Radiation is going well and starting to take it’s toll. It’s a lot better than chemo, but I’m definitely starting to feel the fatigue/weakness combined with some aching and a sore throat. Every day when I lay down on the treatment table, the Holy Spirit brings 2 Corinthians 4-5 to mind (which I wrote more about in this post.)
God refers to our earthly body as a tabernacle—or a tent—a temporary dwelling place, not designed to last long (like the one in the photo above.) He explains in 2 Corinthians 5 that one day this “tent” will be taken down and we will receive a building of God, not made with hands, eternal. In contrast to a tent, our new bodies in Heaven are compared to a building—an eternal, incorruptible body waiting to be occupied. What an awesome promise!
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Over the past eight months, people have asked me if I was going to write a book about this cancer experience. At first, my answer was to laugh and say, “probably not!” But the Lord overruled me. It’s been two and a half years since I’ve written a book personally. My writing time between then and now has primarily been invested into other projects for Striving Together. But yesterday, a book that I’ve worked on for the past five months went to press, and I’d like to tell you a little bit about it, if you can spare a moment.
Early in this trial I read several Christian books about hardship. They were helpful, but each one was lacking something. In one, I longed for the author to be more transparent about his own struggle. In one I felt that certain aspects of trials were completely overlooked. In all of them, they were written “after the trial.” In other words, the tough days were behind. I really wanted a book written by someone who didn’t know what the outcome would be—a book written from the middle of the trial. I couldn’t find that book.
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I love the way God shows up in ways we least expect. This morning is another McDonald’s morning. As my system is coming out of chemo effects, the stomach was asking for pancakes and my heart longed for some quiet time with the Lord. (Funny thing is, before cancer I was no fan of pancakes.) Both of my normal seats in McDonald’s were taken, so I was forced to sit in a booth behind a teenage boy. He was sitting across the table from middle-aged man, and the two seemed to be engaged in a very focused conversation.
My first thought was, this looks like me! I can’t count how many times I’ve sat in McDonald’s with a teenage boy trying to mentor, encourage, minister, or mend. As I sat down, I wasn’t exactly eves-dropping, but I couldn’t help but overhear parts of the conversation. The experience was surreal.
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