What is radiation? (11/14/24)

 Lucia asked me this yesterday and told her I would have to get back to her with a reasonable answer. At a very basic level, I guess it involves delivering an energy source to destroy the abnormal cancer cells in the body while attempting to spare the normal healthy cells. Perhaps the best metaphor we have for this in the physical world is the use of fire to refine and purify gold through the removal of impurities. Yesterday marked the completion of Joyce’s 5th and final day of radiation treatment. In a tradition that is thought to have originated at MD Anderson in 1996 when a Navy rear admiral brought in a brass bell to ring at the completion of his treatment, we rang the bell in the Charlton building to the cheering and applause of a packed waiting room. As I have observed the extraordinary degree of physical suffering that Joyce has experienced in the past 24 hours, I have a new appreciation for the bravery and strength that it must have taken to strap on that Hannibal Lecter mask one last time to melt the cancer in her ischium and spine, even as her head was surrounded with an ice pack to mitigate the effects of the Gamma Knife procedure.

So far, God’s promises in Isaiah 43:2 have proven to be true: “When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.” Although I have only experienced emotional suffering as we walk through the fire together, it is unmistakable how effective this experience has been in melting away a few of the impurities in my own character. There’s no way for me to do justice to this observation in one post, but one thing that happens when you have to accept the finitude of your own existence is that your focus turns away from yourself and towards those around you. You realize that it was never about your happiness or circumstances you really can’t control anyway, but rather how you respond to those circumstances. When you aren’t blinded by all the meaningless distractions the world has to offer you start to focus on the things that really matter. This suffering is very real, and it is evil. But the avalanche of love and support that this tragedy has provoked from so many people in even the most remote corners of our relational past has been overwhelming to the point that it brings me to tears on a regular basis. Relationships are real and eternal. Before it’s all said and done I look forward to sitting down face to face with every one of you to express my gratitude for the encouragement you have brought us during our time inside the furnace even if it takes the rest of my life to accomplish it.

As usual, Tim Keller says it best: “Things put into the furnace properly can be shaped, refined, purified, and even beautified. This is a remarkable view of suffering, that if faced and endured with faith, it can in the end only make us better, stronger, and more filled with greatness and joy. Suffering, then, actually can use evil against itself. It can thwart the destructive purposes of evil and bring light and life out of darkness and death.”