Chemo

Last week I met with my parents at the Oncologist. My dad has lymphoma. While we were waiting my mom took out some lunch she had brought with her - apples, soup, grapes, etc. I looked at the apples and noticed that one of them was covered with a white-ish film.

"What's with the apple?" I asked my mom.

"I don't know," she said, "I washed them but it wouldn't come off."

"Well, I think that stuff causes cancer," I said. "So, dad, since you already have it, you have to eat that one."

That moment aside, this morning my dad is launching his very own "Good-Ship-Chemotherapy." He was diagnosed with a form of cancer that requires the treatment for the next 6 months. If I think about it rationally I know it's the required course of action, routine, common. And a part of me genuinely feels that way.  I mean, the stats say that we will all know someone who has undergone chemo in treatment of cancer from our family. Why should we be any different?

A book I was reading the other day talked about "postures." It's the author's way of talking about how you approach and live through certain events and parts of life - that you "adopt a certain posture" towards whatever is before you.

I am not sure what the posture is that one should adopt towards chemo. Part of me wants to say - "No big deal, lots of people go through this all the time." Sadly, if the crowds at the cancer clinic are any indicator this is really the case. Part of me also wonders if you are supposed to sound the alarm bell - "Hey, we got a crisis over here!!!" But that doesn't seem right at all.

Dallas Willard says "Do the thing that you know to be right and then expect God to bail you out." I am under no illusion that God's bailing me out equated to my dad being cancer free. But, I wonder what it would look like? So, my resolve is to pray for my dad and mom. That seems right. I'm also going to ask God to heal - he has the power to do it, and maybe that's what he wants to do. And, I think that the right resolve here would also be to simply look to and "fix eyes on" Jesus. Some might accuse me of being simplistic on this one. But, it seems like the right thing to do - in all things, good, bad, challenging and the rest - fixing eyes on, orienting hearts towards and asking for the leadership, care, home and Kingdom of Jesus in my life and that of my family.

Oh, and for the record, even my dad wouldn't eat the apple . . .