Sometimes Things Just Don't Make Sense

Sometimes life somehow just doesn’t add up. I mean, you see people doing all the right things for all the right reasons, and instead of rising to the top they hit bottom. Sometimes they hit bottom real hard.

I recently met a man that I admired very much for his character and his fortitude. He, like me, is a practicing dentist who decided to sell his practice and go into the mission field for the cause of Christ. He, like me, decided after long prayerful thought, to move to Cambodia and help the poor and spread the Good News. Gail and I met this fine couple in Phnom Penh this last December for dinner and became very excited that they would be joining us in Cambodia with what seemed like so much in common. His name is Mark Trotter and his wife’s name is Lyla. These are very special people!

Unlike Gail and I, the Trotters were planning to bring their six children with them to Cambodia! WOW. That is real courage. Mark had lost his first wife to cancer eight years ago. Years later he met Lyla and they fell in love. They also have four grown children! Ten children and heading to Cambodia! I told you they were special.

Mark recently began to experience some headaches and visual fuzziness. Lyla felt that he was just under a lot of stress with all of the changes and that he would be fine with rest. His Doctor, however, confirmed their worst nightmare: glioblastoma multiforme, a highly aggressive brain tumor with a poor prognosis. The fateful e-mail from Lyla took my breath away. Why God? Why here? Why now? I am still in a daze.
I was able to be with the family yesterday when Mark had a large amount of the tumor removed. They will now try to blast the tumor with heavy doses of chemo and radiation. We are praying that God will intervene and heal Mark and that he and his family can join us in Cambodia some day. His surgery went well with no paralysis but the road ahead is a long one.

Join Gail and I in prayer for this wonderful family. The six kids at home have already lost one mother to cancer. Our God is an awesome God who is able. Blessed be the name of the Lord!