Cancer

Cancer- The word strikes fear into the bravest of hearts. Commercials on television project faces and stories of innocent little children battling a disease that threatens to steal away their joy and future. Our hearts grow heavy over this word that befalls friends and neighbors. We can be left with questions that find no answers, images that haunt us, an empty vacuum that sucks out our hope.


Forty six years ago the demon of cancer first attacked my family. On a nice spring day in Riverview Michigan my oldest brother announced to my mom and dad his eventual sentence of death. He was a proud Marine and we were all so proud of him. During some type of congratulatory celebration Tag's friends punched him in the arm. Days later the hospital told him he had leukemia. Short months later he was laid to rest.


During the many years of ministry I have been at the bedside and graveside of many who have had to face the terror of cancer. For so many, vitality ebbs away and frailty emerges. Loved ones are left to face the pain and anguish of watching their precious loved one slowly leave them.


I have been fortunate to know many people who have faced the demon-disease and continue on in good health. They are the living witnesses of modern medicine and ever changing technology. They are alive because knowledge and science are working every day to find answers and cures. Their numbers are increasing and the answers and cures to many forms of cancer are arriving each day.


Today, my eldest sister Lynne suffers from stage four cancer within three of her vital organs. I have talked with her on the phone these past two mornings. This morning we talked and before a few minutes passed had cried together. She is confident of her relationship with Christ and she openly talked about that. She is not afraid of death and knows that she will not be alone. We will talk many more times and I will shed some more tears. But, I am confident that her place in the Kingdom of God is assured. That truth brings me peace and hope.


Disease and pestilence has always been a curse upon the earth. They sweep away the innocent as well as the vile and evil. I wish I could stop the innocent from suffering. I wish I could stop the children in the world from suffering starvation, disease, and war.  But, I know that I can't. O, I can and must do my part in the fight against disease and starvation. But to stop it, I can't.


The day of Christ and His Kingdom is fast approaching this earth. When that day happens and the trumpet blasts through the entire universe cancer will disappear. Frail bodies will be instantly made whole. The weak will rise up in full strength. The helpless child will shout with joy and fill the world with laughter. May that day come quickly.