Bobby Darin, Rod Stewart & Bryan Adams

Day three of ten days of radiation. Have I mentioned lately how great my doctors are? Dr Altemus, much like Dr Felice, is so easy to talk with and spends as much time as you would want to make sure your questions are answered. The technicians are great, too, making absolutely sure of the patient's comfort during the treatment session. And since those getting treatment are (appointment time) staggered such that there is some overlap, I have had an opportunity to talk about what we are collectively experiencing. One lady is having a particularly bad time right now. I don't think I have to specifically ask, but please
pray for her to have God's peace.

I'll see if I can explain what she is feeling by way of tying the three subject gentlemen together.

In 1959, Bobby Darin sang "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer" or "The Ballad of Mack The Knife" from "The Threepenny Opera." This version, and there are many, is listed by Rolling Stone as the number 251 of the 500 greatest songs of all time. The song ascribes several crimes to "Macheath" the anti-hero of this musical comedy. This is somewhat akin to the duality of the seriousness and lightheartedness we cancer survivors strain between every day. We can feel okay, but in a flash we are turned inside out with the contrasting dark emotion.

In 1977 Englishman Rod Stewart released a cover of a 1967 Cat Stevens tune, "The First Cut Is The Deepest," about someone afraid to enter a new relationship because of the lingering pain of a prior hurt. Unlike this song, we who live with cancer do not enjoy the luxury of time to wait for the perfect day. Each new event, new pain, new scan and report brings with it an imperative to process it quickly so that we can begin the task of coping.

"Cuts Like A Knife" became the second of nineteen top ten US singles for Canadian rocker Bryan Adams in 1983. Much as the Rod Stewart number, neither does this song match the experiences of cancer patients, or for anyone else for that matter. Mr Adams would have us believe that love cuts like a knife. To be certain, love is powerful, for when given through the Word that is sharper than a two-edged sword, with no expectations of return and received in humility, it will change a heart of selfish stone into a heart of obedient flesh. This love, God's love, perfectly performs this circumcision of the heart to bring the sinner from death to life.

This journey is alternatingly very difficult and sometimes easy. Each step of the path, whether along the ridgeline toward the top of a peak, or down in the darkness of the shadows, we live, laugh, rejoice, hurt, and cry. We count each climb from the depths as a turn for the better, though we know there is likely more pain around a future corner. Though we may express our fatigue, our frustration, don't take that as a signal of giving up. It is just what it is - a tired spirit longing for better. And that is a longing all of us, cancer or not, disease or not, redeemed or not, share on this side of eternity.