It was last year right around Easter that our church family, friends, and acquaintances begin to notice something was wrong with David. I had been aware that things were not “right” for a month or so prior to this, but it was hard to define. (We blogged all of this in earlier posts.) It would be another month (May 21st, 2010) before we would know he had a brain tumor.
It has been a very long and difficult year. We have shed many tears. But through it all we have had an overwhelming peace. We continue to know deep within our spirits that God is good and that His plans for us are good plans.
Make no mistake; cancer is NOT good, death is NOT good. No one wants to get cancer and no one wants to die. Death is our enemy. If David only had death to look forward to he would not have such peace. He would not have expressed excitement and joy when he heard the words “brain tumor”. Those words do NOT bring excitement. They do not bring joy. They do not bring hope.
David has said to me on more than one occasion over the past couple of months, “cancer is bad”. And it is. It is a terrible disease. There is nothing good about cancer. It is part of a fallen world, just as is death.
Since he was 19 years old David has lived with a different reality than the majority of people. His reality has been the unseen, the eternal, on what comes after this life. This is why he, why our family, has been able to make it through a very difficult year. We have a sure hope. This life, the here and now is not all there is. Cancer is not the end. Death is not the end. David and I, along with our family are looking beyond cancer, beyond death.
The life God has promised us is a life without cancer, without death, without separation. We can’t even begin to imagine how wonderful and awesome this new life will be!
We are so thankful for the truth of God’s Word. What encouragement it brings! What hope! Listen:
"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
Death is swallowed up in victory." "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
All of those verses were from I Corinthians, chapter 15. I encourage you to get a Bible and read the whole chapter.
In a few days we will celebrate Easter. It is because of what happened over 2,000 years ago on that Cross that David can face eternity with excitement and joy. Our prayer is that everyone we touch, whether through this blog or in person will know that same excitement and joy.
Christ is risen! Hallelujah!
David, Pam and Family
It has been a very long and difficult year. We have shed many tears. But through it all we have had an overwhelming peace. We continue to know deep within our spirits that God is good and that His plans for us are good plans.
Make no mistake; cancer is NOT good, death is NOT good. No one wants to get cancer and no one wants to die. Death is our enemy. If David only had death to look forward to he would not have such peace. He would not have expressed excitement and joy when he heard the words “brain tumor”. Those words do NOT bring excitement. They do not bring joy. They do not bring hope.
David has said to me on more than one occasion over the past couple of months, “cancer is bad”. And it is. It is a terrible disease. There is nothing good about cancer. It is part of a fallen world, just as is death.
Since he was 19 years old David has lived with a different reality than the majority of people. His reality has been the unseen, the eternal, on what comes after this life. This is why he, why our family, has been able to make it through a very difficult year. We have a sure hope. This life, the here and now is not all there is. Cancer is not the end. Death is not the end. David and I, along with our family are looking beyond cancer, beyond death.
The life God has promised us is a life without cancer, without death, without separation. We can’t even begin to imagine how wonderful and awesome this new life will be!
We are so thankful for the truth of God’s Word. What encouragement it brings! What hope! Listen:
"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
Death is swallowed up in victory." "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
All of those verses were from I Corinthians, chapter 15. I encourage you to get a Bible and read the whole chapter.
In a few days we will celebrate Easter. It is because of what happened over 2,000 years ago on that Cross that David can face eternity with excitement and joy. Our prayer is that everyone we touch, whether through this blog or in person will know that same excitement and joy.
Christ is risen! Hallelujah!
David, Pam and Family
3 comments:
Oh Pam.. I can't wait to get to heaven and look back on all this and maybe see how much GOOD came from how you are all handling this. But, maybe then we won't even care. We will be so wrapped up in worshiping & singing praises to our Great God. I can only hope it is then that Mr. Carson will be on the piano and I'll once again get to hear him bang out a tune! :)Thank you for the example that you are to the rest of us.
Martha
Amen and Hallelujah!
He is indeed!
"Bless the Lord, the God of Israel, who exists from everlasting ages past--and on into everlasting eternity ahead. Amen and amen!" (LB)
With love, the Dickens
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