John Slater is the missions director at my parents' church. I had the privilege of meeting him and his wife when they made a visit to Lexington, KY to see one of the docs at UK. John has just been diagnosed with an aggressive cancer in his spinal cord and needs your prayers, however the Holy Spirit should lead you to pray.
Please read his most recent Caring Bridge blog post and let it stir your heart...
Years ago in the late 80’s, when I first became involved in mission work in Africa, it took me a while to become accustomed to the response I would receive from the African nationals when I would say when parting, “See you tomorrow” or “See you later”. In our culture, this is a common parting statement with which we usually reply, “Ok, see you later”. However, with the Africans, death was very common place. Starvation and malnutrition was rampant, medical care non-existent, and with simple vaccines unavailable, death was always waiting in the wings. With the average life expectancy to be about 45 years old, the infant mortality rate at 6% (compared to the US rate of .06%), and 87% of all global maternity deaths occurring in the region, I came to understand their response when they would say, “If God gives me life, I will see you tomorrow”.
In my first two years of ministry in Africa, I lost over 23 individual friends to death, many to snake bite. In fact, each time I would go to Africa I would take portable snake bite kits with me with which I would hold training seminars to teach them how to tourniquet the limb, cut the bite marks and then extract the venom. These kits saved lives more times than I can remember. Now, I am not talking about people I was vaguely familiar with, these were friends of mine. These were men and women, boys and girls I had personally interacted with and became close to. One young man, who I had become extremely close to, Napoleon, was like a brother to me. He died in a car accident, which, had he been in the states, no doubt would have survived. Others died by drowning, disease, in childbirth, accidents and even at the hands of murderous infidels because of their Christian faith.
Reflecting on these events brings to mind the verses we find in James 4:13-14, “Go to now, ye that say, today or tomorrow, we will go into a city and continue there a year and buy and sell, and get gain; Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”
In January when the surgeons took out my tumor, it was done with the knowledge they had at the time. They did not expect the tumor to grow back, perhaps for several years or even decades. Therefore they were very meticulous in leaving me with as much function as possible. So it was very surprising 10 weeks out from surgery for me to have no relief from the original symptoms and then increased symptom on my left side. With another MRI ordered we were shocked to learn the tumor had returned even larger than before and once again surgery was necessary. So the plan was to excise the tumor once again providing relief and buying time to send the biopsy out for a more complete diagnosis. The surgeon placed a patch in the area to allow room for the expected growth as he feels the tumor will return even larger than before. This was done on April 2, and we just received word over the weekend as to the true diagnosis.
Saturday the diagnosis came back as a Glioblastoma Multiforme Stage IV (GBM). This is the same type of tumor Senator Ted Kennedy died of. Almost without exception these tumors always start in the brain. In fact, it is so rare for this tumor to start in the spinal cord; it was no wonder that the surgeons missed it the first time. In fact, only 1 in every 100,000 tumors starts in the cord. The tumor is incurable and is so aggressive in its growth, very little can be done other than to ‘buy’ some time. The treatment usually is confined to radiation with the hopes of buying additional time, with a prognosis of 18 months on average for the individual.
I had a brain scan and no tumor was found in the brain or in other parts of my spinal cord. My next step is to go to Duke University in NC in the next week or so to have a treatment option lined out. Because it is so rare, they are interested in my case. There are not enough cases in order to even offer a prognosis. So next week we will be going to Duke to see what they recommend.
Needless to say, this has been a great shock to Marcia and me, and has certainly been a roller coaster ride for us. At times our faith is as strong as ever and then we can find ourselves in the throes of despair. In all the time I have had to think about my situation, my mind comes back to the impression made upon me as a young man in my work in Africa, teaching me at a very young age the brevity of life and the need for us to take stock with what we are doing with our lives?
The first part has plagued me some in thinking about this question, John, what is your life? As a young preacher, I always thought that I would one day impact the lives of thousands for Christ making a huge difference in His kingdom work. And as we have all learned, our lives very really turn out the way we had planned. So as I look back over my 47 years, I ask myself, what do I have to show for it? What difference have I made for the cause of Christ? This little ‘vapour’ that has been my life to this point seems to be vanishing away very quickly and I am mindful of the fact that very soon I will stand before God and give account for what I have done with the little time I’ve had.
The second truth I realize from the passage is the fact that most of us live our lives as if we have all the time in the world. We live our lives as if we have all the time in the world, pursuing material things we will not take with us into eternity. In fact, I have found that most live their lives either in the past or in the future, with very little thought to the immediate present, and yet that is all we are promised.
I am not sure how much time I have left, but I do know that even if I had all the money in the world, I could not add one day to my life no matter how much I would like to. But I have decided to invest what time I have left in the relationships God has brought into my life, for this is all that matters. Who I loved, who has loved me and was I successful in pointing them to Jesus and an eternity in Heaven with Him? I want to encourage you to seize the day! Live today as if you will meet the Lord tonight. Don’t put off the things you have wanted to do or know you should do.
It has been said that our lives are not made up of months, weeks or days, but of moments. As you look back over your life you will not remember the events of each hour, but you will remember the moments. So I encourage you to live life and make some moments. Make some moments with your kids and loved ones that will be remembered. And hopefully in doing so, you can make a difference in someone’s life. This is my desire. In my remaining time, I am going to do my best to make the most of the moments. That is why this week we will be attending my daughter Jessica’s wedding to Michael Exline. We are so excited, and even though she will ride down the aisle in my lap, I wouldn’t miss it for the world. The trip will be extremely hard on me, but I am so thankful for the life God has granted me to witness this life moment. Please pray for strength as we go.
I face the unknown at this point and I am praying the Lord will grant me healing to live many more years so that I might continue to make a difference in the moments granted. But if he desires to take me sooner rather than later, I trust His will and direction for my life and I count it a privilege to be called His child. Please pray for us as we continue on the path He has set for our lives. We will keep you posted. We love each and every one of you and thank you for your love and prayers.
John, Marcia and Family
