Boy, Was I Wrong

    Long before my husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer, I knew that the odds of getting it were high for men over 60. I thought it affected about 1 in 4 men. Boy, was I wrong. The actual percentages for men are: 

Age 60-64 years: 28%

        65-69 years: 54%

        70-74 years: 81%

        75-79 years: 91%

        80-84 years: 95%

 

Race and family history play a part in the percentages, but those are still scary statistics. Reed's cancer eventually became aggressive and required medical intervention. Fortunately, most prostate cancers are slow growing and may require little to no treatment. But, with numbers like those above, it is no wonder urologists tell men they will likely die with prostate cancer, not of it. The fact that most people now live longer is a mixed blessing--though we have more years to watch our families grow, the odds of developing diseases like Alzheimer's and cancer also grow. 

   There are dozens of online sources promising some commonplace food or practice can prevent, cause or cure disease. And there are thousands selling supplements they claim will prevent or cure cancer or some other serious illness. The faces of the proponents come and go (ironically, sometimes from cancer) but another voice with another product always steps in to take their place. The bottom line for Christians is, health guarantees are not for this life, they are for the next one. Long or short, life on earth is inevitably lethal. Even for those blessed to be taken up in the rapture, whether they are healthy or hanging by a thread, those earthly bodies are not the ones they have in heaven. 

    Enoch and Elijah did not die but they did not get to remain on earth either. And that should not be our goal. God expects us to be stewards of our bodies, not keepers. The world does not understand this, and we Christians sometimes forget, that we are not to spend our years on earth in pursuit of more years on earth. We are here to tell others about heaven, and how to get there. Male or female, young or old, the number of people who die is 100%, and being spiritually prepared for that reality is a statistic none of us can afford to get wrong.