Cherishing Jesus Through Cancer

Thursday, May 31st, A.D. 2012

Dear Saints,

I want to take this opportunity to share with you a recent opportunity that the Lord has brought to our family. On Wednesday morning (May 30th) I found myself at my doctor’s office due to an abnormal growth within my body. By midmorning, I had an ultrasound on that area. By late afternoon, I received the call from my doctor. The Lord’s design for my family and I at this time was to learn to cherish Him more and learn to place our hope and trust in Him greater by dealing with testicular cancer. A visit to the urologist on Thursday afternoon (May 31st) confirmed that the abnormality was in fact testicular cancer. The urologist is very optimistic about the outcome and the “odds are in my favor”, that the “percentage of full recovery” is great (in my favor). As a Christian, the odds are always in our favor as we seek to glorify Him and serve Him in all we say and do. Pastor John Piper says, “With God, you aren’t playing percentages, but living within certainties” and those certainties are always that all things happen for His purpose and His glory.

We find ourselves wondering why? Pastor Piper says, “Cancer wins if we fail to cherish Christ. God’s design is to wean us off the breast of the world and feast us on the sufficiency of Christ.” So why? Because this is an opportunity for the members of our family for spiritual growth. To be weaned more from the materialistic things of this world and learn to feast greater on the all-sufficiency of our Saviour; to destroy the appetite for sin which we all crave so dearly;

Specifics: we don’t know what the post-surgery treatment will be at this time. I have had blood drawn for testing, will have a CT Scan on Saturday morning and then surgery on Tuesday morning (June 5th). Following surgery will be a few weeks of recovery, light lifting, discomfort from the surgery. Radiation and/or Chemotherapy is not determined until post surgery biopsy, blood work, and CT Scan.

What can the people of God do? Each of y’all are precious to us. We have complete trust that the Spirit of the Lord will direct each of y’all in knowing how to pray and serve one another. I ask for two things: first to listen to the sound of marching on the balsam trees and listen for His leading; and second I do wish to ask each of you to consider reading the essay by Pastor Piper while holding me and my family accountable to the truths found within the writing. Also consider listening to Dr. Beeke’s message on “How to Run Life´s Marathon with Endurance” located here, http://bit.ly/runendurance

“The aim of God in our cancer (among a thousand other good things) is to knock props out from under our hearts so that we rely utterly on him.” (Piper)

For His Church and His Namesake,

Josh

Reminder on the Lord’s Day

Westminster Confession of Faith

Chapter 15: Of Repentance unto Life

1: Repentance unto life is an evangelical grace, the doctrine whereof is to be preached by every minister of the Gospel, as well as that of faith in Christ.

Duty, Honor, Country - General MacArthur

Duty. Honor. Country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying points to build courage when courage seems to fail, to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes forlorn… .

The unbelievers will say they are but words… . But these are some of the things they do. They build your basic character. They mold you for your future roles as the custodians of the nation’s defense. They make you strong enough to know when you are weak, and brave enough to face yourself when you are afraid.

They teach you to be proud and unbending in honest failure, but humble and gentle in success; not to substitute words for action; not to seek the path of comfort, but to face the stress and spur of difficulty and challenge; to learn to stand up in the storm, but to have compassion on those who fall; to master yourself before you seek to master others; to have a heart that is clean, a goal that is high; to learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; to reach into the future, yet never neglect the past; to be serious, yet never take yourself too seriously; to be modest so that you will remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength.