Good News!

Overlooking Charlotte Harbor from Bokeelia, FL

My prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level was again below detectable limits, 0.01 ng/mL. The prostate cancer is still under control! God’s plan, presence, protection, power and promises again prevailed over my apprehension and fears. Christ’s perfect love truly never fails! The scene above overlooking Charlotte Harbor as it leads to the Gulf of Mexico is from a scenic but rustic area called Bokeelia, on the northern tip of Pine Island off the southwest Florida coast just north of Ft. Myers. The passive scene is not at all indicative of the active and fulfilling retirement life God has given to my wife and I. We are most thankful!!!! May we all keep looking up!!!!

The Next PSA Test; Apprehension and Fear or Trust and Peace?

Overlooking the Gulf of Mexico from Boca Grande, FL

My cancer has been kept under control with the help of hormonal therapy for nearly five (5) years. It is anticipated that at some point, one becomes resistant (refractory) to hormonal therapy. In that case, additional treatments need to be administered. If they are chemotherapies, they have more severe side effects; or, if they are newer treatments such as Provenge® or abiraterone, they may be limited due to their availability and cost. Therefore, every few months when a PSA test is required, the event serves as a marker of disease progression or control. From a medical viewpoint, it is “cut and dry”. From a spiritual viewpoint, the PSA test serves as a test of one’s faith, not simply in God’s healing power but whether or not one trusts God enough to cast this burden upon Him and be able to say with Job 13:15, “though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” or with Jesus Himself, when He prayed in Matthew 26:39 “not My will but Thine be done.”

In the Old Testament, Abraham serves as a shining example of a righteous, godly man. But he himself showed distrust of God on several occasions. Twice he told blatant lies to foreign kings whom he feared might take his life and that of his wife Sarah. He told them that attractive Sarah was not his wife but instead was his sister. Therefore, he put at risk God’s plan that through him and Sarah, a great nation (Israel) would arise. In our case, disease is also part of God’s plan; He is able to be glorified through it as was the case of the man born blind whom Jesus healed in John 9:1-3.  Though apprehension and fear may be normal expected reactions, we need not fear the outcome of a PSA test. Our fears can be conquered through tenacious faith in God’s and Christ’s presence, protection, power and promises. If our fear is putting God’s wonderful plans for us at risk, we must “remember that He will never ask us to do anything He cannot bring to completion, even if it requires miraculous intervention on His part.” (Dr. Joseph Stowell, Our Daily Bread, July 19th, 2011). I’ll know my PSA result on Friday.