Author Archives: Todd

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It has been said that after this New Year’s Eve, every pronunciation of the year “2021” will sound like an admission that “2020 won.”  While I admit 2020 seems like confirmation of Jesus‘s words in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble," the encouraging reality is in the second half of that verse: “but take heart! I have overcome the world.“ This year has brought division, discord, disease, and depression, all evidence of a competent destroyer, which seeks to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). Still, you and I have the assurance that 2020 did not win, the world doesn’t win, the destroyer doesn’t win, and whatever struggle you are facing today doesn’t win either. Jesus did not say that he may someday overcome the world, or that he will overcome the world, but that he has already overcome the world. It’s done. “It is finished” (John 19:30). The great tribulations we endure here on Earth serve to refine, prove, and prepare us for our divine graduation, so long as we do not give up (Galatians 6:9). 

Let this next year be the “twenty-twenty-first” year of our Lord rather than an announcement of defeat. 2020 did not win! Christ Jesus is still Lord! He has overcome racism, hatred, disease, isolation, grief, and hopelessness. In this world those things will still exist, but you and I can take heart, because they don’t win.

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Last night I worked the third of three 12-hour shifts in a row in the ER for the week. At about 1:00 am I took report from an off-going mid-shift nurse and took responsibility for her patients. One was a terminally ill cancer patient with only a few weeks or months left to live. I met him for the first time to give him some comfort medications, a list of prescriptions, and discharge him home. I addressed him as I do all my patients, with care and respect, honoring him and the God who created him with the intent for his abundant life. As I took out his IV catheter, I inquired whether he was prepared for his death, and whether he and I would meet again before our Creator. He assured me he was secure in his eternal home, and I told him how relieved I was that we would have eternity to catch up. Before he left, he told me that in the brief ten or fifteen minutes he had known me, I had treated him with more loving compassion than anyone in his many visits to any hospital or care center he had visited in his extensive cancer treatment. 

I hope the light this man saw in me was the reflection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and not just Todd Lemmon’s glowing personality. I hope that the feedback I got from this man well-seasoned in his exposure to healthcare was an accurate assessment of the care I give all my patients. I hope I continue to have the opportunity to love the hurting, minister to the sick and dying, and prepare the souls of all I meet for a glorious life after this earthly one. I hope in my sharing this anecdote, you are encouraged to love the people you meet today as if it is the last chance you get. I hope we all get to gather around our Lord’s table one day and share stories of how some stranger made a difference in our lives. I hope your crown of glory shines like the noonday. I hope mine does too. 

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In this time when Thanksgiving gives way to Advent, the world turns its collective attention from the people, places, and things for which it is grateful to the anticipation of something new. Cindy and I have come to reflect on the fellowship we have with those who follow these updates, who pray for us and our mission, who give or have given in partnership with us, or who have hosted information sharing luncheons in your homes. To all of you we say, “Thank you!” As we look ahead, we still are not certain about departure dates, but we believe God is leading us to partner with a particular mission, and we hope to firm up that relationship in the spring, with an indefinite long-term relocation by late summer or fall of 2021. What began as a seven-year preparatory wait is nearing the ocean crossing stage!

What began as a seven-year preparatory wait is nearing the ocean crossing stage!

As you consider your options for Giving Tuesday please consider partnering with us. Visit our Donate page for more information. We will need to muster funds for training, relocation, transportation, and our room & board while in Uganda. Anything helps. 

God bless you and yours as you live missional in your homes, workplaces, and neighborhoods!