A new cancer

Amidst the celebrations of our anniversary and the sense that better health is on the way, we had some devastating news from my dad.

When i stayed with my parents after being discharged from hospital, my dad was suffering what seemed to be a beastly ulcer in his mouth. Steroids didn't work then mouth rinses and anti-biotics didn't work. Hospital appointments followed, biopsies were taken and on Friday the diagnosis was delivered: Non-Hogkins Lymphoma, a form of blood cancer..

After almost a generation of impeccable health in the family, two cancer diagnoses in one year. His staging tests will start next week, and these will determine what kind of treatment is necessary. In the meantime, my mind is in a total flatspin about it. One difficult question pushes its way through each time i think about it.

Where is God in all this?

Its not that i'm expecting my life or the lives of those around me to be wrapped in cotton wool and protected by God from any harm or illness. But this particular pattern of ill health seems so strange. My question doesn't call into question God's love for me and my dad or whether he has gone AWOL just when we needed him. Its more of a probing question into what he's got up his sleeve... how he will be fashioning this horrible chapter into something more reminiscent of the glorious plan and purpose he has for both of our lives.

We were never promised a life without pain, but this bad news will be a challenge for our family in taking God at his word. When Jesus said "I have come to give you life, life in all its fullness" (John 10:10) - i believe he was speaking into the lives of each and every one of us, in every situation. Reconciling these words in a time such as this will be hard, but rather than walking away from our faith, my dad and i are going to wrestle through it with God and see what he comes up with.