want to see Diane
again—which she wants very badly—you have to put
your trust in Jesus, the lover and the warrior.
Those are not my rules; those are God’s. Here’s
how you do that! Three things.
-
You have to confess
your sin. Admit to God you tried to live
your life without Him. Ask forgiveness.
-
You have to understand
what Jesus the warrior did for you on the
cross. He lived a perfect life for God in
the midst of severe persecution. He took
your sins and placed it on himself and died
God rewarded him by raising him from the
dead.
-
Lastly, you have to
trust that Jesus died and was raised from
the dead so that you could go to heaven. You
have to trust in the lover who died for you
and the warrior that conquered death.
That is how you can enter
God’s house. Those are His house rules. Diane is
in the presence of Jesus because she put her
trust in Jesus and followed those rules. You can
bet she is hoping you will do the same if you
haven’t. I know I will see her again because the
Bible tells me so--you see, Jesus is referred to
as our blessed assurance. I hope you find the
same confidence Diane and I have discovered in
him.
It would be nice to see
Diane again. I can see her grateful and relieved
that she trusted Jesus and doesn't have to
experience the pain that has bogged her down
this past year.
But I can also see her
asking Jesus to take her to the stable where all
those white horses are lodged. I can see her
telling him, “I want to ride one of those white
horses. I want to ride that one with the fluffy
mane.” I can see her telling Jesus, “I want to
be with you when you go back down to judge with
those burning eyes, that crown of jewels on your
head, that sword in your mouth, and that blood
stained robe. Yes Lord, yes Lord, I want to ride
one of those white horses because as you know,
though I am a lover, I am also a warrior!"
(k)