Thank you all for your prayers, cards, gifts, and concerned hearts. Thank you for being on this journey with us. And Thank you Father for your sweet peace, comfort, and presence.

“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction (evidence, proof) of things not seen”. Hebrews 11:1. God has given me an analytical mind, a mind that loves science and the process by which science discovers and advances – using the scientific method to test ideas, remove bias, and to try to uncover truths that can be counted on. Yet cause and effect is hard to discern, and as we see in the news regularly, conclusions are debunked regularly in studies because the ones who analyze the data are flawed and look at the data with biased eyes and minds. For hundreds of years man concluded that the Earth was flat, and the Earth was the center of the small universe they saw. It took brave men/women to follow the data, their observations using better and better tools to go against the pressure of common conclusions, the “church”, Kings and governments to prove a different infinite expanding universe and our galaxy was one of billions. Common opinion is just that opinion, a conclusion of finite minds who see partially. The more we explore and “know” it is even more obvious how little we really know. The scientific method cannot measure the unseen, the Spiritual and can conclude nothing about it, though we read it can. This is opinion wrapped in science talk. Theories or Hypothesis use inductive reasoning, making broad generalizations from specific observations, to formulate a study to test this hypothesis. Science is the application of deductive reasoning through the scientific method to test and prove the hypothesis is true or false. The problem is we humans try to sound wiser than we are. We try to use inductive reasoning to conclude on things that are not provable from the human perspective. History has proved man wrong time and time again. Data can’t prove or disprove God.

Isaiah writes (using the Message translation and selected verses of different chapters), “Yes, I am God, I’ve always been God and I always will be God. No one can take anything from me. I make, who can unmake it?”, “I’m first, I’m last, and everything in between. I’m the only God there is.” “Do you question who or what I’m making? Are you telling me what I can or cannot do?” “Every word out of my mouth does what it says. I never take back what I say.” “Can you picture me without reducing me?” “I am God, the only God you’ve had or ever will have– incomparable, irreplaceable.” I am God, your God, who teaches you how to live right and well. I show you what to do, where to go. If you had listened all along to what I told you, your life would have flowed full like a river, blessings rolling in like waves from the sea.” “Do you see what I’ve done? I’ve refined you, but not without fire. I’ve tested you like silver in the furnace of affliction.” God is known not by science or human opinion, but by what He has said, what He has revealed and by Faith in Him. It is experiential not experimental. You have to live “as if” what He says is true, convinced of this and recklessly abandoned to this and over time you will see God show up, divine appointments and Faith deepening.

God is here, He has been so good to us. He also has given us the advances in science to help us. This past week started off with the insurance company denying our switch to Abraxane, because of the severe side effects Theresa had with Taxetere. Our Oncologist spent much of his precious time on the phone fighting for us. He fought the denial and got a second denial, but he kept pushing and finally was able to talk to their Oncologist consultant who agreed with him, who recommended approval. Because I wasn’t going to let the delay cause Theresa to miss her treatment, I had asked the oncologist earlier in the week to get the Abraxane which we would pay for if insurance wouldn’t. The phone call with the Oncologist consultant occurred while Theresa was getting the Herceptin and Perjeta (similar to Herceptin), and then she got the Abraxane.

Theresa tolerated this much better. She had the joint aches, the feeling like her body was sunburned, but she was able to eat, had very slight abdominal discomfort and the diarrhea and nausea very responsive to medications directed at those symptoms, which didn’t work last time. Theresa though did get pretty fatigued and felt flu-ish, but by far, better than the past two treatments. She only received 1/3 the dose of abraxane this time and will be getting it weekly for two more weeks, so we don’t know yet how she will respond to the higher dose. Hopefully she tolerates it well and we ask if you would pray this way. Theresa has accepted her baldness and allowed me to rub it. She is still as beautiful as ever.

In our new normal, it is great to have my wife back. To not be racked with constant pain, cramping, and other overwhelming physical symptoms has truly been a God-sent blessing. His rest and renewal has been felt and we are living each day enjoying what we have in-spite of the circumstances. Our faith has not shrunk because of our circumstances, but has grown. God has come through and He has turned up the wick so that His light shines brighter in us. “Wait upon the Lord and He will renew your strength” – a truth proven by Faith and not subject to human discussion, denial, or testing.