I have cancer

Hi everyone - I know that's a bit of a shocking headline, but as the doctor said to me and Lynette - there's no good way to tell you this.

For about the past month I have been feeling sick - mainly fatigued (extremely) and I finally went to the Dr. to check it out about a week and a half ago. The Dr. thought that because of the fatigue it could be mono, but when the test results came back the main thing she noticed was that I was anemic. So she immediately sent me to a gastroenterologist for a colonoscopy.

I had the colonoscopy on Friday and he found a tumor in my colon. Usually, he says, they biopsy it, and they are doing a biopsy on mine, but he said that he could tell by looking at it that it was cancerous, my colon is nearly blocked by it.

So, tomorrow I will see a surgeon and will probably have surgery within a week or so. I do very much appreciate your prayers - please don't forget to pray for my wife Lynette and my kids - D. J., Michael and Rebekah, and my mom in Jacksonville. Also pray for our church. We are closing on a new building, getting ready for our final service in our current facility and moving and it may be that I will be out for all of that.

I'm doing pretty well most of the time with this - Friday I was pretty depressed, but our session at the church has been terrific and this morning we told the church and they gave lots of support. Lots of people have told me stories of people who survived this with no problem, i.e. the odds are in my favor. But I do know that I am in the hand of God, not the hand of odds.

So as I said, please do pray for all of us and I'll do my best to keep you updated