"It is better to not shrink than to survive."

Getting ready to head to Houston in a few hours. Kristin and I watched a video by Elder David E. Bednar of our church last night. I had watched it before (thank you to my brother Brad for sharing it with me), but ran across it again and was impressed to rewatch it. It has a beautiful message that sunk deep within me last night and struck me as particularly relevant. I'm grateful for the example of Elder Maxwell and "John" in the story and how they bravely dealt with their sicknesses.

http://youtu.be/_cpyPUEQlDY?t=18m44s

I was also struck in this talk about the duality of complete faith in Jesus Christ and submitting ourselves to Heavenly Father's will. We so often think of our faith being able to heal us. "Do you have the faith not to be healed." I need to have the faith that I can be healed, but then I need to humbly submit myself to the all-knowing will of a loving God. He knows what's best for me. He knows what's best for my family. His best is not just for this life, but for the eternities to come.

As I prepare to begin the Biochemotherapy tomorrow, I feel a deep yearning within me to tackle this challenge with courage and dignity. My middle son did a lesson last night about courage. He taught us about what courage is and shared some examples of how he can show courage. He also talked about Joseph in Egypt who was sold into slavery by his brothers and how he faced each challenge in his life with courage and determination to do his best. As my son continued his lesson, he talked about for himself that telling the truth, regardless of the consequences, was an important way that he could show courage. I was touched by his sweetness and sincerity as he is trying to be better. It was a beautiful thing to witness as a father. If he can learn that lesson of courage it will serve him well in his life. He is on a good path. So grateful to be his dad. He celebrates his 9th birthday in two days, but unfortunately Kristin and I will be in Texas. We celebrated it a few days ago with some of Kristin's family and hopefully we'll get to FaceTime him on Thursday. It was fun to have a some friends of ours (the Eimar's) over to do family home evening (FHE) with us. Kristin visit teaches (monthly assignment to talk to her and share friendship and the gospel message) Sister Eimar. She brought her husband with her (who is not a member of our church) and it was so nice to have them in our home and get to know them better and discuss life and faith and challenges. Very sweet people.

I have to go finish getting ready. We leave in a few hours.

My prayer and thoughts at this time are "That (I) might Not... Shrink" in facing this challenge.

Watched a really cool video about T-cell therapy for Melanoma. Very cutting edge... not good to ever get Melanoma, but "better to get it now than 2 years ago." http://youtu.be/yGzJzzGj5Jw