Starting to Share the News

Got my email out to my brothers and sisters.  I did that while Dennis was down to his mother’s.  I have decided to write a letter to my parents, but wait a bit until I send it, as I want to think through what to say and have a date to tell them for when the surgery will take place.  Dad is forgetful AND sometimes he tends to latch onto something he is told and miss the total picture, causing us a challenge.  He is the one who passes info on to Mom, who does not always hear well.  It just seems to make more sense to have them get the news in this manner.  Telling "bad" news to family members is difficult.  It does not matter if it is parents or siblings.

I also stopped by to talk to the pastor, not that he does not know what the news is.  I wanted to tell him myself.  We talked about how this would be shared with the church and when. I expect that tomorrow will be a rather tough day emotionally for me; but I believe it is important for my church family to know what is going on.  I realize that this is a serious challenge.  Pastor and I talked about a lot of things – Scripture, music, the desire I have to be an example of a true believer in difficult circumstances for my unsaved in-laws to see, my unsaved colleagues to see, and even for my church family to see.  We also talked about the decisions I was having to settle on, most particularly the treatment of this disease. 

So, we will see how things go at church tomorrow morning.