In June 2007, Scott Walker was suddenly diagnosed with advanced colon and liver cancer. Everyone was stunned that it appeared in a healthy 49 year old. Within weeks Scott faced the option of chemotherapy treatments with poor odds for success, or the hope of about a year of life without the side effects of aggressive treatments. He chose the second option.
On May 18, 2008, Scott passed away, just nine days after his 50th birthday. While many were touched by interaction with Scott in his life, we at NMSI found a special blessing through his death.
Scott was seminary trained and a great preacher. He became involved with NMSI in the late '90s and eventually served on the board. Soon after he moved his family to
Ft.
Myers in 2002 to be closer to NMSI ministry, his life unraveled. With financial and emotional struggles, Scott fell away from the mission and Christ. It wasn’t until Scott was diagnosed with cancer last year that Scott turned back to God and began to spend the last year of his life glorifying Him.
June 14, 2007: “I have been in a dark, dry place for several years. I've cut communications with most of you because of my disappointment, frustration, and shame. Thank you for looking beyond that and standing with me. In spite of everything that's going on, I'm in a better place than I've been for awhile.”
Scott started leading NMSI’s office devotions twice a week and ministering to NMSI staff and missionaries in training. He led us through a study on heaven and then through the book of Hebrews. From the outside, Scott appeared healthy, and people were always shocked to find out that he was dying. Yet, Scott was the easiest person to talk to about it. He was always upfront, honest, hilarious and caring. Scott wanted us to live for God no matter what life showed us. He didn’t want people to think Christians should seek out death, but that they should accept whatever plan God had for them.
June 30, 2007: “My current situation is not something to get over so I can get back to my life; it is my life and the question is how I will handle it, grow from it and glorify God in it.”
October 6, 2007: “Most of all I want you to not be discouraged. God has been faithful and this has been a time of spiritual renewal and growth for me. God has used this to touch people's lives, and I pray that more good will come of it. We live in a fallen universe and bad things happen to everyone. The real issue is how we deal with it. Can we find someway to advance the Kingdom and glorify our Father in the process?”
Scott was always joyful. He used his cancer as a bridge to talk with everyone he could and share Christ with them. He wasn’t bitter and didn’t question why God didn’t heal him. He continually encouraged others to love people now and to spend their whole lives reaching out in intentional ways.
November 24, 2007: “...so many opportunities to proclaim God's goodness and faithfulness. Time to think about Heaven and the time when all that is good will be redeemed and resurrected. People say that I'm courageous, but like I've said, "I'm just semi-literate." I can read what the Bible says and I've chosen to believe it. I don't really want to leave my wife and children or to experience a deteriorating body and death, but I am going to stand strong until the end! I encourage you to read God's Word, think about Heaven, and to encourage one another as long as it is still called today.”
February 10, 2008: “As [C.S.] Lewis says, "remember that God cannot give you blessings and peace apart from Himself; it's not there!" We can share in all the blessings we dream of, if we will only join in the great dance of the Trinity. Read John 17 and all the passages in the NT that speak of "in Christ" and know that what we call "death" poses no threat to the reality of what we have and are.”
In the last six weeks of his life, Scott stayed at home, and people from NMSI would visit him almost every day. He was thin, and his skin was neon yellow due to his failing liver. Those moments shared on Scott’s porch are forever etched in our hearts and minds. We laughed and joked and talked about his death, about life, about God and about heaven, knowing that these moments were a small foretaste of what we have to look forward to one day.
We spent lots of time talking about Scott’s favorite Christian author, C.S. Lewis. Scott’s favorite Chronicle of Narnia book was The Silver Chair. He loved the speech that Puddleglum gives and also when Prince Caspian dies and goes up to Aslan’s country – and how the thorn of Aslan’s paw brings that blood of life that makes an old man new again and how he received the “passionate kisses of a lion.” He loved C.S. Lewis’s images of God. They were more real to Scott than we could understand because he was on the brink of seeing his creator and receiving those passionate kisses of the Lion.
August 6, 2008: “I look forward to sharing a coffee/cola/tea/beer with you in heaven and having a great conversation about how good the LORD is to us!
So do we.
(Read this article in NMSI's upcoming Newslink issue.)
Read about the Scott Walker Missionary Scholarship Fund
Donate to the Scott Walker Missionary Scholarship Fund