April 23, 2023 - Complex

     Church was good this morning.   I am preaching for a few weeks on the peace in my heart.  From the start of this chapter in my life I have written that there has been a peace that has been constant.
     It doesn’t mean that I don’t have moments of concern.  IV sticks are never pleasant, except the one I had years ago before surgery at Mayo Clinic.  They said, “We will wait until you are under and then stick you.”  Not an option right now, for which I am thankful!
     I have found that often when the nurse or assistant calls to share test results, it is often good or okay news.  Sometimes, but not always, when the doctor calls it is often more significant.
     When the endocrinologist called late in the week to give me the news that the additional tests on the thyroid were inconclusive, I wasn’t surprised when I heard her voice.  The three options would be to watch and wait, which isn’t an option like it might usually be.  That leaves another deeper biopsy or removal of the lesion.
     My suggestion to her was to call the doctor at Mayo Clinic and let them determine the next step.  She then said something that has never been a descriptor of me.  She said, “As complex as your situation is, I think that would be the best idea.”
     I have never been considered to be complex.  I am pretty much a simple man.  What you see is what you get.  I seek to be the same in the pulpit as I am on Monday morning.  I might be multidimensional with all the areas of my life.  But not complex.  Most of the time I am pretty easy to figure out.
     She, however, is right on target when it comes to what is going on with me physically.  Complex may not even be a strong enough word.
     Figuring out the treatment plan for the myeloma is complex enough.  Which pill, how many, which treatment, which day.  How the doctors have figured out that plan is beyond me.
     Add to that the concern with my thyroid just exacerbates the complexity.
     And lest I forget, I am still in treatment for the prostate cancer. 
     All of that is working, not so much in conjunction with each other, but with its own agenda.
     I was speaking with a friend yesterday who is also fighting prostate cancer.  He is on a similar hormone treatment.  I was telling him about lying awake at night and feeling hot.  He knew the feeling.    The side effects of the different treatments go in varying directions.  The steroids do one thing, the hormone treatment and chemo may do the opposite.
     Complex.  It’s above my head.  All I can do is trust.
     In some ways I am an enigma to others when I see them.  No one knows what to expect.  One person said to me this morning, “You look better than I feel.”  That brought a smile that was a good way to start the day. 
     Somewhere in this I had to make some application.  Simple on the one hand but complex on the other.  I see that truth in the plan of God.  I am thankful that He made the treatment plan for our spiritual illness far simpler than the treatment plan I am in.
     His plan is so simple that a child can understand God’s great love for us in sending His One and Only Son into this world to heal us of the cancer of our sin.
     At the same time the Bible is such a marvelously composed book that no one can nor ever will grasp all of its complexities.  There is always more to learn, always something new for our minds and hearts to understand.
     What a great God we serve.  Simple at our greatest point of need but complex enough to keep us fascinated.