Content Advisory: This column talks about cancer and death, two unpleasant topics. If you would prefer not to think about those topics, I suggest you stop reading now and come back next week. It will be a more cheerful topic next time.
A few weeks ago, my wife Jean and I watched a TV documentary about Ben Sasse, the former Republican senator from Nebraska, who left that job in order to become the President of the University of Florida, and now has left that job to support his wife in her struggle with epilepsy and to focus on his own fight with pancreatic cancer. We wanted to watch this show because we admire Ben Sasse as a good person and as a strong Christian, and because we wanted to hear the story of his struggle with cancer. Since my wife Jean is also fighting cancer, we know a little bit of what he has been going through, though his cancer is a lot worse than hers. Her cancer has responded positively to the treatments she has taken for the past two and a half years, and due to those treatments her cancer has been stable, neither growing or shrinking. Ben Sasse’s struggle has been much harder.
It was last December when Ben Sasse felt frequent abdominal pains which a CT scan revealed to be cancer. His doctor gave him the bad news that his torso was full of tumors. At that time, he was told that he only had three to four months to live. Pancreatic cancer is a hard one to fight. When he was told of an experimental treatment that might extend his life, he signed up. The treatment itself has been grueling, but he is still alive four months after the date he had been told he would die. But he knows he won’t live forever.
In the program, he quoted a pastor, Tim Keller, who had died of the same kind of cancer, “Pancreatic cancer is wicked. I would never wish it on anybody, but I would never want to go back to the stage of life where I didn’t know the prayer that flows from cancer.”
Ben agreed with this statement and added, “I hate this disease. I hate that I am sick all the time and that my abdomen doesn’t work. But it is good to be freed from the illusion of my self-sufficiency. No amount in my bank account can free me from my finitude. The truth is that suffering frees us from our self-distractions and self-idolatry” to face what is really important in life.
For Ben, knowing that he will die from his disease, and knowing that his remaining time is not long, has caused him to refocus on his family. He and his wife have three children, two adult daughters who now live on their own, and a teenage son, who is still at home. Ben’s biggest regret is that his son will not have a dad around during the coming years of entering adulthood. I suppose his son will benefit by learning from the living example his dad is daily setting before him.
His wife’s epilepsy has gotten better, which she attributes to their time together as a couple and to their shared faith. Their children also share their Christian faith, and their daughter says that God has a plan for everything in each life, including her dad’s cancer. It takes faith to say that!
Ben quoted this verse as he spoke about the reality of his faith in the midst of facing the disease which will eventually kill him: “For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21).
Why is dying gain? He repeatedly said that he will see his family again in another place where there are no illnesses or tears or dying. That is his faith and his confidence. The reporter doing the interview asked if he really believed in this hope. He answered, Yes, death is a great evil, but it will not win, even when we die. The reporter said that he envied Ben Sasse’s confidence, as he felt sure that many others do.
Jean and I also share his confidence as we look forward to a future that includes our own struggle with cancer. Our reality includes the knowledge that death is gain.
Ben’s testimony of faith reminds me of one of the greatest faith passages in the Old Testament. In the words of Job, “I know that my redeemer lives, and in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God….How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:2527) Whether we will meet God in this life or the next, meeting Him is our great confidence, and that hope gives us joy now!
The one who walks with God is always moving in the right direction. – Roy Lessin
Greg Giles is a published author, who, along with his wife Jean, has embraced the call to serve and teach around the globe. Their life together has included missionary work in Liberia, Bangladesh, teaching in China, and raising a family in Bemidji, Minnesota. Between global travels and local commitments, including serving as superintendent of Corn Bible Academy and their current part-time roles at Corn Heritage Village, the Gileses have found “home” in many places; yet, they now happily reside in retirement in Cordell.