We attended the Bone Marrow Transplant Clinic this week. I’m not sure when it’s going to happen but stem cell transplantation will take place at the end of the present treatment regimen and will probably involve about two weeks in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. The outlook at present is good but it is sobering to remember that even if all goes well we will not be seeing a ‘cure’. There is no definite cure for Multiple Myeloma. Even if the treatment brings the best of outcomes there will always be the possibility of the disease becoming active again.
It is intimidating when you hear it or see it written: incurable. But there are many Myeloma people who having undergone treatment are now getting on with their lives. (I suppose, however, that to some extent it is a different life they are leading. You can’t go through a treatment regimen like this and remain unchanged.) So what we are working towards is the day when I can say: ‘They’ve dealt with the level of nasty stuff in my blood but they’ll still be keeping an eye on me.’ It’s then down to me to live as well as I can just as so many do who carry medical problems. A major part of this will be following the Psalmist who in seeking a way out of circumstances that threatened to overwhelm him called to mind the being of God and His strength:
‘You, LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.
With your help I can advance against a troop;
with my God I can scale a wall.’ (Psalm 18: 28-29)
These are the kind of words to put mettle in your soul. But a question arises. How seriously do I take this vision of God as the One who gives His people resources to overcome? I was once part of a gathering of ministers who were told by the speaker, the Canadian theologian Don Carson, that we were all basically ‘functional atheists’. We believe in God but do we really believe He can make a difference in our lives and the lives of communities?
We need to be delivered from a God who merely exists on a page and brought closer to the One who holds the Universe together, is even now renewing Creation according to His purpose and has a place for a renewed people in that renewed Creation. Years ago J.B.Phillips wrote a book entitled Your God Is Too Small. It’s a problem we all have but with our resources, Scripture, worship, prayer, we can expand our vision and deepen our experience.
