Just A Thought

 We sat in the shaded outdoor café enjoying chips and tortilla soup. It was our last day of vacation, and we were reveling in the ambience of the San Antonio Riverwalk -  fifteen miles of trees, gardens, fountains, unique bridges, shops, restaurants, and hotels flanking the San Antonio River. Half of the river is natural, and half is man-made. It is only 3-4 feet deep, so people can safely walk the various paved pathways along its banks without unsightly handrails. Over the years it has been developed in such a beautiful destination that over 11.5 million people visitors each year.

As we nibbled on our snack, we were talking with my niece who had met us there. It was our last few minutes together, so we were catching up on her life, commenting on the ducks and savoring our time together. Suddenly my niece was distracted. She interrupted our conversation and called out something to a woman who was standing on a tour boat that had just docked nearby. The lady was bent over the side of the boat looking for something. We could see that it was her phone. She had dropped it, and it had landed under the seat that was now blocking her view of it. It was perched partly on the deck of the boat and partly dangling over the water. My niece was directing her to the exact location of her “almost lost”, phone which may have been worth $800-1000.

I was immediately reminded of something I had overheard from one of those passing tour boats just the day before. The guide was explaining that every other year, in the winter, the city of San Antonio drains the Riverwalk in order to clean it out. Last year they found 1,000 cell phones at the bottom of the river. That’s easily $800,000 worth of phones. It all adds up!

It is amazing how small things can make a big difference, especially when one person does it many times or many people do it a few times. The cumulative result can be dramatically good or bad. Consider these few examples:

·      If everyone in town threw their empty cans out their car window, a beautiful city could quickly turn into a garbage dump. 

·      If everyone in the neighborhood planted a flower garden, it could quickly seem like an affluent neighborhood.

·      If everyone drove aggressively, flashing their lights and honking their horn at anyone who dares inconvenience them, it would feel like a cruel dog-eat-dog world.

·      If everyone said please and thank you, the world would seem like it is full of good people.

Jesus taught a powerful principle that, if followed, would add up to making things dramatically better for everyone. He said “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 7:12 nlt) If everyone in the world truly applied this principle, it would be a much more beautiful place to live. But we can’t wait for everyone else to go first. We must go first and trust that others will follow. If enough people choose well, it will all add up, and our world will be better for it!

# posted by John W. Hanson @ Saturday, October 18, 2025

 I grew up in a family that was very active in church. As a toddler I heard the Bible stories. Preachers and Missionaries routinely shared stories that built my faith. Whenever someone in our family got sick, we prayed for healing. I was blessed to grow up as a believer. I had no doubt that God could heal. Before I ventured into high school and college where people began to express unbelief, I thought it was normal to believe that God healed. I personally witnessed many healings. 

One of the most dramatic healings I saw with my own eyes as a teen, happened on a Sunday night at our church. A teenager that my family routinely picked up for church came to church that night with a cast on his ankle. I don’t remember if he had broken or fractured it, but it was in a hard cast, and he hobbled into church on crutches that night. We had a powerful move of God during the service and his faith was inspired. He began to ask God to heal his foot. Eventually he was so confident that God had heard his prayer that he removed is cast and tenderly put his foot down. Realizing that God had done the healing he had prayed for, he began walking and then dancing in the altar area. When we took him home that night, he was not using his crutches. 

But I also had a very different experience in those growing up years. When I was eight something happened that jarred my young faith. I had a friend who was very close to my age who attended our church His name was Mitch and he had diabetes. Mitch had some diabetic complications and became sick. I remember being told he was very sick. So, when we visited his home, I was not allowed into his room. But I heard my parents and his as they gathered around his bed and began calling out to God for a miracle. I expected their prayers to be answered, but a few days later my mother told me that Mitch had died. That was a lot to process. 

So, which is it? “Does God heal, or doesn’t He?”  “Why should we pray for healing?” Those are fair questions. Here are a few truths that I keep in mind when I am trying to understand this topic:

1.    God wants to heal and told us to pray for healing. If we never pray, no one ever gets healed. 

2.    Believers are not naive. We are not supposed to hide our head in the sand and pretend God will make everything turn out smooth.

3.    Believers should not create a false narrative in order to protect our faith. We should not make up stories of healings that don’t really happen.

4.    We don’t have to make excuses for God. If he chooses not to heal, he is still God.

The truth is that God heals. The Bible tells us that we are healed by His stripes and we are encouraged to ask for healing. Physical healing was a huge part of Jesus and the Disciples’ ministries. There are many scriptures that bear that out. Here are two:

Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. – Matthew 14:14 

They begged him to let the sick touch at least the fringe of his robe, and all who touched him were healed. – Matthew 14:36

The Bible makes it clear that God is the one who decides whether or not we are healed. It also teaches that sickness and death are not the worst things that can happen to someone. But it clearly demonstrates that God is a healer, and that it never hurts to ask. I’ve seen it happen many times with my own eyes!

# posted by John W. Hanson @ Saturday, October 11, 2025