“Wednesdays Were Pretty Normal” – A Challenging New Book by Michael Kelley

Feb 21 | Pastor J.D. | 2 Comments |

I endorsed this new book by my friend Michael Kelley this way: C.H. Spurgeon used to say that doubt was a foot poised to go forwards or backwards in faith. This book is an uncomfortably honest one that raises the foot. Throughout the story, however, Michael points back to a God that is deeper than the pain and doubts, and guides us beyond Christian platitudes to genuine rest in the arms of our heavenly Father. I look forward to recommending this book to people in our church who can’t seem to get an answer to the “why.”

I got the chance to ask Michael a few questions about “Wednesdays Were Pretty Normal”:

Your book is about childhood cancer. Your son was diagnosed with leukemia when he was two. So how is he today?

Thanks for asking. Joshua is good. He’s 7 now and thinks it’s weird that there is a book about him. He didn’t know anything was really wrong with him until he was about 5; he thought everybody went to the hospital all the time.

His prognosis is really good and he hasn’t had any chemotherapy in over 2 years. He’ll still visit the hematologist at least once a year until he’s 18, but if you saw him, he’d look and act like every other 7-year-old boy. Except that he’s probably more advanced in his Lego building skills.

As a dad, I know that it hurts me to even think about my children in pain. How did seeing something like this happen to your son change you and your wife?

I remember the day Joshua was diagnosed, our new doctor sat with us in a room and told us that in 3 years, when chemotherapy was over, it was overwhelmingly likely that we would either no longer be married or would be beginning a divorce. That was a reality check for us.

But by God’s grace, we are still married. And we actually like each other more now than we did then. I hope that one of the ways we are different is that we’re more compassionate and generous than we were before. And I hope that we are more reliant on the Lord; more confident than ever that His grace will be sufficient for today. And tomorrow, it will be sufficient for then, too.

Is this book just for people with sick children?

No, though it’s certainly for them. I think the book is for anybody who has felt the collision between what they thought they believed and real life. What I mean is that faith takes on a different dynamic when you walk through pain and difficulty.

But everyone has had that moment. I think the temptation when that happens is for us to just try and grit our teeth and get through that time. And when it’s over, we try to forget about it because it was, well, awful. But those are really life-shaping times for all of us. So my hope for the book isn’t to make people drudge up their past pain, but to point them to the ways that God was faithful not only to provide but to shape them during that time. Maybe our story can help that happen.

I’ve heard you say that this is a story of hope. What do you mean by that?

Joshua’s story turned out well, but I don’t think the hope can come in the fact that he’s cancer free. Because there are many kids that we’ve known and spent time with and seen in the hospital that are with the Lord now. So the hope can’t just be that God’s going to change the circumstances of pain because, in His wisdom, He might not.

The hope is more in the fact that no matter how circumstances might feel in the moment, God is “for” you if you’re in Christ. We know that’s true, not because of any circumstance in our life, but because of the cross. He proved His “for-ness” at the cross when Jesus died.

How did your vision of the gospel change because of Joshua’s cancer?

I think prior to cancer, I saw the gospel as the means by which someone gets to heaven. But during the worst days of chemotherapy, I didn’t have the luxury of seeing it that way anymore. I needed the gospel—as a Christian. I needed it as much as I needed it before I knew Christ. So I had to daily, and sometimes more often than that, remind myself of the gospel.

2 Responses to ““Wednesdays Were Pretty Normal” – A Challenging New Book by Michael Kelley”

1. Connie ODonnell says:

   February 21, 2012 at 11:59 am

   I look forward to the release of this book; for many of us, parents or not.
2. Reviews, Interviews, Authors and Books to Note Across the Web « Theology for the Road says:

   February 27, 2012 at 8:50 am

   [...] J.D. Greear interviews Michael Kelly about his new book Wednesdays Were Pretty Normal. [...]