Dad's Cancer and Dallas Aquarium

My dad has a new blog spot which he will be using exclusively to update his cancer info and other posts. Here's the URL

http://www.txbennett.blogspot.com/

Also his cancer levels have dropped to almost a third of what it was originally! Praise be to God for bringing the cancer levels down to this point! (also as an interesting side note, I find it interesting that people believe God heals people, but not that He first gives them (or at least permits it) the illness first.)

Amy and I had a fun date day going to the Dallas World Aquarium (Zoo). It's not too large, takes between 2-3 hours to go through, and is a blast for peoples of all ages! The one drawback is that it is VERY expensive (~20 for an adult). Mom and dad knew Amy really wanted to go see it, so for Christmas and her graduation they gave her two tickets for herself and a guest. Fortunately, Amy chose to take me with her!

We started our little date day by trekking over to a Chili's (courtesy of a chili's gift card given to Amy by her sister and brother-in-law for graduation) in the area where we discovered that they were out of hamburger meat and corn on the cob. Apparently, the New Year's Day parade floats had stranded the delivery truck on the wrong side of town! We were, however, able to manage and had a wonderful lunch. Then we headed a few miles down the street to the Aquarium were we had a TON of fun. Here's some pics!

Amy by the penguins

This was Amy's favorite bird there, it had a little mohawk that it could move up and down

They had baby toucans that you could feed a berry to. This little girl was brave enough to try it out, but she got her finger bit a little.

Amy and I liked this bird cause its tail looked like a heart.

BATS!

A random penguin that acted like the king of the little rock it was on.


A really great photo of Amy! If only I could get rid of the flash....

I got some really great photos of these jellyfish.

Some Mayans came out and did a little show (it was kinda lame)

Look out for sharks!

Amy, I just said to look out!

I liked the way the seahorses tails wrapped around the coral like little sea cowboys had tethered them outside a saloon.

Amy and me at the aquarium!

Lazy cat!

Amy doing an EXTREMELY cute flamingo impersonation.

As we were leaving we ran into a parade. Amy was so excited that when she noticed it she RAN to see it!

See how excited she is?!

Thanks for the awesome date Amy!

Dad's Cancer and Dallas Aquarium

Words of Wisdom from My Ol' Man

So, for those who don't know, my dad has recently been diagnosed with cancer. And I have to admit that our family's reaction to the news is slightly humorous. Rather than being broken up about it, we're all... well unchanged isn't quiet the right word, and hopeful is equally incorrect. We are all possessing the peace that passes comprehension that only Christ can give.

Now let's be honest, most of us in life are not facing challenges that are most likely going to kill you (it is, of course, our hope and prayer that God heals my father, but cancer is a disease that usually ends in death). And while this isn't to trivialize anyone else's situation, it is to say that my dad's situation is a little more threatening. While your situation may be passing your exam tomorrow, going through a rough time in your relationships, or being abandoned by your closest friends or loved one, none of those things are life threatening.

I say all this, because I came across a very interesting blog post made by my father. To summarize it, dad soul's was feeling tormented from worry over the possibility of having cancer (this post was a reflection back to a car trip we took just before he got the official news he had cancer but after he had been warned he probably did). In it, his mind kept coming back to the Psalm that said "Why are you in despair, O my soul?". So often that phrase flashed through his mind that he finally opened his bible and hunted down the verses to see if he couldn't find out WHY the psalmist was so upset, to find the cause for his despair. But upon finding the verse, he could not find anything that said why the psalmist was upset. But that was the whole point of the Psalm!

Here's the Psalm,

Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance, and my God.

This same EXACT phrase is found in Psalm 42:5, 42:11, and 43:5 that's three times repeated. Now, you may not know this, but when something is repeated in the Bible three times it is to really drive home a point. Examples of this can be found in places such as Isaiah 6:3 where it says, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!" or in the gospels where Christ ask Peter three times if he loves Him. The point of three time repetition is to drive home the point that something is more than true, it is assured beyond any shadow of a doubt. In Isaiah, the entity speaking is a seraphim. It cries out the truth that God is holy. No, not just holy, but that He is firmly, undeniably, and unchangeably HOLY. In the gospels Christ isn't just rubbing it in Peters face that he denied Christ three times, Christ is stressing the fact that if Peter does in fact love Him then he will devote his life to the care of the Church.

The point being, that God doesn't allow this phrase to be repeated word for word three times for no reason. Look closely and notice a couple things.

1) No reason is ever mentioned for what is causing the psalmist problem. It's not important. Try and wrap your mind around that. We live in a world full of broken homes, broken hearts, and shattered lives. It doesn't matter if your wife cheated on you, if your daddy left you, or if your brother is trying to kill you (something which sadly happens all too often in Arab countries when someone leaves the Muslim faith). It doesn't matter if your home is getting taken away from you by the bank, if your closest friend just died, or if you failed the big midterm.

2) Here's what the Bible tells us is important: "Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance, and my God." Regardless of what happens, we are called to hope in God. See, the problem is that we're trying to hope in people. Sinful, imperfect, godless men will always disappoint you at some point in your life and you know what? So will God-fearing, righteous, kind men. We are all imperfect and though we trust in Christ, we have by no means become perfect and free of sin, just from the penalty of sin. When you begin to base your entire state of being on the actions of one person or one event you are looking right into the face of God and crying out "HOW DARE YOU?! What right did you have to allow this to happen? How could you let such horrible things happen to me?" You are looking at God and telling Him that you know what is better for your life than He does.

Can you grasp what it is I'm trying to say here? When bad things come our way and we go into despair, when we become suicidal, when we seek "self-medications", what we've done is cease to trust God . We've placed ourself in a place higher than God (that's making our will into an idol above God) and telling God He has no idea what He is doing!

What an amazing Psalm my dad shared. You and you alone are responsible for your life. No one, no one, NO ONE ruins your life for you. No one, forces you to adopt an attitude in direct rebellion to the teachings of the Bible. You are in charge of your emotions, in charge of your reaction to life. The question becomes, how will you react? Will you blame everyone else for your sin? Or will you, like the psalmist, cry out to God "I will hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance, and my God."

If you're going through hard times where you feel suicidal or depressed or just stressed out of your mind. I encourage you to pray through Psalm 42 and talk with me. I've been there and God can help.

Words of Wisdom from My Ol' Man

My Reaction to the News

So, I figure since this blog site is linked on my dad's website, it would be beneficial to outline a bit of how I'm taking all this. First, however, is how the rest of my family is doing with this.
Mom is doing well. I think this is the most stressful to her as its something new for her to have to handle. Not just something new, but something that she has no grounds for understanding how to handle it. The past weeks of going with dad to various doctor appointments has been good for her as she's been able to get a hand up on what Myeloma is.
Daniel seems to most affected by it. I imagine this has a lot to do with both the fact that Daniel is farthest away from dad right now, as well as the fact that he was the first born. The first born has a bit of a special relationship with the parents as they are able to experience the parents alone. All the rest of us experience the parents as being an additional part to the family. In fact, I would say that often the younger children experience the parents almost as on offset to the friendship they experience with the other children. Needless to say, Daniel probably enjoys... a deeper relationship (if that's the correct way to say it) with my father than the rest of us do.
I haven't really herd from Andrew to know how he's doing, but I think he's handling it well.
Emily has been stressing about this a little, but remains good.

Me? I'm good. To be perfectly honest, I'm not overly affected by it one way or the other. I know that may seem callous, but the fact of the matter is that the number of my dad's days has not been decreased one bit simply because he now has cancer. A lot of people may view this news almost as if where before there was some unknown limit to my father's day that was so far off it wasn't worth considering. After all, my dad's only 55 he has another 35 years easy by modern thought. But know we consider the fact he has cancer, that limit that wasn't worth thinking about is now a much smaller number. It's become a "how many of my children will get to meet their grandfather?" or a "how much longer do I really have with dad?", "what will become of mom without dad?" All completely legitimate questions, yet all questions that make me laugh. The whole notion of letting a sickness distress you makes me laugh.
My father is just as much in the hands of God today as he was yesterday. Just because he has cancer doesn't mean God has turned His back on my dad has it? So I'm good. My dad is in the best hands possible and he'll be around the exact number of days as he always was supposed to.

My Reaction to the News