Stem Cells and The Holy Spirit

I operate under the paradigm that truth is always true, and all truth can teach us something about, or from, our Creator. An easy-to-understand example is when you add something to something else; you end up with something that has been changed from its origin. We are changed when we add something to our lives or take something out of our lives. The trick is finding those things that help us grow in a positive and godly direction. The next step in my cancer treatment is to go through stem cell therapy. They will kill my immune system and then reintroduce my stem cells (after they have been purified) back into my body. This process will leave me vulnerable to diseases and infections until I have grown a new immune system. This process will take twenty-eight days in a hospital facility and seventy-two days in isolation at home. I will not be restored for one full year, but I should be able to function with caution after the first one hundred days. In addition to quarantine, I will be put on maintenance medication to help me continue fighting cancer in my body. As I think about and ponder on the things that are ahead for Julie and me, I could not help but think of how the Holy Spirit functions in the life of a believer. As my immune system, the Holy Spirit helps me fight the disease and cancer of sin. When I became a Christian, all my sin was washed away, but that doesn’t mean the attack of sin was eliminated. I need the power of the Holy Spirit to fight the sin that wants to reclaim me, and I need the maintenance that comes from prayer and The Word to help me continue my journey of sanctification. This isn’t going to be easy, but true repentance is seldom easy. I am going through this procedure because it gives me hope. We go through the process of repentance because it gives us hope and leads us to the One who gives us life. In Him J. Tom Washburn