Cancer

I know that most people have been affected by cancer in many difficult circumstances. Until recently, I was not among them. However, in the last couple of months I have seen two people pass away from this disease. Cancer has been a key topic in my life this week, so I was interested when I saw the Christianity Today article, When the Pastor Suffers, that came out the same day as my Uncle Jeff's funeral. It was written as a response to the recent discovery of a brain tumor after a seizure on Thanksgiving day by Matt Chandler, the 35 year old pastor of The Village Church. The article discusses how Chandler and John Piper were suddenly able to demonstrate deep trust in God, despite the circumstances, with whole new perspective. Here are a couple of the quotes that I thought were especially powerful:

"For those of you who keep living in fear and would try to use this as an excuse to continue in that fear, don't you dare use me as an excuse to continue in your lies," Chandler told his church. "My hope would be that you would see that he is good in all things, and he would never send any of us things he does not provide strength for."

"Cancer does not win if you die," Piper said. "It wins if you fail to cherish Christ. God's design is to wean you off the breast of the world and feast you on the sufficiency of Christ."

These two well-known pastors are both incredible examples to us of trusting Christ in all things and through all things. My Uncle Jeff’s funeral and final year of life was the same kind of testimony. Cancer didn’t win the battle with him either. He’s dancing in heaven today.

Here is the video of Matt Chandler addressing his church after the seizure and before the surgery:
Video from Matt