My great and longest standing buddy, Dan Ellis, has been battling thymic cancer for several years now. It was discovered, alas, at what they call, Stage 4.
He posted an update on his current status yesterday. On the one hand it sounds pretty awful: constant pain, lots of quite invasive and draining treatments.
On the other it’s quite positive: he has a loving family and devoted wife, and a well remunerated and supportive/understanding job; a very fine oncologist; and his treatments thus far have been very effective ; i.e. he’s still alive.
Not that long ago a stage four diagnosis meant imminent death.
When I first learned of his illness, I tried to go and see him weekly. Sadly since then my own life issues have intervened and made that much harder to do. And these days I hardly ever see him.
I posted a comment to his latest update, and a screenshot of his wife Amy’s response is stop this post.
I was tempted to say Dan is ‘in our prayers daily‘. But I opted instead to say ‘in our thoughts daily.’ And that’s for me thinking about what prayer might actually be.
One definition of prayer is that we are asking for intercession from a supernatural source – most popularly in our present culture the ‘all powerful’ being called God – to alter the course of reality in our favour.
That’s quite obviously poppycock. And a fools’ recourse. At least in my opinion.
But another definition of prayer might be simply the speaking out of a thing ‘devoutly’ or keenly wished for.