Hello World! For a beginning programmer or someone who is learning a new programming language, their first program is a "Hello world!" program. It is usually a quick and easy win that shows you that yes, you can program!
My last blog post was November 2017 when I announced that I had cancer. It has been a hot minute. To be brief, with the help from God and some very good doctors and nurses, I beat the stage one non-Hodgkin's lymphoma that I had in the back of my neck. It was rough, but I made it through it.
Since that blog post, I now have four children married and seven grandchildren with six granddaughters. Very cool.
In September 2022 the Ward I live in was split. We had over 700 members in our Ward. They split us in two. I was called to be the Bishop of the new Ward that was created. A Bishop is like the pastor of the congregation. It is entirely voluntary with no monetary compensation whatsoever. You get to consecrate your (free??) time to leading, guiding, and directing the group of people that live within your Ward boundaries. Since I'm not independently wealthy, I still work for a living, so my Church responsibilities take up my free time in the evenings and on the weekends. I love the people that I serve. I wish I could do more for my little flock of Latter-day Saints.
A couple of months into being a Bishop I start having swallowing issues. I have a gastro doctor and I complain to him. He checks me out and doesn't find anything. He thinks it is a stomach bug. In December I end up in the hospital complaining about severe abdominal pain. They do a CT on my abdomen and I have a blockage in my small intestines. Long story short, after five years of being in remission, my non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is back. And it came back with a vengeance. It made my cancer battle in 2017 look like kindergarten.
After six rounds of "normal" chemo (three weeks apart), I ended up at Huntsman Cancer Institute so I could do a bone marrow transplant. It was a self-transplant, so they harvested a bunch of my stem cells, killed my bone marrow, and then they gave me back my own stem cells. I ended up taking 35 days of short-term disability so I could do my transplant. July 2023 I did a PET-CT scan and I'm back in remission. I have about a 60 to 70% chance of this never coming back. During this whole time I was still the Bishop of my Ward.
I will testify to the world that God is real. He is a God of miracles. I had many small, but significant miracles happen to me in the last year. I've been given more time on this earth to learn to be humble and to submit my will to His will and to do His work. I am mortal. I've had cancer. Twice. I wear out and I get tired. But I keep on trucking. I need to repay my Heavenly Father for all the tender mercies that he has extended to me since being called as Bishop of my Ward. I love Him and his son Jesus Christ. They are my friends. You might ask how I can be friends with God who "gave" me cancer. I was "given" cancer so I could learn. I was given cancer so that my congregation could learn to support a sick Bishop. My time on earth isn't finished. I still have work to do. And he has spared my life so that I can do His work. Even if the outcome wasn't as good as it has been, I'd still love and appreciate my Heavenly Father and His son and what they've done for me.
Cancer is bad. It is scary. But I think it is a lot more scary to go through cancer and life without having God be a part of your life. Let Him in. Accept Him. Talk to Him. He wants you to get to know Him and His mighty works. He loves you. He listens to you. He performs small, but mighty miracles in your life. Those "coincidences" that happen from time to time? Those happen when He performs a miracle in your life and he wants to be anonymous. When you start to see the little "coincidences" (I call them miracles) in your life, you will start to realize that He is there and He is watching out for you. Have faith. Ask that He show His mighty hand in your life and you will also get to see the miracles that happen.
Yeah, I'm back. I'm older than I was the last time I blogged. I'll ride this ride until the park closes and I'm called back home. I have more I've got to learn. I have more unborn grandchildren that I need to meet and influence. I have more pictures to take and more ATV trails to ride. I have more Ward members that I need to meet and help. It really isn't me who is helping. It is the Lord because this is His work. His Spirit guides me and I try to be in tune with Him and share His love for His children. Without His help, I am nothing. Without Him, I can't do His work.
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