9 Years ago yesterday (2/13/17)....I was fresh out of the operating room on what I would learn was a failed upper left lung lobectomy surgery. They had gone in for this "pseudotumor" looked around and identified terminal metastatic Non small cell lung cancer. The former John's Hopkins thoracic surgeon, who had moved to Chesapeake for a less chaotic life, had gone in with the 3 probe DaVinci robotic tool, looked around, made the discovery, took some pictures of it, and stopped the surgery as it would have been like "blowing on a dandelion" had she gone any farther. As I was in recovery she delivered the news to Kelly, who I anticipate was just wanting to get past the surgery and do a quiet Valentine's Day (in the hospital). I woke up, asked to see Kelly, they wheeled me to my room in ICU, and Kelly came in and gave me the news. A day later 2/14/17 (our first Valentine's Day as a married couple) we got the official diagnosis and prognosis from the oncologist on duty. I had 6-12 months, Christmas 2017 was a maybe at best, and I needed to get my affairs in line as I was in prepare to die mode. But God...
I found myself looking back at my blog and had forgotten about some of what I wrote. What a great reminder of what God can do. I encourage anyone who is walking through it to record your thoughts and when you are healed, go back and look at what God did. Here is the 1st post as blogs always show the latest first and the first last.
I'll break here and finally get to my point after 2 paragraphs 9 years later. When catastrophic news like cancer with a bad prognosis hits, people have a few choices about how to handle it. Given the dire mortal nature of it, it ultimately winds up at "how will I get through this?", "what happens when and if I die?", and lots of other questions that have to be sorted out by the ailing person and his/her family. We ultimately will hit a cross road and have to make the choice, and no choice is a choice. There is no middle. Will I go about it alone?, or will I put my faith in God?. I have been a Christian (albeit not a very good one at times) for a long time. I, and I have known some others, who chose to run to God, ask for faith that we did not have, ask for healing, and go all in 100% in trusting His perfect will. That means turn it over and not care what the outcome is. That is a leap when you are staring down the gun barrel. I know of other people over the last 9 years who have chosen to rely upon their own devices and either ask God the casual prayer here and there, or not at all. It is interesting to see the difference in outlook between the people on those 2 paths. The Christians have hope. The others seem to be in a state of unknown or have resigned to a finish line with nothing more in their horizon's vision. Giving up perceived control is not easy. Take a look at worry. We ruminate on endless details in hopes that we are doing something constructive, but worry is "fauxductivity".
The Christian with hope does not always understand the affliction and the many why questions around it, but ultimately has hope in either healing here on earth or being healed in heaven. The unbeliever has faith in the doctors and medical science (which is created by humans created by God), and that can prevail. However if it is not successful, then there is no further hope.
As the bible says, we will all give an account for our lives when we die. As it also says, those who are Christians and have professed that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior will be found not guilty as all of our sins have been forgiven through the blood sacrifice of Jesus, and we have been made righteous (perfect) before God because of His resurrection.
To anyone facing cancer, family members facing cancer, or especially if you do not know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I emplore you to say that prayer, find a bible believing church, and emerse yourself in it. Missing this means you miss out on the greatest gift and hope known to mankind. Since it is now 2026, and the age of LLMs and AI question answering, I consulted Gemini see below :-)
The prayer can be said privately or with a guide, focusing on sincerity rather than specific words. Common components include:
- Acknowledgment: Recognizing oneself as a sinner in need of God's grace.
- Belief: Expressing faith that Jesus died for sins and rose from the dead.
- Repentance:Turning away from sin.
- Commitment: Inviting Jesus to take control of one's life as Lord and Savior.
- "Lord Jesus, I want to have a personal relationship with You. I know I am a sinner and I believe You died on the cross for my sins. I turn from those sins and put my faith in You right now to be my Lord and Savior, my God and Friend. Thank You for hearing this prayer. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen."
- "Dear God, I believe Jesus Christ is your Son. I confess I have sinned, and I ask for your forgiveness. I believe that Jesus died to take away my sins and that you raised him to life. I want to trust Jesus as my Savior and follow him as Lord from this day forward."
