Daily After-Cancer Life

I haven’t posted anything in a while about what is going on in our “cancer adventure.” Basically, I am continuing with rehab and recovery and I feel like I am getting slowly better. We have passed the one-year anniversary of the stem-cell transplant. I will be getting, what I hope will be, my last PET scan on January 23rd with the doctor visit to review it on January 30th. So far everything looks good and we expect that to continue with this scan. We appreciate your prayers for that. In the meantime, we continue to look forward to what God has in store for us in the future. We are also waiting to hear if I will be placed on permanent disability status with SSDI. I am not sure if the government shutdown is impacting that. So we are still in the exciting position of living day-to-day. We are making some tentative plans now but are hoping we can make some more definite (I’ve learned that nothing is ever as definite as we think!) plans in a month or so.
I did enjoy teaching a class – Old Testament Survey – at PIU this past fall. It was good to get back into the classroom even if it was a virtual one. I am planning to teach Basic Exegesis in the summer session so I am getting ready for that one.
Over the past year, I have tried to keep myself on a pretty regular schedule. My morning always starts with the exercises and massage routine given to me by my physical therapist. That takes about a 1/2 hour. After that I make my breakfast smoothie and coffee and do my devotional reading while I drink them. For the past few months I have been reading the Ancient Christian Devotional which goes through the traditional church liturgy with quotes from the church fathers explaining the passages. I post my favorite quotes on my Facebook page. After that is my study time. I try to read through the Bible in the original languages every year. I am reading through the LXX in my OT reading this year. My main writing project right now is a homiletic devotional on the New Testament. My plan is to write a few paragraphs on every pericope (teaching section) of the NT in the next two years. I post them section by section here and plan to try to publish it as a book when I’m done. I value comments (especially on my Facebook page). I usually work on this until about two in the afternoon. After that, I am pretty wiped out, but It’s getting better. We have been going to some Bible studies, mission meetings and meeting with friends and family. We have been blessed to be able to meet with a couple cancer patients to encourage them. I always come out of those encounters feeling like I am the one who has been encouraged.
One of the hardest things in all this is not having an official “job” or “ministry.” It sometimes feels like the wheel of time is just turning over and over, faster and faster and I am not going anywhere. I know that is not true but my mornings and evenings all tend to look alike. I enjoy study but I am asking God when he is going to give me an outlet. Right now it seems that he is telling me to be patient. I keep reminding myself to be “faithful where I am” but I miss my church on Guam and the people and ministry at PIU. We are able to do more – I have preached four times in the last couple months – and I am looking forward to doing more of that starting in February.
I like to have resolution at the end of my blog posts. Not gonna happen here. God is moving and leading in our lives but we still have to be patient. Thank you for your prayers as we move forward.