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.