Ribbon Colours!

A friend passed these on to me... I had no idea about any of them except breast cancer of course.

Cancer Is So Limited

What Cancer Cannot Do...

Cancer is so limited,
It cannot cripple love,
It cannot shatter hope,
It cannot corrode faith,
It cannot destroy peace,
It cannot kill friendship,
It cannot suppress memories,
It cannot silence courage,
It cannot invade the soul,
It cannot steal eternal life,
It cannot conquer the spirit.

-Author Unknown

Kelly and Her Mom

Kelly, my sister-in-law, just lost her mom Barbara to lung cancer last week. Barbara’s experience seems so much like my dad’s; struggling to get properly diagnosed, promised a certain amount of life by doctor’s, and then quickly declining towards the end. The other night, while my own mom was on the phone, calling my other siblings and letting them know, it suddenly hit me. She had just died of the same disease I now carry, currently carry, in my body. Up until that moment, I had identified more with Kelly- I knew how hard it was to lose a parent to cancer, or to anything. The disbelief and devastation it is weighted with. How life changes forever while you’re still trying to catch your breath. But this was a whole new perspective.

Maybe it’s because I’ve gotten off easy, because I haven’t felt sick, or realized the incredible amount of work it is taking my body to heal itself. Whatever it is, I feel a new tenderness, for myself and those around me striving to overcome cancer or its effects on their lives.

Todd goes to Mozambique

Todd left for Mozambique on Tuesday. For those of you that don’t know him, here is a perfect example of who I see him to be. On the way to the airport Tuesday afternoon, Todd wanted to first stop around the corner and say goodbye to Karim. Karim is a middle-aged Iraqi man that has a tire and repair shop in Detroit. Todd first met Karim when he was walking around the neighbourHOOD and saw Karim sitting outside, just waiting for customers. I’ve met Karim before, and I think this is how he spends much of his day: sitting around and waiting for customers. Karim seems to be like many in Detroit- trying to make a living, waiting for things to get better, and lonely. So Todd started talking to him, and came back the next day to bring him a coffee. For awhile, Todd was going there everyday, bringing him a coffee and just sitting outside, talking. Karim told him all about his life in Baghdad, his brother that is still there, how Saddam took his family land, his desire to save up and go back. Then, Todd brought him a Bible: an Arabic- English one.

So, we pulled up last Tuesday to the tire shop and there’s Karim, reading his Bible. We talk for a bit and Karim tells me to come by sometime when Todd is gone and we’ll 'go to the casino or something'. But the cool thing is what came next. Karim starts talking about the sandals that Todd is wearing and about how he broke his own pair. Todd mentions he has one in his backpack too, to take to Mozambique. Karim wants to see them, and when Todd goes to the trunk, unzips his backpack and pulls them out, Karim asks Todd for them. And Todd gives them to him, without even hesitating. I’m standing there like, ‘No, don’t give them! Your only belongings for the next year are in that backpack!’

So there Todd is, a missionary on the field in Detroit, on his way to the mission field in Africa, a missionary wherever he is. Who doesn’t want to be around someone like that? Who doesn’t want to be someone like that? I do- I’m not that kind of person yet, but I want to be. So he inspires me to be better everyday. That’s Todd.

What If

What if God asked you to give up your life as you knew it? What if He asked you to give up your permanent home for His, where you never knew where you would end up living? What if He wanted your means of supporting yourself, in order to trust in Him through others to support you instead? What about if He requested your friends and family and social events and wanted to replace them with the orphans, the diseased, the lonely? What if He gently demanded your comforts and pleasures and loves to live with the poor?

What if He asked all of this from you? And you did it.

Then He asked you to give up more.

Progression of Hair

One Regret

When I was in high school, I started dyeing my hair. Brown's just not that exciting when you're a teen trying to fit in. It started with the do-it-yourself Shoppers box of golden blond and progressed through various stages of streaks and highlights of everything from dark brown to light blond and back again.
Then last year, I decided that since I was going overseas to do mission work, it would be a good time to finally re-discover what my natural hair colour was. My reasons were three-fold; I figured I may not have a good stylist abroad, no-one that knew me 'blond' would be around, and as a missionary, it probably didn't matter anyway.
Before I left last June, I cut some of the ends off and resigned myself to a year of ponytails. Finally, after enduring the growing out phases (not pretty) all year, and returning home, my sister gave me a gift certificate for a proper hair cut and accompanied me to see the last of the blond go.
After I got it cut, I was so excited. I had one colour of hair. And I really liked it. I remember thinking how God really knew what He was doing after all, and that I would definitely be keeping the brown around indefinitely. That was 4 short months ago.

Of course, we all know that this is a lesson in irony.

Tomorrow, I will go and get my head shaved. For the past two weeks, my hair has been falling out. Thankfully, it has not come out in chunks or patches, but slowly, with the strands just pulling away effortlessly. (I've referred to this as shedding). I have already cut my hair short, but will not cling sadly to the last bits until they go. No, tomorrow my sister will come with me once more to experience a new hair cut.
It honestly doesn't really bother me about going bald. I have a great looking new wig and it will really cut down on shampoo costs. No, my one regret is this- for over 15 years I didn't see my real hair colour, the one I was born with. That's about half of my life. I tried everything I could to hide my real hair colour. I never really appreciated how I was made, the intricacies that were just me. You know what they say, ' You never know what you've got until it's gone.' So, appreciate who you are today. Just as you are. I guess that's the purpose of this blog, just to encourage you to see that from where I'm sitting, everybody looks pretty good they way they are.
God made my hair this really cool brown colour. God made us all so cool looking. He knows every cell in my body and every brown hair on my head. In Matthew 10:30 it says, 'And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.' Going into tomorrow, I like to think that He knows exactly how many I had, have lost and still remain. I'm going to think of that under the razor.