Merry Christmas

It’s been a really good week. I had my hospital chemotherapy on Wednesday. That went well. Yesterday, the take-home chemo was disconnected. This round has had the least severe side effects of any so far. I thank God that the side effects have never been really bad.

I forgot to write about a praise from last week. While I was getting out of my vehicle on Saturday at IWU, I slipped on the ice. I was opening the rear driver’s side door when both feet slipped out from under me. I landed hard on my lower back and bottom. Of course, I felt immediate pain where I fell, but nothing was broken. I had no trouble getting up, which was good since no one was around to assist. For about an hour I felt some discomfort and then it slowly passed. After that initial discomfort, I was never in pain. None at all.  Praise God!

What is so special about this, is the fact that a broken bone could have significantly set back my chemotherapy treatments. Keeping the rest of the body healthy during chemo is very important. Colds, the flu and certainly broken bones need to be avoided in order to stay on schedule with chemo.  I praise God that I had no pain, no bruises and no negative impact from this fall. God has been so good throughout this journey.

We will be celebrating Christmas with Kerri and her family tomorrow. I’m sure it will be a wonderful day of celebrating the birth of our Savior.  This Christmas will be extra special for Joan and me because without the healing touch of the Lord…quite frankly, I wouldn't even be here.  Thank you again for all the love, prayers, cards, texts, emails, and phone calls.  I am humbled and blessed by all of them.  Merry Christmas to you all.

Valley Experiences

I spent some time last week with my IWU colleagues. What an uplifting time it was to be with so many people who have been praying for me during this journey. I appreciated the times when my colleagues asked if they could lay hands on me and pray right there in our meetings.

As part of time together with the DeVoe School of Business faculty, we had a team-building exercise in which we were asked to, “Share a time when you experienced God in a very special way”. In my group of about 10 faculty, without fail and without prompting, they shared stories (many with a great deal of emotion) of times when they went through very difficult times. In each case, it was in the lowest part of a valley experience that God was most special to them.

Isn’t that the way it is? When we are on top of the mountain we don’t rely on God as much as we do in the valley. Often times, when we are on the mountain top, we accumulate junk in our lives that distracts us. In the valley, we generally strip down to the bare essentials allowing ourselves more time for sweet communion with God that we so badly need. The hurriedness of life on the mountain top prevents us from having that time of sweet communion with the God of Peace. For each of us, the mountain top experience should be a time of preparation or training for the next valley experience.

Joan and I are not sitting around with nothing to do. We are still working our jobs, making time for family, medical appointments and the other activities that we did prior to my cancer diagnosis. The difference is priorities. Quiet time, alone with God, has become our top priority. In the past I used to fit quiet time around the rest of my life. Now, it begins the day.

How is your quiet time with God? I’m not talking about the shopping list of all the things we want God to do for us. I’m talking about being quiet in His presence, praising Him for who He is, worshipping Him and loving Him.

Make time today to be alone with Him. It will likely prove to be the best thing you do all day.

Good news

Praise the Lord! I got the results of my scans on Tuesday. The doctor started the conversation with a smile and said, “We have good news”. What a Christmas present for us to receive! In the nearly 10 weeks since the initial diagnosis, there has not been much good news from the medical community.

The chemo has reduced not only the number of active spots in the liver but has also decreased the size of many of them.  Some of the spots that were present two months ago, are completely GONE!  Additionally, the esophageal cancer appears to be significantly reduced. There has been no spread to any other parts of the body. Since the current treatment is working, the plan is to continue with the every other Wednesday chemotherapy treatments for another four months (six months total). Apparently six months of this dosage would be the maximum amount of chemo my body could handle. We are rejoicing that progress is being made at killing the cancer. We praise God for His faithfulness to us.

The doctor says that my overall health, my laboratory studies, and the fact that I am gaining/maintaining weight are all signs that we are winning this fight with cancer.

Tuesday night, we did something that we have been putting off since the diagnosis. We made some travel plans. We had to schedule around chemo, but now that we have a schedule for the next few months, we felt it was time to leave the frigid North and head to Fort Myers in January. Fort Myers is where we had planned to spend the entire winter. We look forward to revisiting the area, being warm and meeting up with Tom and Donna.

We regularly praise God for the many kind folks who are lifting us up in prayer. Thank you for your faithfulness. Your prayers are making a difference. Please continue to pray for me as I continue to battle cancer with the Lord’s help.

More lessons from cancer:

Cancer reminds me of the depravity of this world. This world is not my home. I am not of this world. My commentary on the Gospel of John (Burge) says that when Jesus wept at Lazarus' tomb it was because of the brokenness of creation. God never wanted it to be this way. God desired men and women to exist in right relationship with Him in peace, harmony, health and prosperity (shalom).  When Jesus saw the hurt, pain and hopelessness of humanity, He wept.

Cancer is a continual reminder to me that this is a broken world and not the place I was created to live in. He has a better place for me, and while I am in no hurry to see it, the hope of that place is inspiring.

Tomorrow I have CT scans scheduled around 3:00 PM.  We will meet with the oncologist on Tuesday, 12/13, for the results of the scans and to discuss further treatment options. Some of our good friends came over tonight to pray for good news on the scans and, ultimately, for my complete healing.

We are grateful for all of those who are praying for us. We have never even met many of you. How awesome is that?  Thank you for your faithfulness. No one successfully battles cancer alone.

“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”  Hebrews 12:1-2 (NIV)

This is an interesting time for us. Tomorrow, I will undergo my fifth round of chemo. Two days later, on Friday, immediately after my chemo pump is disconnected, I head back to Parkview for CT scans to determine if the chemo is doing what it's supposed to do, i.e., kill the cancer.   The oncologist explained that there is no point in subjecting me to chemo if it is not doing any good.  I probably won’t know the results of the scans before next Tuesday, 12/13/16.  

For the past eight weeks we have only had to focus on getting the chemotherapy and dealing with the side effects. Now, we are facing the unknown. We are trusting God for a good report.

In many ways, I feel like I am better than I was just prior to the cancer diagnosis. I am eating more. I have more energy. I have gained back some of the 20 pounds I lost. I feel like the chemo is working.

We are praying and believing for more than just the good news that the chemo has kept the cancer from spreading or that the cancer has shown some remission. We are believing God for a miracle – that the cancer is gone. We are grateful for all of those praying and believing with us. Nearly every single day, I learn of someone else who is praying for me.  Just today for example, I received a beautiful card signed by 11 different people from a dentist’s office in Baxter, Tennessee.  Our good friends, Maggie and Danny specifically asked their dentist and staff to keep me in their prayers.  It's just so amazing to me that people I have never even met, are spending time in prayer for me.  The fact that they would each write out a few encouraging words and send a card, just blows my mind! Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for all the prayers, encouraging words, cards, texts, phone calls, etc.  It means more to us than you will ever know.  Through all of this, I want to be proven trustworthy with this...the most personal and gloriously painful journey God has ever entrusted to me.

Cancer reminds me of sin

When I posted the Lessons from Cutting Down the Annual Christmas Tree, I thought I would also compile a list of things I have learned from cancer. Here is the first installment:  

I hate cancer. It destroys. It kills. As long as it remains alive and active in our bodies, it controls us. We cannot control it. In and of itself, there is nothing good about cancer (The cancer journey, however can change us for the better, which I will discuss in a future blog post.) 

Cancer reminds me of sin. I hate it and I want it out of my body. Sin consumes and leaves us for dead, much like an untreated cancer. The idea of allowing a cancer to grow untreated seems insane to me. Untreated (unconfessed/unforgiven) sin produces similar thoughts. 

How do you feel about sin? Do you see it as a cancer that destroys or as a toy to be played with? Sin, like cancer, does not care how you view it. It destroys regardless of whether you hate it or play with it.

Cancer also reminds me of the value of living a holy, sanctified life.

I had a good week. On my week that does not include getting chemo, I eat better and I catch up on work and relationships. 

As we are approaching the scans on December 9, many of our praying supporters have been letting us know they are confident of a good report. We are believing that as well. We are so grateful for those that have signed up to pray around the clock for us. You are awesome! We pray God richly blesses you for your faithfulness in praying and supporting us. 

We are seeing family and friends drawing closer to God through this journey of ours. Please pray for our family and friends who need to move closer to Christ.