The Children's Oncology Group (COG) is one of the biggest names in the childhood cancer community. They are the ones who do the research and come up with clinical trials. In fact, most of the current treatment protocols for pediatric cancer have been developed by COG.
Their fundraising branch is called CureSearch. CureSearch is actively involved in advocacy, awareness, and fundraising for childhood cancer. I believe something like 97 cents out of every dollar donated to CureSearch goes directly to fund the research behind the top children's cancer treatment protocols in the US.
CureSearch has a slogan that they use for one of their advocacy and awareness events in Washington, D.C: "Reach the day: conquer kids' cancer." The slogan refers to "reach[ing] the day when every child with cancer can be guaranteed a cure."
Having walked alongside many families enduring childhood cancer with Break the Grey, I long to reach that day. I long to reach the day when I won't attend another funeral for anyone under age 18; I long to reach the day when I won't hold a sobbing parent, choking back my own tears and offering only silence and a shoulder because words are simply not enough; I long to reach the day when I won't ever hear the words, "because my brother/sister has cancer" uttered by a child ever again; I long to reach the day when every child has hair, all their major organs and limbs, and no scars, lines, bags, pumps, or tubes.
This summer I am working as a nurse extern on 7 West - the kids' cancer and kidney unit at Kosair Children's Hospital. Shifting roles to work in that capacity (where previously I was a patient, and then a volunteer with Break the Grey) makes me long to reach the day that much more. I now know medically what is happening to these precious children, and of what I am having to do to stop it or to ease their suffering. And so I long even more to reach the day when I will not be asked for pain or nausea meds; when I will not wear special protective equipment to handle the chemicals about to be poured into a child's chest; when I will never again stand feet away from a doctor as she utters the words, "It's cancer" to devastated parents; when I will be out of a job because childhood cancer is no more.
As a follower of Christ, that day will become a reality. And, as of late, I find myself longing for it more and more.
I have found myself in a bit of a rough patch with my own health recently. For reasons still unknown, I've been running fevers randomly every few days for the past month. On one such day, after reporting one such fever to my mom and waiting on Tylenol to kick in, she put her hands on my shoulders and said, "Hang in there, Sweetie. Your new body is on pre-order."
I smiled at the thought, and now - as I drive to work, as I brainstorm Break the Grey events, as I take Tylenol for another fever, as I hear or read of a family who has either lost their child or just been rudely and abruptly introduced to the world of childhood cancer - I long to reach the day even more. Heaven takes root in my heart, and I long to reach the day that John describes in Revelation:
"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be any mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." - Revelation 21:4
I long to reach the day when what is empty will be filled, what is lost will be found, what is broken will be made whole.
I long to reach the day when all my questions are answered; when all the pieces fit; when I can see the other side of the tapestry. I long to reach the day when I will see the beauty of the mosaic (for now all I see are the broken shards of glass) and will comprehend the magnificence of the perfect master plan of my Creator.
On that day we will find that cancer - nor anything else, for that matter - did not have the final word after all. On that day parents will hold their children - some for the first time in decades - and will realize that the time they now have with their child is so much more than the time they were without.
Oh, yes - I long to reach that day. But none of those things - complete healing, redemption, unity, joy - are the main point or the best part of heaven. No: the main point and the best part of heaven is Jesus. It is the perfect reconciliation that I will have with God because of Jesus' finished work on the cross.
For those of you to whom this does not make sense, let me try to explain: for it is of critical importance:
I was (and you were) created for a perfect relationship with the God who created us. Problem is, He is perfect and I am not (nor are you). Because I violate His standards of perfection, there was no way for us to have that perfect relationship. Not only that, but I would have to pay the consequences for such treason: death, torture, and an eternity without the One for Whom I was created.
The only way this could be remedied - the only way I could be reconciled to God - is if someone came along who could appease both parties: be 100% God and 100% man. This mediator would have to pay the ultimate price - a life for a life.
And so Jesus came. Jesus is God's Son - 100% God and 100% man. He was born to a virgin, lived a perfect life, and then died a cruel death on a cross (the ultimate torture instrument in the days of Roman rule).
By dying on the cross, Jesus took the punishment intended for me (and for you). He stood in our place and received the full outpouring of God's wrath. By realizing and embracing my need for Jesus' sacrifice, I am guaranteed hope for the future. I am guaranteed that one day, the very thing for which I was created will become a reality: I will have a perfect and complete relationship with my Creator, unhindered by anything that I have done or have messed up.
On that day, I will be made whole and complete in the presence of my Savior.
And I can't wait.
Paul puts words to this longing and this waiting in Romans 8:
"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts, knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purposes...
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all - how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? ... Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 8:18-39
On that day, it will be nice to have a kidney that works (who knows? Maybe I'll have 2!) and an immune system that functions normally. Oh, yes, there are so many days where I long for my pre-ordered body now!
But even better, on that day, each and every hurt will be worth it; I will see that it was not wasted because I will see my Jesus, and I will live with Him forever and ever. And that is the hope to which I cling so desperately.
If you'd like more information about starting a relationship with Jesus or about heaven or eternity, please contact us. We'd love to talk through this with you.
I'm closing with the lyrics to an anthem for those of us who are desperately waiting:
"All creation waits
Bated breath in pain
For redemption's day
All creation cries
Floods and charcoal skies
Things are not alright
With brokennes and broken fists
We beat upon the breast of fallenness
We hear the call of Kingdom come
As one more train we chase to only miss
But we will never give up on it
We're part of the resistance
We're running in the revolution
We're part of the insistance
That we are more than institution
We're part of the tradition
Of Spirit-powered evolution
We're part of the resistance
We're running in the revolution, revolution
All creation groans
In one voice alone
For them to be shown
All creation cries
Floods and charcoal skies
Things are not alright
We're living in a world
Built on the walls between the haves and never wills
But we're following a King who's ears
Are bent to those forgotten and unfilled
And He will never give up on it
We're standing up
And we're kneeling down
And we're digging in
And we're reaching out
And we're loving more
And we're holding less
And we won't back down
From this holy mess
And we're choosing hope
And we're choosing peace
We were chosen by Grace
To bring flesh and feet
To the Loving More
To the Holding Rest
And we won't back down"
- Aaron Niequist, "The Resistance"
Longing, groaning, waiting, yearning, hoping, reaching for the day when this too shall be made right...
Hoping, Believing, and Never Giving up,
Sarah
