For the past 15 days we’ve lived both crucible and miracle. 

15 days ago I heard the news sitting in the same chair that I'm sitting in right now. 15 days ago our dad was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. 15 days ago we were frantically googling the horrific effects of this disease and trying to withhold judgement until we knew more. Today, after just FIFTEEN DAYS, my dad can say he’s cancer free and we are praising God for a true miracle in our midst. 

Because of the Lord’s kindness and the wonders of modern medicine, here we are, and here is my dad—a breathing and walking and fully alive testimony of the miraculous and merciful and powerful hand of God. 

At today's appointment, Dad heard these words and scribbled them on an envelope next to him:

"No chemo."

"No radiation."

"No surgery."

Of course, there will be follow up in later months, but today we rejoice. Officially, his cancer stage is very early 1A. His doctor said, "You're really, really lucky, Matt." There was no reason for that initial test. How much longer would that cancer continue to go undetected if not for God's grace and the intuition of a wonderful GI doctor? Miracle.

A few days ago I was using a prayer app that offers a meditative exercise on the Gospel passage for each day. The passage for the day was Jesus healing Peter’s mother-in-law from the Gospel of Luke.

Jesus comes to Peter’s house after performing many very public miracles. But, over and over again, the kingdom of God is working—and perhaps most mysterious and beautiful—in the hidden, small places. Peter asks Jesus to heal his ill mother-in-law, and Jesus casts out the fever immediately. She's feeling so great, in fact, that she starts serving them—what a woman. 

Jesus healed her because she was beloved and created by God, yes. Jesus healed her because his glory would be made known... also yes. But I wonder, was part of Jesus' motivation as simple as... he loved his friend Peter? Was he moved when he looked into his friend’s eyes and saw his pain and his faith to ask for healing?

And how did Peter and his wife feel when Jesus healed their beloved mother? Maybe a little like we feel right now. We feel relief, and joy, and exhaustion, but more than that, for me... I really feel the love of Jesus. I know my dad will be resting in that love tonight. It's so personal and so powerful. We love our dad. We really love him. And Jesus, our brother and friend who sees every sparrow and clothes every lily, has looked on us—and on our beloved dad—with compassion. Praise the living Lord!

Thank you for riding this wild roller coaster with us. Our Dad feels really loved by all of you but he also did shrug and say, "Well, that seemed like a really big deal." You can take the man out of Minnesota... He then joked that he'll just go ahead and receive meals until Thanksgiving. So I think he's doing okay. 

We'll keep this site up for a bit longer for people to read these updates, but we'll no longer be posting anything new because well... God is good.

Peace,

Bonnie