The Bible on Trial

Distractions~

For most of us (excluding those who choose to live a monastic life) life can be a series of decisions that involve conflicts, resolutions, frustrations, joys, sorrows, and seemingly hundreds of choices every day. There are also surprises that are both welcome, and unwelcome, events that while not unexpected, given previous life choices, are more serious than most. Just such an event happened to me yesterday.

I am fair skinned, and due to having had three second degree sunburns (blisters) before I was 18 years old I have been fighting skin cancer in its various forms (including malignant melanoma), for decades. Two days ago I went to my Dermatologist and had what is termed a 'shave' biopsy. For the sake of propriety I won't go into the details, but for me this is something that has happened one to two times a year for a long time. Usually it takes a week for the results to be read by a Pathologist. My Attending Physician must have put a rush on the sample, because yesterday I received a call from the Resident Physician telling me that the diagnosis had been made, the cancer is a squamous cell carcinoma. I was told that they are going to schedule me for MOHS surgery sometime in the next week or so, as this cancer is particularly invasive and fast growing. Oh JOY!

I have had 15 MOHS surgeries in the last 22 years, so this is not something new to me, but I have had only one other experience with this form of cancer, and to say the least this has become quite a distraction.

All of us have distractions that take us out of the comfort zone, and put us in a place where it becomes 'nearly' impossible for us to concentrate on what should be most important in lives, learning the words of Jesus that leads us to Eternal Life. These words bring peace in the midst of the storms of distractions that seek to overome us with fear and doubt; "Peace, be Still."