When greeting people, it is sometimes an automatic habit to say, “How are you?” Sometimes people wait for a response and sometimes the asker will again, automatically, say, “That’s good.”
This may suggest that the one asking doesn’t really care, have heard people say something positive so much that they will quickly assume that it is good or they’re response is just as automatic as the question being asked in the first place. Now that’s a mouthful!
My first inclination is not to think that people don’t really care, even if it seems that way. Are you sure that you really want to know? Because, sometimes the person saying that they’re okay are also answering in an “automatic” reaction to that question. There are so many variables to the thoughts and well-being of individuals that it is not even reasonable to expect a completely truthful answer. Therefore, we all keep it at, “How are you?” and a simple, “Okay.”
When the Rev. Enoch Fuzz, pastor of Corinthian Missionary Baptist Church, was first diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in early 2020, he was often asked the question, “How are you?” He was brutally and forwardly honest in his answers, “I’m sick!” “I’m dying,” “I’m gonna be dead soon.” Not knowing what to think or say, following that kind of answer he was often told, “Stop talking that way,” “I don’t think so,” “How do you know?” and other such statements of encouragement that were not necessarily intended to be encouragements. These statements were unknowingly saving prayers and a word of healing to his situation.
While he remains in a daily state of “getting better,” Pastor Fuzz continues to experience new ailments associated with his condition, but his words of response are different. When asked how he is doing, the response is still honest, but often followed with something similar to, “I could be worse because there are some people who are in the same condition, but they are not doing well in their illness at all.” And, “A lot of people are in bad shape.”
To know that God is keeping you is sometimes the difference in our answers to our many conditions. Are you asking and answering of being okay “automatically,” or are you asking and answering in an honest prayerful search of knowledge so that you will know how to proceed in your aid to offer prayer or to receive prayer. It takes thought and intentional meditation to know the difference.
I pray that you’re okay. Although we have a myriad of reasons to possibly “not be okay,” we will trust God’s grace and mercy to make situations as well as can be.
Continue to pray for Pastor Fuzz. He continues to pray for the world and for you as you are a part of his journey. Visit his Facebook status where you will find him sharing his concerns, praise in pictures, testimony and song. As we continue to follow God’s guide, keep following his weekly journey, Cancer: My Journey in Time. And, a special note of thanks for continuing to read and share this journey. May it be a blessing in your life.
