Grateful
It’s a chilly Thanksgiving morning in 2024. Before I head out to the gym for my daily exercise routine and as part of my devotion time, I realize I have much to be thankful for this year, as I have for many past years.
I am thankful for the 27 years I have had with Regina. She was a gift from the very beginning. She arrived in my life when I was still attempting to cope with the loss of my wife, Rita. We have had many good years in those twenty-seven, but also a few difficult years. In 2011, it was my bypass surgery, which I now remember occurred just five days after Thanksgiving.
This year, my seventy-second and her eighty-first, it has been health issues again. She has continued to decline in mobility due to severe arthritis in her back. But I am thankful we can still take a trip here or there and occasionally enjoy a meal out. For me, it was the diagnosis of advanced lung cancer in the first week of June. Since then, we have had much to which we are thankful to God. The particular cancer cell that has invaded my body is non-small cell and has a specific gene marker that makes it capable of being targeted by a new drug. I have been on the daily dosage for nearly five months. Last week, a CT scan indicated that the mass in my lung had decreased in size, the size of my lymph nodes had been reduced, other smaller lesions had decreased in size, and I had no new lesions. Thanks be to God.
I am also thankful that despite the cancer diagnosis, I remain healthy. Prior to the cancer diagnosis, I planned to retire at the end of June from full-time ministry, go into part-time ministry at a local church, and assist at the district office. With the diagnosis, I thought at most I would retire and would have to give up the part-time ministry. Thankfully, for my sanity, I have continued with my plans and have enjoyed continuing to walk with my faith community and help other leaders in the district to remain connected and open new avenues of ministry for the local church. My oncologist, Dr. Jones, believes I can still have a few more years of vital ministry. Thanks be to God.
Not only am I thankful for all that has occurred this year, but I remain hopeful. I am hopeful and confident in Christ despite the many ways the world has continued to be in rebellion, in the violence that fills the daily news cycle, the divisiveness and hate that has more and more become part of our daily routines. Thanks be to God.