Is (s)he God?

A few Sundays ago, I woke up on Sunday morning and decided that church just wasn't in the cards for the day.  I had overdone it on Saturday frying turkeys for the youth luncheon fundraiser. We decided to run to "old mcDonalds" for breakfast since fixing breakfast seemed like a tall task at the moment (Amy and I have both been quite tired and worn the last month or so).  Amy and Anna made it into McDonalds before James and I did.  They got to the line just before another gentleman did and Amy let him in front of her since James and I hadn't made it in yet.  A few minutes later, after we had given our order, I started to pull out my wallet to pay, but the same gentleman jumped up to the counter and told the employee he was paying and there would be no discussion about it.  He said he was thankful that Amy had let him in front of her and just wanted to do something nice for us.

All morning long, I had been reflecting on how overwhelmed I have been with the outpouring of support for us over the last few months.  Getting a little teary, I thanked the gentleman and just told him he had no idea what his generosity meant to us after what has been a really tough couple of months.  He asked what was going on and I told him I had recently gotten the "all clear" from 2 separate cancer diagnosis.  I wanted him to have an idea of what impact his simple act of kindness had made on me. He got a bit teary himself and said he couldn't wait to tell his wife the story.

We went our separate ways and sat down to enjoy our meal.  The gentleman sat across the room from us and of course finished before we did (we did have Anna and James...and a meal with them is quite an event).  When the gentleman finished his meal, he made his way over to us.  He handed me a handful of cash and told us that God wanted us to have it.  He is retired from the radiology field and now drives for uber just for people interaction.  He almost always is in the Gastonia and airport area, but a client brought him to Huntersville that morning.  He felt as if God had made our paths cross just so he could meet us.  He also said, working in radiology, he often saw patients that never got the "all clear" and it did his heart good to hear a positive outcome for us.  The cash was the money he had made driving that day.  We thanked him profusely and he left.

At this point, I was just tired and overwhelmed and began to cry.  Not sad tears, just happy tears.  Thankful tears.  Overwhelmed tears.  Weary tears.

Of course, with a 4 year old at the table, there are always lots of questions.  Anna was curious about the exchange.  She was curious why he would give us money (we had already told her he bought our food).  She was curious why daddy was teary (anyone who knows me knows I am not an overly emotional individual).  We explained to her what the man said and why he paid for our meal and gave us money.

And then in one simple question, Anna showed she has a greater understanding of faith and God than many adults do, she asked, "Daddy, is he God?"

I just had to laugh a bit and answered, "In a way Anna, yes. Yes he is.  He is doing what God wants us to do and showing love to others."

Truth be told, our family has seen God in many different forms the last few months.  We have seen God in doctors, nurses, and hospital staff.  We have seen God in our neighbors who have brought meals, bagged leaves, babysat so I could make doctors appointments, and played with our kids. We have seen God in our church family through meals, cards, babysitting, spending the night so Amy and I could have a night out, and in never questioning things when I have missed so much work.  We have had meals provided by friends from college (and out of state friends at that), friends from my home church, friends from previous churches I have worked at, neighbors, and church members.

We have certainly seen God.  And we are extremely thankful.  2018 has not been the kindest of years to our family and we could not have made it through without the support of all of you.

As far as my health goes.  I have been given the "all clear" for both the testicular cancer and the kidney cancer.  Two surgeries and I am done.  No chemotherapy.  No radiation.  Just 5 years of active surveillance.

However, the "battle" isn't entirely behind us.  I will be having one more surgery on December 20th for an inguinal hernia that has developed at the site of the first surgery.  Compared to the first two surgeries, this one should be a cake walk.  After all, they will just be pushing body parts back in instead of removing them. :-)  I should only be out of work 7-10 days at most, and can hopefully return to work in 2019 with a fairly clean bill of health.

As far as the two spots on the lung, my next CT scan will be late January/early morning February.  The hope and expectation are that those two spots are just scar tissue.  The great news is that if they are cancerous, it would be really really early.

Thank you all for being God to our family and being Christ-like in your love and actions.

We really do mean it when we say we couldn't have made it through 2018 without each of you.

Love,
The Ward Family.