Cancer and the Christian was born out of hope to help cancer patients, survivors, and their families find new life

While we were in the hospital together, my wife and I began to blog about our experiences through our individual facebooks. We were extremely encouraged by the responses we received from not only our community of immediate friends and family, but also from so many others beyond that.

At some point I received a conviction of turning our journey of cancer into not just a testimony of our lives of God’s goodness, but also into a resource that could bless others in a practical way. During my time of chemo and recovery from achieving remission I started to dream of God’s redemption of my brokenness. From there, Cancer and the Christian was something that helped me get through my day as it provided an outlet to process and understand the pain and joy.

The long-term goals I have for Cancer and the Christian are:

• Creating blogs and articles

• Producing podcasts

• Writing a book of how Christians can walk through hurt, pain, and suffering

• Providing resources for cancer patients, survivors, and their families

When reading Scriptures in the hospital, I came across these verses in 2 Corinthians 4:16-17, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” As soon as I came across it, I knew these verses held the hope I was searching for in the Bible. I was so close to losing heart during that time. Even if I was saved physically, my emotions and spirituality were on the line. This brought me back to the cross and the life it brings. My life was truly changed forever in that moment as I realized that I would rise, even if my body fell. I would not be defined by a broken body, but would be redeemed by an all powerful God who was using the situations around me to bring glory to Him and hope to others. For only reasons I can explain by God providing them to me, I visualized a tree coming the dead back into full bloom. I immediately contacted a friend of mine, Chelsea Delgado, who designed the tree above. Soon after that, Cancer and the Christian came to me as an appropriate title of the resource I wanted to create in the future.

In my darkest moment I was brought into the most redeeming hope I could ever be blessed within the first couple weeks of this journey. When I was in the hospital and crying out to God I realized that “cancer only truly wins if you let it”. Humility filled my veins as I realized despite how cancer destroys life and be one of the utterly miserable and painful things anyone can go through, it would be my choice if cancer had the victory. One might ask, “How does that make sense when cancer claims lives and infects the lives of family daily?”, but I graciously think of it through the lens of eternity I have as a Christian. I was filled with immeasurable hope of a new worldview. I came to terms with my life on earth. If cancer took my body, it would not claim my soul. Even if I were to die, I know my family, friends, and the church would not let my wife be alone and would help guard her heart and mind through the roughest days she would face. Please know to whoever reads this, I say all of this with all the humility and grace I have. It is easy for me to speak like this because I achieved remission, I did beat the cancer, I am pursuing new life. Within that I’ve had the roughest days of my life, the worst moments in my relationship with others, especially Christ and my wife. I was not perfect in how I handled cancer or even how I deal with it now, but I strive for holiness God has set before me. Even if I had lost the battle to cancer, my everyday hope would be to glorify God with how I handled the hurt and pain and to testify of God’s grace to end of my days. Cancer only truly wins if you let it. My goal for Cancer and the Christian is to help remind all of the hope we have of a God who redeems and brings new life. God didn’t will me to have cancer to give me a life lesson, but He looks for my obedience for the Spirit to provide glorification to the Father through Christ in me.

Right now this site is an outlet I’ll use to pour out my heart and mind during my free time after individually worshipping Christ, loving my wife, and leading my ministry. While I do have hopes of what this might become one day, for now it will start out as a way for me to process everything that has happened to me. I still cry out to God and I still praise Him. I believe God has given me a conviction to pursue constructing this site that only will it be a blessing to myself and possibly others, but with the inspiration it could grow into something that helps countless people with the struggles if living in a broken world that is filled with hurt, pain, and suffering.

Here are ways you can help:

• Pray, for my continued healing and restoration, and for my wife and I as we seek to love each humbly and to strengthen our marriage. Also, pray for those around that world and their families are currently battling cancer or are seeking to be restored into new life.

• Look for those in your current contexts that you can love in a practical way. There is no shortage of people around you who are either themselves struggling with some type of illness or physical problem, or those who have a loved one who is going through a difficult time.

• If you’re willing, to donate to this site. While I’m working to making it all around more official as possibly a non-profit organization so it may be tax deductible, it currently would just be a gift towards me for what I hope to accomplish. Any type of gift would be received with whole-hearted thanks and the assurance that the stewardship of every dollar would be used for growing Cancer and the Christian to bless a continual broadening audience.