pat loughery

He’s a guy whose name I’ve run into in the blogosphere for a while now, and who I’ve prayed for after his cancer diagnosis.

If you’re not following Mark’s story, you should start here, with this part of Mark’s livejournal entry from earlier this week when he found that his cancer had not, as hoped, been beaten away.

I guess what I really want to say is just this: be hopeful. Don’t stop fighting. On some level this thing is bigger than all of us. It’s not about having a wife die of cancer at 26, and then 2 years later getting the same terminal illness. It’s not about me and how I fight this disease or how our little family walks through it. The bigger picture is the battle against sickness and death that we all face because we live in a broken world. But it’s even more about the Kingdom that has broken in and offers us a chance at relief from that disease. It offers health and victory where before there was none. There is hope in the midst of hopelessness. Death is not where we lose; the onset of hopelessness is the great defeater. So allow hope to rise up within you. And when it seems that hopefulness is the least appropriate response in this situation, let it rise up even more. Whisper your hope when you lie down at night; scream your hope when you wake in the morning. Live your hope as if it is the one and only thing that sustains you in this ravaged world. You will not be disappointed.

As someone who’s fought cancer in my family and lost more often than won, I am mightily impressed at this man’s character in a moment that could be filled with despair. I’ve never before met Mark Palmer, but I will bump him up my prayer list, and ask you to pray for him as well. You can read more at his livejournal and donate toward Mark’s medical expenses from this website. Mark, my friend, you are loved.