Two Pieces of Good News

Susan and I received two very good pieces of news today.  Such good news was this that we have been praising God all day.  I'll tell you the lesser good news and then I'll share the greater good news.

Good News the Lesser:  I went to J.C. Penny's this afternoon and bought a couple of pairs of pants. I have dropped 10 waist sizes and I've lost 75 pounds.  40 pounds were lost the good way during Lent and up until Pentecost.  This cancer took the other 35.  But hey, 10 inches smaller is great news.  Don't you think?  And 75 pounds... that's the size of a healthy 5th grader.  When you are sick, you'll take good news anywhere you find it.

Good News the Greater:  8 days ago I was having trouble swallowing.  Actually, I could not swallow and it badly frightened me.  My gastro-enterologist asked me to meet him at the hospital for an upper endoscopy. During this procedure he was to take a look down my throat and see what was happening.  He took one look and decided it was time for the tumor to come out.  You already know that my esophagus is now clean as a whistle, but this is not the Greater Good News.

Susan and I saw my general oncologist this morning.  He told me that what the doctor had removed from my gullet was not a tumor.  This confused me.  "Do you mean he missed the tumor?  I saw the pictures.  Everything is gone."

"Oh, the esophagus is clean.  He missed nothing," the Doctor replied.  "What I mean is that the pathology report shows that there were no cancer cells in the excised tissue.  Your chemo therapy and radiation therapy have been effective.  They have killed the cancer."

Can you imagine the effect of those words on Susan and me?

How should we properly express our joy?

Should we be thankful for skillful physicians who are fighting for my life?  Absolutely!
Should we acknowledge the cause and effect of chemo and radiation therapies on the cancer cells?  You betcha!

Is this enough?  No way!

Here's what I think.  For the rest of my life I need to praise God for the way all this has been orchestrated, and this is what I will do.  When the doctor told me I had cancer, he also had a gastro-intestinal oncologist to whom he could refer me.  When Susan and I were called to minister here on the Northern Neck, little did we know that one of the most skillful radiation oncologists in the state had his practice here.  This is God at work.  He knows my life and my future.  I can trust Him and I will absolutely trust Him.

We have seen God weaving a rich, four dimensional tapestry of welfare towards us. (The Time of my Life is the fourth dimension.)  I am not going to leave God out of my healing process.  I am not going to stop praising God for all he has done.

People of God have a hymnal.  This is a collection of songs that we sing to God as we remember His faithfulness to us.  Most people know it as the Book of Psalms.  Here is a line from one of those songs that I will keep close to my heart for the rest of my life.

Psalm 104:33  I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.


I am not out of the woods, not yet.  I have another 10 radiation treatments to go.  Then there will be an evaluation preceding a new plan of treatment.  I cannot truthfully declare a cure, but I most decidedly declare that I am walking the brightest light since my diagnosis.

I praise God for the street lights of encouraging good news.