(#6 )The quiet passage in the Cancer Journey

I'm just past half way between chemo/radiation and my coming surgery. The main medical goals for this 4 week period are to regain energy/strength and perhaps recover a few lost pounds. So I'm trying to eat healthy and get out for some significant exercise. Last week, I was able to get out for short bike rides every couple of days and I rode somewhere between 5 and 8 miles each time. Yesterday, riding felt so good I extended my ride to 11.5 miles, thoroughly enjoying the beauty along the Straight River (love that trail!) through town.  It was great!

Recovery from chemo and radiation is happening slowly, and I feel I'm getting a bit stronger day by day. Exercising well and eating right are more important now than usual.  Eating remains a challenge. Almost every swallow is uncomfortable and even painful. Anything acidic or scratchy is an extra struggle. I've always been a "foodie." I've always loved the adventure of new flavors and new foods, but presently, not much is appetizing and some of my favorite foods are just too uncomfortable going down. And I can anticipate that following surgery, some of this will be with me for the duration. 

But the spiritual challenges are the greater ones. 

Staying connected with God is a daily and sometimes a moment by moment test. John Piper wrote a short little booklet when he was navigating prostate cancer. (Thanks Kathy, for sharing it.) Intriguing title - Don't Waste Your Cancer. He lists eleven ways I might waste this valuable experience, and while each is briefly listed, every one is a productive opportunity for self-inspection encouragement and growth.  I spent a bunch of time yesterday reflecting these two: "We waste our cancer if we think that 'beating' cancer means staying alive rather than cherishing Christ." "We waste our cancer if we let it drive us into solitude instead of deepen our relationships with manifest affection." Both are challenges to me and I've got a long way to go.

I often head home on my bike along the 26th street trail, and daily I quote Psalm 8 along that trail,  One of the astronomy classes has compressed our solar system and the location of the planets onto relative positions along that trail. With the water tower's position representing the sun how far out are earth and the other celestial bodies? And here I am, asking God to provide my needs as I consider "His heavens, the work of His fingers, the moon and the stars which He has set in place."  I have to ask with the Psalmist, "what is mankind that He is mindful of us, human beings that He cares for them?"  But He is mindful. He does care.   And it's so amazing!  I'm less than a speck in the grand scheme of all God has done, and yet He cares for me; wants fellowship with me; desires to hear me pray and is eager to answer my longings and provide for me in my struggle. How can that be? But it is! His grace and mercy are magnified by the expanse of His creation.  What a Savior!