A Year To Be Thankful

“… So I will go about Your altar, O Lord, that I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all Your wondrous works.” —Psalm 26:7 (NKJV)

At this time last year, I was oblivious to the fact that a cancerous tumor had invaded my left kidney and had already begun the process of killing me. But a sudden kidney stone attack in the other kidney forced me to the ER where a visiting urologist just happened to be on duty… and he just happened to notice a shadow on the cat scan that prompted him to do further testing. And because of several of those “just happened” kinds of moments, the surgeons were able to remove that affected kidney and effectively killed what turned out to be a rare form of kidney cancer before it ever made it out of the collecting duct tubule where it had implanted itself. We caught it so early that I didn’t even have to do chemotherapy or radiation treatments.

Most of you already know that story. In fact, many of those who read this letter were actually ones who were actively praying for me as I went through this process. You prayed, you called, you visited, you wrote. And again, I thank you. You can’t possibly know how much healing came into my life and my family just through your love and care. I truly thank God for this congregation.

Now for the challenge that you look for in a reflection like this… As I remembered this past year, and all of the seeming coincidences and “just happened” kinds of moments, I marvel at how God was quietly working behind the scenes. In the same way that God sort of egged on Satan in the book of Job, and Job then endured testing and trials, I see a similarity here. Yes, God allowed Job to be tested by Satan, but only because He knew that Job could “pass the test.” Satan wasn’t permitted to lay a finger on Job until God knew for certain that Job would be able to face the trial of his faith successfully.

In the same way, it seems that somehow Satan got permission to afflict my body with that tumor… I hope I dealt with it as successfully and graciously as Job did with his trials. But it hit me… God set me up to find out about it. I shouldn’t have known it was there until a week or two before I died. And there would have been nothing I could have done at that point. But here I am. God set me up with the right doctor visiting at the right hospital at the right time to treat the presenting problem of a kidney stone AND to spot the secret tumor. Coincidence? I think not! God set me up!

I’m not the only one to experience this phenomenon, am I? I’ve heard different ones share stories about how there seemed to be coincidence after coincidence in their life, and they recognized it was simply God, behind the scenes, setting them up for blessings!

In the scripture passage above, the psalmist goes to the altar. Old Testament worship suggests that when they would go to the altar they presented a gift to God. And then, with the “voice of thanksgiving” he goes out to proclaim all the wondrous works God has done in his life. This year, I’m following the example of this psalmist. I’m making a special Thanks Offering and then going out and sharing how awesome our God is… and how much we can trust Him and lean on Him… in whatever circumstance we find ourselves.

How about you? How has God been working in your life? How can you offer Him thanks? How can you share the good news of His wondrous works? How about joining with us and giving your thanks?

Thank You God... For Kidney Stones!?!?!?!?

OK... Saturday evening, around 8:30, my kidney stone passed! I'm sure friends of mine in far off places could hear the strains of HALLELUJAH! on the wind!

In any case... It was just a couple of weeks ago that I preached that we should be "Thankful in ALL things." Now I've been challenged, how am I giving thanks for this past week? Specifically, how do I give thanks for a kidney stone?

Well, after my recent doctor's appointment, I have a found a way to do that very thing. It seems that when the doctors were running all their tests, particularly a CAT Scan, they noticed something like a cyst or something over on the other kidney. I didn't think much of it (as you may recall I was entirely focused on the 2 mm. kidney stone in the right kidney).

I have met with the urologists and my own physician since then and it turns out that kidney cancer starts out like that. It seems that kidney cancer is not easily spotted in its early stages. And by the time actual noticeable symptoms of kidney cancer appear, it's usually far too late to do anything. The only way the docs can successfully treat kidney cancer is IF they HAPPEN to notice a cyst or such while doing some other procedure or test. So there I was with a kidney stone and they did the appropriate tests and saw this cyst-looking thing on the other kidney! And they noticed it only because I had a stone! So... THANK GOD FOR A KIDNEY STONE!!!

Now, before we go any further, nobody says I have kidney cancer... I might... I might not. It might be just a cyst (in which case they do nothing) or a benign tumor kind of thing or perhaps cancer itself.

But now, at least, we know that there is a chance... which gives us the information we need in order to follow up and go through other tests. The point here isn't do I or don't I have it. The point is that God Almighty can use any situation for his glory and I believe this recent experience with a kidney stone is further proof of that.

I see a urology specialist next week in Pittsburgh to decide how to proceed and to see how they interpret the tests. I imagine we'll have more tests to do.

I invite you to keep me in your prayers...