My Journey with Cancer Part 2 
Pastor Dewey Note: Praise God for Brother David Maddox as he shares his journey with cancer. Many have been blessed by his writings. We continue to pray for healing for David, in Jesus name, Amen!
MONDAY UPDATE – 4-27-15
The week was a wonderful combination of family time – some new assurances on travel which encourage me on future ministry opportunities – and an emotional rollercoaster because of some of the surprise medical issues that popped up totally unexpectedly. For cancer and other serious medical patients I believe the hardest times once treatment has begun is waiting for a test result or a surprise that could have negative or positive implications. Surprises are basically bad because you have not had time to prepare for them physically or spiritually which leaves you vulnerable to the evil ones assaults on your emotions – and if you allow – fear. We must always guard against fear for fear is the opposite of faith. You have to choose to either be afraid or walk in faith.
The travel and family time was great. We got to go to Baltimore and spend time with our youngest son Seth, Meredith his precious wife Meredith, Sofie their first born, and Hazel our new grandchild. It was wonderful and we learned that we can travel some and how to travel. There are lots of false assumptions out there about traveling as a cancer patient. No you do not have to wear a mask and be afraid of people. Just be wise to stay away from obviously sick people. My concerns were that security would not accept my picture ID because I have no hair and that Sofie (now two) would not recognize me without hair. I wore a hat and had no problems with security. After some initial time with Sofie I took off the hat and she never even said anything. On the plane – be sure to bring the hand sanitizer and some wipes. The allegedly most dangerous thing you will encounter is the drop down trays on the plane so you need to wipe them with something containing disinfectant. One other suggestion – if you tell the ticket agents at the gate that you are a cancer patient and need to sit in the front of the plane – at least on Southwest they put you in the priority boarding group which allows you to get a seat near the front. If you are traveling with your spouse take an aisle seat and if she takes the middle seat that will put some distance between you and any sick person that may seek to sit on your row. Be sure to take food if it is a long flight – otherwise no issue.
Spiritually it was a great week with the Lord. I learned a lot – had the opportunity to do some writing – and God once again took me to the University of the Desert to teach me more about faith and fear – His call and the extent of His love for me. We had a CAT Scan on the Friday before we left for Baltimore on Monday. Our meeting with the nurse in charge of my case was scheduled for today along with chemo infusion number 4 so in my mind I dismissed the cancer and just enjoyed our family time until. The “until” was first an unexpected email from the nurse saying the doctor wanted to meet with us at 10:30 AM today – our chemo was originally scheduled for 8:00 AM and a meeting with her for 8:30 AM. It was now not clear when we were to come in and the “why does the doctor want to see us” question jumped into my mind with all the attacks that can come with that.
About the time God had me at peace about the doctor meeting the real shocker happened. My cell phone rang with a phoenix number so I picked it up and it was the Mayo Clinic advising me that our cancer doctor had referred me to a particular surgeon at Mayo for a surgical consult and they wanted to set an appointment for my initial evaluation. I went ahead and set an appointment for May 6th, but now my head was spinning. When we began this journey we were advised that surgery was not a current option so what had changed. I called and left a message with our nurse to find out when I was to show up – to ask was chemo still going to occur – and what was going on with the Mayo call. Ultimately I got a call back to advise me that our cancer doctor wanted a second opinion on the CAT Scan results as he did not agree with the radiologist who had viewed it negatively and that regular chemo would continue with more to be explained at our meeting today. That obviously gave rise to lots of questions until God spoke again and peace returned when I listened and obeyed
I got a couple of clear messages. The first was a reminder from January when this journey began. God had said for me to leave the physical to Him and concentrate only on the Spiritual. He reminded me that I could be anxious if I wanted – it would be sin – and it wouldn’t help anyway (Matthew 6:27). He also reminded me of what Peter wrote in his last letter – how he said, “I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me” (2 Peter 1:14) – and that He had not said that to me. It was then a return to what most of us consider a children’s story – Peter being invited by Jesus to walk on the water. It was in a terrible storm and yet as long as He obeyed and kept His eyes on Jesus – he did the impossible and walked on the water. But the moment his focus shifted from Jesus to the storm waters he began to sink and would have drown except that Jesus reached out and rescued him. After which came this stinging rebuke – “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31). Well – Jesus has called me out of the boat to walk with Him in ministry. I have taken the steps He told me to so that it would be possible. The question at that point for me and for you (if you too are a cancer or other serious disease or injury patient) – actually for any Believer – is are you going to walk with Him or stare at the storm and start sinking. I got the message and am at peace regardless of what the cancer doctor may tell me later this morning. That conversation will be about the physical – the storm – and it is God’s problem. I am just going to keep walking and seek to be available to glorify God through my service and life. That for me is the place of peace and joy. It is for you as well.
About David Maddox – After a legal career in both Texas and Arizona that spanned over 40 years as a civil litigator, God called David to leave his law practice and work full time as Discipleship Director for Time to Revive. That call is really the fruit of decades of prayer for revival and teaching God’s Word, writing discipleship materials and seeking to make disciples. David married Janet Whitehead in 1976 and they minister together from their Phoenix home. God has blessed them with four children and thus far seven grandchildren.