Description
This is a book of hope, encouragement, and the true-to-life experiences of a man who was told he was going to die, yet he continued to seek God and hold out hope that the Lord of the universe was with him and would be with him all the way to the end. This book is for all those who are experiencing potential end of life diseases or anyone who has a loved one who is seriously ill. It is also for anyone who needs to know that God is love and He is still in control.
Jamie Buckingham was in his prime as one of the best-known Christian writers in all the world when he got a surprise diagnosis. Inoperable cancer and you only have months to life. This book details the timeline from the point of the doctor’s initial diagnosis, to the prayers of his family and church, to the revised diagnosis, through his subsequent operation, and his eventual healing.
It is a story of hope. It’s a story of a God who still cares. It’s a story of an eternal gratitude for a healing Jamie himself claims was undeserved because of his own pride. It’s also a story of how Jamie faced his greatest fears. Of leaving his family, should he write his own obituary, how was he to deal with unrest among some of his pastoral staff, one or two of whom seemed to be pushing for his early retirement from the ministry—so they could take over; and often conflicting theological explanations from well-meaning preachers from all over the world. Jamie soon realized it was a progressive revelation by a God who was revealing his intentions to him little by little.
The words from God Jamie received most consistently that summer, “You shall not die, but live to declare the works of the Lord,” surely came to pass, even if he was to only live an extra 20 months beyond his initial diagnosis. During those months, following his 1990 summer-time healing, which came in the form of a miraculous operation and recovery at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Jamie indeed declared the works of the Lord, and part of that declaration was in his writing of this book, Summer of Miracles.
It was a summer of miracles for Jamie Buckingham—and for all who knew him. It seemed that God was at work in everyone—his family, his church and his friends.
Jamie’s life and ministry are somewhat of an unexpected contrast. For years he had been an internationally renowned author, columnist and conference speaker and a close friend of just about every Christian leader of whom you have ever heard.
Yet there is a simple “down home” side to Jamie and his wife, Jackie, that is inescapable. Something that makes you feel comfortable and accepted.
Their lives were interwoven with families in a home group that had been meeting for thirteen years, with neighbors they’d known for twenty-five, and with the members of their church, most of whom had no idea of the notoriety, respect and influence Jamie Buckingham had in the Christian community around the world. To them, he and Jackie were simply neighbors and friends.
Then there’s the Buckingham compound. Three of the five children had built their homes on the twenty-acre property. There were the Sunday afternoon basketball games with neighbors and family; the thirteen grandchildren who roamed the property’s pine-tree forests and fished in the pond out back; and the big house where Jamie and Jackie presided as patriarchs over this American version of Camelot.
But how quickly a dream can be shattered.
Very few doubt God’s ability to heal. The questions are: Will He? When will He? What am I supposed to in the meantime?
This is a book about standing on God’s Word, struggling with the idea of faith and, most of all, God’s power to heal. It’s about how to act when your friends, your father or husband is in big trouble; it’s about close family and long-term relationships—things so many have lost in this transient society we live in.
Don’t wait until you need a miracle to read this book. Learn now how to live and appreciate your life before you face the end of it.
