T-shirt goal!

When Jon found out he had testicular cancer back in 2006, I bought Lance Armstrong's book, "Its not about the Bike."  For those of you who don't know, Lance Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer more than 15 years ago.  In the book, Armstrong goes into detail about his doctors and treatment.  For us, it was a good read because we could relate in a lot of ways.  But the first time, Jon ended up only having surgery followed by surveillance for 6 1/2 years.  Lance Armstrong's cancer had already spread throughout his body and even to his brain.  So his story was a little different at that point.  The one thing that struck a chord with both Jon and I was how he was so open about his lack of faith and belief in God.

When Jon was diagnosed this past time in December 2012, I read the book again.  I gleaned even more information because at this point Jon was getting chemotherapy.  Although different drugs than Armstrong, we could still relate even more to his story.  Again, his unbelief in God struck me.

Recently I picked up the book again.  I skimmed through the parts that relate to right where we are.  This time we connected with the book perfectly.  When Armstrong describes his journey, we are right there with him!  It gave me the chills to read because he talks about meeting with the doctors at IU Cancer Center.  He describes the day he walked in, and how he felt.  And then how stressed out he was when he left because he had to make a decision on which doctor he would choose.  Again, we could totally relate to his story.  But as I continued reading, again, the way he describes his view of God really stood out to me.  I do not want to bore you but I want to share part of his story.  I am sharing this with you because since the first day I read the book, I told Jon he needed to write him a letter.  I wanted Jon to share his story, his experience, and his belief and trust in God through it all.  Well, of course time went by and we never did it.  When Jon was diagnosed this 2nd time, again, I wanted Jon to write Lance Armstrong a letter but it's been a little crazy since.  Since Jon is now dealing with this recurrence, he IS going to write him a letter this week before we leave.  Jon is going to share his story with Armstrong and the relationship he has with a God that cares so much about every detail of our lives.  A God that can change us!   Please pray as Jon writes and sends this letter.  We have no idea what kind of people Armstrong surrounds himself with.  Maybe he has never heard the TRUTH.  Pray that it will get in the right hands and ultimately that Lance Armstrong will read it.

Here is an excerpt from "It's not about the Bike"  Lance Armstrong:

     I asked myself what I believed.  I had never prayed a lot.  I hoped hard, I wished hard, but I didn't pray.  I had developed a certain distrust of organized religion growing up, but I felt I had the capacity to be a spiritual person, and to hold some fervent beliefs.  Quite simply, I believed I had a responsibility to be a good person, and that meant fair, honest, hardworking, and honorable.  If I did that, if I was good to my family, true to my friends, if I gave back to my community or to some cause, if I wasn't a liar, a cheat, or a theif, then I believed that should be enough.  At the end of the day, if there was indeed some Body or presence standing there to judge me, I hoped I would be judged on whether I had lived a true life, not on whether I believed in a certain book, or whether I'd been baptized.  If there was indeed a God at the end of my days, I hoped he didn't say, "But you were never a Christian, so you're going the other way from heaven."  If so, I was going to reply, "You know what? You're right.  Fine."
     I believed, too in the doctors and the medicine and the surgeries--I believed in that, I believed in them.  A person like Dr. Einhorn, that's someone to believe in.  I thought, a person with the mind to develop an experimental treatment 20 years ago that now could save my life.  I believed in the hard currency of his intelligence and his research.
     Beyond that, I had no idea where to draw the line between spiritual belief and science.  But I knew this much:  I believed in belief, for its own shining sake.  To believe in the face of utter hopelessness, every article of evidence to the contrary, to ignore apparent catastrophe -- what other choice was there?  We do it every day, I realized.  We are so much stronger than we imagine, and belief is one of the most valiant and long-lived human characteristics.  To believe, when all along we humans know that nothing can cure the briefness of this life, that there is no remedy for our basic mortality, that is a form of bravery.
     To continue believing in yourself, believing in the doctors, believing in the treatment, believing in whatever I chose to believe in, that was the most important thing, I decided.  It had to be.
     Without belief, we would be left with nothing but an overwhelming doom, every single day.  And it will beat you.  I didn't fully see, until the cancer, how we fight every day against the creeping negatives of the world, how we struggle daily against the slow lapping of  cynicism.  Dispiritedness millennium doomsday.  I knew now why people fear cancer:  because it is a slow and inevitable death, it is the very definition of cynicism and loss of spirit.
     So, I believed.

Let me close with this.  I have a personal goal and it has NOTHING to do with money.  I could care less about the money.  I would love to see 1,000 GODSTRONG shirts sold.  Jon already is blown away at the people supporting and praying for him.  I would love to tell him that 1,000 people around the country are standing with him in prayer for healing in his body.  I need your help to get the word out!  Please post on your Facebook, send email, send it out on twitter, however you can help me.  I know I'm setting my goals high but how awesome for that many people to be standing GODSTRONG with Jon!  Thanks so much for your support already!

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