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In case you are not aware what is going on in our family or haven’t heard any updates.
About a month ago my Mom was diagnosed with lung cancer. The news was unexpected and shocking. She was in getting a check-up on something completely unrelated to her lungs or cancer when the Dr. saw something that he didn’t like. The Doc wanted my Mom to come back and have a biopsy on the questionable area in her lung. The test came back positive for lung cancer. A week and a half later she was in the hospital ready for major surgery.
The Dr. removed the upper lobe of her right lung (we have 3 lobes on our right lung and 2 on our left). She came out of the surgery ok, and is recovering just fine.
The bad news came along with the news that she made it through the surgery ok. The Dr. delivered the devastating news that they found cancer in the lymph-nodes. For some reason or other none of us even considered the thought that they may find cancer in the lymph-nodes. We just assumed that they would go in and remove the tumor and we would all celebrate and skip home that night. When the Dr. told us the stage went from a stage 1 cancer to a stage 3 immediately. The chance of it not coming back went from 85% to under 50% in a matter of seconds.
We had a brick wall rammed into us full force.
A whole new set of questions arose.
We had to start thinking of a whole new scenario for the next few months.
Chemo?
Radiation?
My Mom remained strong and continues to have a great attitude. She is being so strong. In 2 weeks she goes in for an out-patient surgery to have a little tube thingy inserted into her chest. This is where they will drip the chemo directly into her blood stream. After 12 treatments of chemo, she will then face 5 weeks of radiation.
All of this has a profoundly deep impact into the psyche of its patients. However, my Mom can make it. She has the attitude of a champ.
As far as myself. I am doing good. I have been numb for most of this process. I am not sure how to react. I don’t know how to feel. I broke down once. It was after seeing her in the ICU immediately after her surgery. There is something about seeing one of your parents in a state of complete vulnerability. I am so proud of my Mom. I am trying to get a grip on the truth that my God is bigger than cancer. Whatever the outcome of all of this, my God is good. I can honestly say that I am at peace with who God is and that God is bigger than this evil, wicked disease.
Please continue to pray for our family. Pray for my Mom and Dad.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11;28
This Saturday marks the beginning of anther seminary class. As long as I can get the $250 late fee waived I will be a student again. I am taking a class on the Pentateuch. Here is why I am excited for this class:
- I am not very familiar with the make-up of the Pentateuch
- I am open to learning about the first 5 books of the Bible with a fresh outlook
- I have a feeling I will learn new things that will blow off my old ideas
- did Moses right all of the first 5 books?
- How does it relate to me right now?
Fuller is a great school that encourages thinking in a new and fresh way. They are not a school that says “this is how it is, believe it, don’t question it”
I am going to be smart.
What are your thoughts on the Pentateuch? What would you like to learn?
I appreciate this man.
Take a listen…
http://www.cornerstonesimi.com/ check out The End of the World. It is a sermon from Francis Chan. If you have an hour or even if you don't, check it out. This is important.
That’s right, I am going to do a “sprint triathlon”. So I am kind of a tri-athlete. A sprint triathlon is a mini version of a regular triathlon. It consists of a 400M swim, 12.5 mile bike ride, and a 3.1 mile run. Sounds easy enough, right? Well the deal is that I am going to have to train pretty well. I found out the hard way that training is so very important. I ran a half marathon in January of ‘07, and at the 9 mile mark I was hating life and wishing that I had trained properly.
I really want to do this for several reasons. It will hopefully get me in shape. I currently weigh between 191 – 195. No matter what I do I am always in between these weights. But the goal is to get down to 180ish. The most important thing to get to 180 is not the training aspect, but it is going to be the eating and drinking part. If you have an interest in joining me, I welcome the company. Right now my buddy Ben is going to be doing it too, so please join us. 
I came across some things that should make all republicans really proud!! (sarcasm emphasized)
Regardless if your a Republican or a Democrat, these should make you question things a little. I don’t have a preference towards either party, but this type of stuff is absolutely ridiculous.
What do you think of these shirts? (that’s right you can actually buy these as t shirts and wear them)
Am I being unfair?
I am going to start recommending a books on a semi regular basis. Sometimes the very best books that I ahve ever read have come from recommendations from someone else.
The Shack by William P Young is easily one of the best books I have ever read. This book had tears of sorrow running down my cheek one night, and tears of joy the next. I literally could not fall asleep the first night I began to read the book. The beginning is quite sad, but then it is followed by a beautiful story of a man on a search for God.
I do not want to give any of the book away, but I highly recommend this book. It has given both me and my wife a new and fresh view of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Young draws a magnificent picture of how God views relationships, relationship with himself and relationship with us. Young touches on many theological ideas. I am not going to say that I agree with all of his views, but I will say that anything I don’t agree with does not take away from the overall message in the least.
One thing that I believe that you can take away from this book is that:
God is very fond of YOU.
