Welcome back again to another episode of Struggling Well, and struggles continue for all of us. And we had an unexpected event happen this past week. On Sunday, March the 15th, Suzi's brother, Warren, went home to be with the Lord. Lost his 2 and 1/2 year battle with cancer. And so, what we plan to do this week is to go back to an episode we recorded initially on August 27th as Warren was telling his story in the battle with cancer. So, as you listen to it, know now that he is home. He's free from his battle. He's free from pain. He's free from suffering. is with his Lord, which is what he longed for in life. and what we all long for. So, listen now.
So, Warren, as we get started, I think it would be interesting for you to share a little bit of your story with people.
Well, let's see. How can I describe myself? Oh, besides being the older brother of Suzi, I guess I'm just like pretty much everybody else. I have dreams, hopes, desires. I love long for every day to be a good one and hope that every day we'll find well no problems if at all possible. My life was pretty much just that. I exercised, played pickle ball, had a great time, had a wonderful time traveling with my wife, and then one day after playing pickle ball, waiting for the next point, I found myself in an emergency room because I had collapsed on the pickle ball court, cracked my head open. They put five staples in my scalp to put it back together and in the process did a check to see how I was doing. They found a heart issue. That heart issue eventually led to a heart ablation, which solved the heart problem that caused the blacking out. And then after the surgery, I went back for follow-up and said to the surgeon, you know, I've got a pain in my chest area. Do you think that's possible from the u from the surgery that you did? He said, no, I'm pretty sure that couldn't be the case. Why don't you have an endoscopy and a colonoscopy done? Well, I did, and lo and behold, colonoscopy, no problem. And oscopy. They found stage 4 esophageal cancer inoperable. Needless to say, that kind of ruined a good day. So, what happened from that point on? It was very simple. They decided they'd start me on chemotherapy and radiation. I did that for several weeks and then after a while, they did another PET scan on me and found out that the esophageal cancer had gone into remission, but my oncologist said, "I'm sure it's hiding in there somewhere. It's going to find another place to manifest itself." And sure enough, it did. Now, it's in my spine and in my bones. And according to the last PET scan, pretty much has meta metastasized itself throughout the remainder of my body. Well, from a human standpoint, that doesn't give you a really good outlook on life. That is unless you have the outlook on life that I have. And that's because I have a relationship with a God who's crazy about me. You know, for the life of me, I can't figure out why, but he is. He loved me so much. He was willing to allow his son to die on a cross for my sins. And even while I was shaking, my fist in his face, he still allowed himself to be crucified. And all I needed to do was receive the gift he offers. Well, I did that. Now, it's been quite a few years. Come October, it'll be 61 years since I did that. But in the process, I've learned to trust him on a day-to-day basis. Also, I would love for you to just speak to in the midst of your battle with cancer, what keeps you going? Because that's what we've seen in you is that you just you keep rolling on. So, what would you say keeps you going?
Well, that's a really hard question to answer because there's really only one thing that keeps me going and that's my relationship with God. from a human standpoint, I can't tell you how many people come up to me and say, "Oh, we're so sorry to hear that you're in this situation, stage four cancer, not a great outlook on your future. We're so sorry." Well, honestly and truly, what keeps me going is knowing there are three possible options available to me. The first option is something that God can do because he's capable of doing it and I've watched him do it. And that is he could just flat out heal me. And if he did that, well, I will freely admit to you that would make my day. Or if he says, you know, you've been here long enough and I want to bring you into my presence. Well, he could do that and that would be fine, too. The Bible says absent from the body, present with the Lord. Can't go wrong there. Or the third option, which is where I am right now is that even in the midst of where I am, I have the capability of being able to interact with people who are going through the same struggles I'm going through. Except I find in many cases they don't have any hope. And so I get a chance to share with them why I have a smile on my face. And I have a chance to share with them that in the midst of my battle with cancer, I win.
Also, you know, we describe because he is that God is our sustainer. how has he sustained you in the midst of these days as you're facing this struggle with cancer?
I was reading in Psalm 139 not long ago about how God created me for a purpose. In fact, even before I was even born, while I was still not even a glimmer in my father's eye. He knew everything about me. That means that even though I have stage four cancer, he knows about that, too. Which means I'm exactly where I should be. You know, if you look at things from that perspective and realize that God never makes mistakes, that means that I exist here for a reason. And I'm finding that what is sustaining me is giving me the opportunity to talk to others about the Jesus that I've come to love and trust.
And then where has God surprised you? has have you found yourself going, "Huh, I didn't see that coming or I didn't expect that." So where has God surprised you in this struggle?
Well, I tell you what, surprised might actually be a great way of putting it. First of all, he surprised me with the fact that he loved me. And that love just is an everlasting love. I sense it every single morning. I know that his presence is with me. And so, I'm pretty content over that. I'm also surprised over the fact that not only does he love me, but he gives me everything I stand in need of to be able to not just endure the pain of the cancer, But to have a mind that's still capable of carrying on reasonable conversations with people. You see, there's not a person on earth that can say to me, "You have no idea what I'm going through." Actually, I kind of do. I kind of know that when you're stage four cancer and you have literally not a long time left on Earth, Everything depends on how you decide to view things. And the way I decide to view things is that God knows exactly what he's doing. So I kind of look for every opportunity to talk to somebody about why I have a peace and how I have a joy. And what's amazing to me and what surprised me is that God is bringing to me people that I can talk to. He's done that time and time again. People weren't I weren't expecting to talk with are suddenly showing up and we're carrying on conversations and those conversations are literally life-changing for them.
Well, as you've listened, I'm reminded of what Paul says in First Thessalonians. Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing. And I trust that's what this episode has done. That it's encouraged you that we would take and value life and care for one another deeply. For the relationships that we have with each other are precious and they are eternal. And our prayer is that God would grant each of you a place of to humbly receive and faithfully serve that we might know in our lifetime that we are just getting a glimpse of what eternity will be like. What Warren has now. And so until next week, we'll come back to you. We will be in the middle of Holy Week. And we trust and pray that you have a good week.