There is only room for ONE BIG C

My Dad is going for his consultation appointment this coming Tuesday. He's just had one slow growing cancer cut out above his ear...there's still a bit in there, and an aggressive one cut out of his cheek. For these he needs radiotherapy to zap/ blast any remnants of that cancer. We don't quite know what that might involve, but Tuesday's the day and my siblings and I travel together to take Dad and Mum off to Waikato Hospital to get all the details.
The other night I was thinking...you know it wasn't so long ago that I was a kid and my Dad was taking me off to the doctors. I was a bit teary thinking about this role reversal. Thinking about how my Dad would mostly be the one taking me as my Mum was pretty much a full-time working mother when I was going to school, and it was Dad that took the days off, or took me to work with him, popping into the doctors on the way.
My Dad loved/ loves me so much. It is crazy to think about him being sick, like really sick...and even the possibility, well the inevitability of him dying. I've always been close to my Dad. Even when he has been mean to me, or he's let his temper get the better of him. The thing is with my Dad- what you see is what you get. He's not from a culture, like the Samoan culture...or maybe that is just my mothers family...where you worry about what others think, or keeping up appearances, etc. My Dad just is who he is. There is no pretence, and I think that is what made me feel safe as a kid. I always knew that my Dad would just be my Dad. Don't get me wrong...my Dad had a very bad temper. I think now he is too old for that sh$%# as he would say. And swearing...every second word. It's still something I struggle with today...trying not to swear like the way I was immersed in that language growing up. But with my Dad (and Mum too)...there was never any doubt that I was loved. I never had to wonder or guess. I always knew.
My Dad has always prided himself on not getting any of the ailments of his siblings who often had a variety of things going on in their health. Things like heart attacks, cancer, diabetes etc. Dad had none of these until now. And I think it's hit home for him that he's not immortal, and that he is coming into those latter years of life. "Cancer aye...who would have thought..." [me is probably what he's thinking]. But I'm mindful of dwelling on 'The Big C'. As I was thinking about that, I felt the holy spirit prompting me..."There is only room for ONE Big C here" and that is Christ. So, I know that through all of this, I am going to try (in my spiritual strength that He gives me) to focus on Him...The Big C, and to minimise or take any focus off that cancer. To recognise that if this situation allows us to come together as a family, to share God's plan for Dad and our family, to bring His hope, His peace and His love to my family...then I am going to rejoice in Him. I am going to put my trust in Him. I am going to give Him the honour and the glory, for it belongs to Him.
To my Heavenly Father...thanks for your healing, your love and your amazing plans for my earthly one. How blessed am I with the fathers that I have.
Bless you Lord
Bless you Dad xx