I Still Believe

by Pastor Marty

I still believe…

I still believe in Your faithfulness, I still believe in Your truth,
I still believe in Your holy word, Even when I don't see, I still believe

A couple of weeks ago, Hannah and I watched a movie entitled I Still Believe which was just released this past March. It is a true story about Christian singer Jeremy Camp and his first wife Melissa. Here is a short synopsis: Jeremy and Melissa began dating in college. Melissa was diagnosed with cancer and it was in the hospital where they dedicated themselves to each other. They became engaged, and during this time, Melissa went through chemotherapy. Afterward, it seemed, that Melissa was cancer-free. Jeremy and Melissa got married on October 21, 2000. Melissa, a few weeks after the wedding, would get sick again as the cancer returned with a vengeance. Melissa died on February 5, 2001, from ovarian cancer. Melissa was 21 and Jeremy, at that time, was 23.

This movie, for me, was gut-wrenching. It celebrates the joy, wonder, and beauty of life, and then, it moves through a very hard season. The question of why became a pronounced thread towards the end of the movie. She was too young. They just got married. She loved Jesus and was a brilliant light for him on earth. Why? It doesn’t make sense. Why?  Within weeks of Melissa’s death, Jeremy wrote this song, I Still Believe. 

I still believe in Your faithfulness, I still believe in Your truth,
I still believe in Your holy word, Even when I don't see, I still believe

Life is holy, precious, and beautiful, but we do cycle through seasons of struggle and hardship and loss. Melissa and Jeremy’s story became a template for me to look at people’s lives…along with my own! As I was watched, I secretly wiped tears from my eyes. As I watched, I was filled with grief…and then hope, and at other times, a mixture of both. Melissa lived for Jesus. Her life glorified him. She encouraged Jeremy to keep singing. If her story could make a difference for one person’s relationship with Jesus, she said, then tell it. Through Jeremy’s career, Melissa’s story has been shared with 5++ million people!

I invite you, through your life, to take up these words in the joy and wonder and beauty of this world. I invite you to take up these words when life goes off the road and in the pain and through the tears to sing…I still, I still believe.

I still believe in Your faithfulness, I still believe in Your truth,
I still believe in Your holy word, Even when I don't see, I still believe

-- Pastor Marty