Step Into Healing
Even Roger doubted it. How is it possible to be healed in a moment?
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience. But where he stands in times of challenge and controversy” – Martin Luther King Jr.
Even Roger Long himself doubted it. How is it possible to be healed in a moment after almost 20 years of debilitating Parkinson’s Disease (PD)? He asked himself over and over again: Is this real? Is this really real? His faith wrestled with his doubt.
I first met Roger at Woodmen Heights in 2015. He gave me a copy of a book he’d recently written called Push the Rock, an autobiographical account of his years with PD. He spent 20 years learning how to live in a body that wouldn’t cooperate with him. His story is shaped by adversity and pain, but ultimately, by a trust and a faith in the One who created him.
The Beginning
Growing up in eastern Tennessee, Roger was the oldest of three boys. When he was just fourteen, his father left his mother, forcing her to raise the boys on her own. Despite their struggles, she showed her boys what hard work and determination looked like.
These early years shaped Roger into a hard-working, determined young man who was ready to take on anything. He came to know Jesus when he was young and has held firmly to his faith ever since.
He met his future wife, Chrissy, not long after he graduated high school. They were married soon after and began their life together. Within a few years, they became parents to two boys. Through moves from Tennessee, to Alabama, to Texas, the Longs built their life together. Roger made a career for himself in the automotive world, working for a major manufacturer in Alabama. Their life was a good one, comfortable and happy.
But then, Roger began to develop physical symptoms that he simply could not understand. As he looked for answers to his medical problems, he learned devasting news: Roger was diagnosed with PD when he was only 35 years old.
Parkinson’s usually doesn’t affect people so young, and Roger was shocked. How could this happen? What would this mean for him? For his life with Christy and their boys? Roger lived much of his life outdoors. He loved hiking and travel and he had grown physically strong through those activities. His diagnosis felt like a prison sentence.
The Valley and the Mountain
Though Roger’s faith in Jesus would keep him anchored, the waves from this storm hit him hard. PD is a neurodegenerative disorder without a cure, although the symptoms can be treated. Symptoms can include body tremors, limb rigidity and walking and balance problems. Over the years, Roger experienced all of these and more.
Roger also developed cognitive and memory problems. Tasks he once could process subconsciously in an instant now took painstaking effort to execute. Driving, balance and aspects of his job as an engineer were affected. Eventually, his condition caused him to be laid off from his job. PD, the loss of his job, and the array of meds with unknown side effects led Roger into depression, taking a toll on his mind, body and spirit.
Despite everything, Roger did not give up on himself or his life. Through prayer and the continued pursuit of God, Roger began to accept his new life and find hope again. Through researching PD he found the Michael J. Fox Foundation, an organization with the goal of developing treatments and ultimately a cure for Parkinson’s.
Roger discovered the foundation was planning a trip to climb Kilimanjaro in Africa. In that moment, he felt called to challenge himself and go on this adventure. Roger signed onto the trip and in so doing found a new purpose: a clear task to train and complete a journey that most people would think impossible in his state. Though the months of training were extreme and the journey excruciating, in August of 2012, Roger summited the mighty Kilimanjaro, the tallest peak in Africa.
The Springs
In 2014, Roger and Christy moved to Colorado Springs to be closer to their boys and their new grandchildren. Roger loved what Colorado had to offer: the mountains, rivers, hiking trails and clean air were just what he needed. When the Longs began looking for a church home, God led them to Woodmen Heights and they felt a connection immediately.
Over the next few years Roger and Christy began to feel at home in Colorado and in their community at Woodmen. Roger’s desire to push his body to the limits of what PD would allow took him to the summit of Pikes Peak. With medication, he was seemingly controlling his symptoms. After summiting Kilimanjaro and Pike’s Peak, Roger still felt God calling him to something more — the Camino de Santiago.
The Way
The Camino de Santiago is a collection of ancient paths leading to Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. Legends claim that the remains of the Apostle James have been interred in the Cathedral de Santiago de Compostela since the ninth century.
Many of the people who make the full 500-mile trek, along with those who travel shorter sections of the Camino, come as more than just hikers — they come as pilgrims. Some make the journey seeking spiritual awakening or deeper meaning.
Others come in search of some kind of healing — a desire to be touched by God. They hope for a wholeness and a cure that lies beyond the horizons they have known.
Over time, Roger has come to see the stones of the Camino’s walkways as his mission field. From his first trip to the Camino, he felt a clear call to embark on this arduous journey not just for himself, but to bring the hope of Jesus to those in need. Over the next few years, Roger made the Camino trip twice. The first time was with his son and the second was on his own.
Using trekking poles to keep his balance, he miraculously hiked hundreds of miles. His disease was his constant companion. Although Roger’s symptoms didn’t overwhelm him, he occasionally had to step off the trail to lay down and rest until tremors subsided. Sometimes he could not go more than a couple hours without a crash. But he knew in his heart that, for now, this was where he was meant to be.
In 2018, on his most recent journey on the Camino, he had an encounter that solidified his calling. He was in the midst of the trek when he heard God tell him he was done for now. Just go home. He thought, how can this be? He was feeling okay. He was only ten days into the trip. He was dedicated to the journey. But God made it clear that it was time to head home.
Roger was obedient and began working out travel details to return to Colorado. On his bus to the airport, he had an encounter with a young woman God placed in his path. She’d been on the Camino, but due to an injury was headed home to Australia. Roger had the opportunity to share the good news of Jesus with her. He felt a sense of peace, knowing that this chance to share was why God guided him home early. He came back to Colorado with a renewed vigor to his mission field.
Roger had accepted the new normal of his disease. He was able to keep his symptoms in check with an array of meds and strict scheduling for his body. He and Christy had worked hard to create this life they were living together. But God was about to get Roger’s attention.
The Moment
Roger is part of a Woodmen men’s group that meets early in the mornings to support one another and spend time in prayer. On December 10, 2018, Roger took a seat at what he thought was just another morning group. As Roger finished his story from the Camino, the men asked him how they could pray for him.
A man he didn’t know asked him, “What do you want?” Roger didn’t know how to reply. He didn’t even know this man. “I want whatever Jesus wants,” replied Roger. “What do you want?” the man questioned again. Getting a little irritated, Roger repeated, “Whatever Jesus wants.”
“Well,” the man replied, “Jesus wants to heal you. Right now.”
Who was this guy? Either this was a sick joke, or there was something to it. The man began to pray in faith over Roger. Roger wasn’t sure what to make of the moment. But he recalls the man praying boldly and specifically for healing in Roger’s neurological systems, his dopamine receptors, his spine. After a few minutes of prayer, it ended.
Roger looked around at his friends gathered in the room, dumbfounded. Was he really healed? He wasn’t sure he felt much different, although the spinal pain he had experienced that morning was gone. Another friend leaned in with his hand on Roger’s shoulder. “You’re healed, brother!” Roger laughed nervously and responded, “So do I still take my meds?”
His mind was alight with questions and wonder: Is this really real?
He noticed as he was driving home the change in his cognitive abilities behind the wheel. Things he’d needed to really spend time focusing on, like checking left and right traffic, became the simple subconscious reactions familiar to those of us without PD. Still, he couldn’t believe he was fully healed.
He arrived home and decided to take his meds. As he was about to take them, he heard Jesus say he didn’t need them. This was crazy, right? he thought.
If Roger missed his meds he would typically become painfully symptomatic almost immediately. But … for the moment … he was okay. Still, he decided not to tell Christy just yet.
Roger felt that miracles and healing were things Jesus and his followers performed long ago. They don’t apply to us in the modern world, right? We’re hesitant in the twenty-first century in America to believe God can still perform these great acts of mercy in our lives.
But He can. And sometimes He does. His reasons are His own, and all the glory belongs to Him.
The next morning Roger recalls zipping downstairs into the kitchen like he was a teenager. He had no balance or control issues. He flew into the kitchen and excitedly told Christy about his healing. She had no doubt that God healed him, yet some part of Roger was still unsure.
Over time, Roger’s faith began to outweigh his doubt. He gradually noticed the absence of more symptoms and the restoration of abilities. There were no tremors, and his mind was sharp. Accepting his healing was its own journey of faith.
“Every day is another layer of proof,” Roger said. A few weeks later, he was making the bed and was hit by the overwhelming sense of Jesus confirming his healing. No more wondering whether it was real or not. His life was changed. And as Roger puts it — it was only the beginning.
The Next Step
What would we do if we had no excuses? If whatever we thought was holding us back was suddenly erased from our lives? Would we more fully receive God’s blessing and follow him without hesitation? Not all of us will receive physical healing from the ailments that plague us. But God always gives us opportunities to share his love if we listen with openness and obedience. And that’s the journey on which God is taking Roger next.
His next trip to the Camino is planned. Roger believes that God healed him with a greater purpose in store. He’ll return to his same mission field, but he now has a new God-story to share.
He’s been given a new freedom to live out the Great Commission in a part of the world that hears little of the gospel. This time, as he interacts with spiritual seekers on the Camino journey, with men and women in search of some kind of remedy in their own lives, every step Roger takes will be a testament to the healing he’s experienced and to the source of mercy he has found.
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