Sin Cancer - Part III - The Return of the Canister!

Well this is the last part of the Sin Cancer trilogy. It ranks right up there with Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and Indiana Jones! If you have no idea what I am talking about I have been visiting the dermatologist on a fairly regular basis for the last few years. I have written about two previous visits - Sin Cancer and Sin Cancer Part Deux. This is the third and final entry unless I pull a George Lucas and start three more. Enough with all of that, let me get on to my story.

This week I had to make a return trip to the dermatologist for a follow-up visit. If you took a look at my previous post you will see where I had to have a cancerous growth removed from my back. This visit went much the same as the previous ones. The nurse called me back to the exam room and asked me to remove my shirt. A few minutes later the doctor came in to take a look. He went right to the spot he removed and said it looked great. He then proceeded to look me over from head to toe. A few minutes later he asked me to lay down on my back. Just like the time before he grabbed the canister of liquid nitrogen however, unlike last time, this time he needed to use it.

He asked me to turn my head to the side and said this is going to be very cold. Can you say understatement! Holy Cow was it cold, it was so cold it burned. I guess that is what it is supposed to do! He repeated this four times before returning his canister of torture, I mean nitrogen, to the shelf. He then told me I could sit up and he began processing his paperwork as if what he did was no big deal. To him it may have been a run of the mill procedure but for me I was very nervous. I spoke up "Doc, what did you just do to my face?" His response "Oh, I just froze some precancerous lesions. Those spots will crust over and fall off in about a week. Nothing to worry about." Easy for him to say! Any time the word cancer is mentioned I get nervous. But as with most things I will probably forget all about it in a week or so.

As I was driving back to work I thought about this. This is the third time I have had to see the doc about this issue. Each time was a little different and each time the Lord taught me a simple lesson. This time was no different. As I was driving I started thinking about how many marriages could be saved, how many unwed pregnancies could be prevented or how many kids could we keep off of drugs if we treated their precancerous lesions, spiritually speaking. What could we do if we stepped into each others lives and were willing to look hard and take aggressive measures to help correct the problems early before too much damage is done.

James 5: 19, 20 - 19 My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

James reminds us of the importance of helping a fellow Believer if he wanders from the truth. Don't ignore the early signs of sin cancer. Be aggressive, use a spiritual canister of nitrogen. You just may save someone's life.