Joining Life in Progress



There are some things that just take you by surprise.  I never expected to become so familiar with cancer treatment regimens this year.

It is not the kind of place that you take field trips to visit; but when you sit down in the waiting area of a cancer treatment facility, you come face-to-face with how people cope (or don't cope) with the very real possibility of their own death.

I have seen the faces of fear, resignation, determination, peace, and most sadly, the vacant stare of someone who is already checked out.

There really is no way to understand the cancer experience unless you have walked that path; even then, Hammer 5 and I are walking this path as family members who are providing support.  We're not at the center of the storm, but we have a pretty good view of the havoc brought by the storm.

Sitting down in the waiting area during one of our many medical appointments, this whole season became that much more surreal when we sat down next to a dear family friend, Ed, who had also recently been diagnosed with cancer.  He was dealing with this latest challenge with the same grace and peace that we have seen him demonstrate in his life during the last 2 decades.

Fast forward a few weeks and Ed is now in a hospital bed, on life support, from a bout of pneumonia that his body could not fight because of chemotherapy.  The irony is, unlike the lung cancer that we are dealing with in our family member, Ed has a form of cancer that is considered completely treatable.  I am praying for a miracle, but short of a miracle, Ed will be headed home to Jesus soon.

This season of time has been a fresh reminder for me that each of us needs to own our choices, as there are plenty of things that are completely beyond our control.
                                                                            
Whether at sea, or on land, storms blow in to our lives, and if they do not take us to Eternity, we review the storm damage and then we get on with life.      

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