Why Can't I Have Cancer, Too?

Newsletter article for November 1999

© 1999 Rev. Paul A. Wolff

I read an interview this October in Bicycling Magazine featuring the winner of the Tour de France bicycle race, Lance Armstrong. You probably have heard of him. He is the Texan who two years ago was fighting for his life with testicular cancer which had spread to his lungs and to his brain. At the time the doctors thought they were being optimistic when they told him he had a twenty percent chance of surviving. Well, he not only survived the cancer, but he came back to win the toughest bicycle racing series in the world, and perhaps the most difficult athletic achievement in sports. Not only did he win the race, but he dominated the 2,400 mile race which was also the fastest Tour de France in history. Lance is an inspiration to all who are fighting cancer, and many others.

Lance was asked by the interviewer a question about his feelings about his cancer, and how it affected his life. He gave the astonishing reply that he owes his life to cancer, and that if he had a choice he would go through it all again. Now, perhaps like me, you are thinking, "He has got to be crazy." But, you know what? Lance Armstrong is not crazy. He simply learned how to put things in the proper perspective in his life.

This summer during the Tour de France I heard another interview with Lance Armstrong where he explained that very soon after he was diagnosed with cancer he accepted the reality of the cancer. He saw that there was a very good chance that he would not live very much longer, and if he did survive, he would lose everything that he had to pay his medical bills. He also accepted the fact that he would very likely never be able to return to the sport of cycling which he loved and had been very successful in competition. He knew that whether he lived or died he would lose everything, and he accepted it. In accepting that he would lose everything he had, everything he had worked for, and everything he was, he gained something much more valuable.

You know Lance Armstrong is someone special when you are reading an interview and you find yourself envying someone who was on the brink of death from cancer, which is still a vicious killer. As I was reading I thought to myself, "Why can’t I have cancer, too?"

Now I am not saying that I am dissatisfied with my life. I am quite happy with my life, and I thank God for perfect health. But I find that I usually take life for granted. In fact, I have a better record in Bicycling races than Lance Armstrong. I won the only bicycle race I was ever involved in. It was only a one mile sprint around Elizabeth Park in Trenton and I beat my best friend, and a guy we met who challenged us to a race. It’s a far cry from the Tour de France, and although I enjoyed the victory, I don’t believe that I would wish to go to the brink of death just to win the greatest Bicycle race in the world.

It wasn’t cancer which made Lance Armstrong into a great bicycling racer (although the 20 lbs. he lost during chemotherapy probably helped him in the mountain climbing stages), but dealing with cancer helped Lance appreciate the victory more. When the full extent of his cancer was known he could hardly have expected to be alive this year, much less the winner of the Tour de France, and a hero to bicyclists and cancer victims worldwide. When Lance accepted that because of cancer he would lose everything he had, everything he has now is a gift from God. If God had let the cancer have its way Lance wouldn’t be married, he wouldn’t be a new father, and he wouldn’t be alive, much less a worldwide hero as the winner of the Tour de France. All that he has accomplished since his cancer is a gift from God.

St. Paul had a similar attitude when he wrote to the Church in Philippi. In Philippians 3:7-9 St. Paul writes, "But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith."

St. Paul’s situation was a little different from Lance Armstrong’s, although his attitude is similar. Paul had been persecuting Christians because he believed that they were against God. When Jesus met him on the road to Damascus and told him otherwise, Paul immediately began to follow Jesus and soon became one of the greatest apostles. Before he became a Christian, Paul was headed down a path which was headed toward destruction because he was opposing Christ. So it is no wonder that after he found salvation in Christ he considered all his previous accomplishments to be not only worthless, but harmful.

In his life before knowing Christ, St. Paul was on the fast track to success. He had accomplished great things in his life, and he was making a name for himself. But when Paul met Jesus on the way to Damascus he quickly gave up all his former accomplishments, and all the glory that he was gaining for himself, and he began to serve Christ. The gifts that Christ gives his followers are so much greater than what the world has to offer that St. Paul calls all his former accomplishments "rubbish."

St. Paul shares Lance Armstrong’s sentiments when he writes in Phil. 3:10-11, "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead." St. Paul is eager to share in suffering as a follower of Christ because he knows that the riches that Christ gives are worth any kind of suffering. This is the same sentiment of the apostles in Acts 5:41 where they left the court "rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name [of Jesus]."

No matter how good you are at whatever you do, you cannot overcome death. No one can. Only Jesus Christ can overcome death, and through faith in Jesus we share in both His death and resurrection. This is a gift from Jesus. It is very similar to the gift that Lance Armstrong received. Lance thought he was going to die, but not only did he live, but his strength was returned and he went on to win the greatest bicycle race in the world, and all the glory and honor that goes with that accomplishment. By all rights Lance should be dead by now, instead he is a worldwide hero. But then, by all rights we should be dead by now because of our sins, but Jesus Christ has rescued us from sin and death and has promised us salvation, glory, and honor. It is a precious gift.

I believe that it is the realization of this gift which makes Lance Armstrong say, "I owe my life to cancer." If he had won the Tour de France before he got cancer he would have taken pride in himself and would have put his priorities in the wrong place. Now he can appreciate the victory and all that life has to offer for what it is, a wonderful gift from God. My dear friends in Christ let us learn a lesson from Lance Armstrong. Let’s remember that all that we have is a gift from God: our possessions, career, family, even life itself are all gifts from God. If we accomplish anything it is by God’s grace. May this cause all of us to give thanks to God every day for His loving kindness, especially for the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ. For through His death we died, and through His resurrection we live both now and forever. Praise God! Amen.