Facing Cancer with CHRIST!

By Tommy Tucker

Facing Cancer with CHRIST! is a journey of my life as I faced those dreaded words: "You have cancer!" This book will carry you down the road of all those negative thoughts that invade the mind and spirit. It will point out the fear factor, yet there is a power that is at our grips that can overcome that fear. It will focus on having faith when there is doubt. It will point that death is apparent, but that the end destination is such a reward that life will only feel temporary. This book will provide humor, reality, and yet all the ingredients of hope and assurance that only God can provide. It is my earnest prayer that it will encourage you in all areas of life that you will face when faced with the C-word. Just remember, Christ had victory over death at the cross, and He provides us all that we need when faced with this horrific illness. And if you have never accepted Christ as your personal savior, within this book, there is a path to salvation that will lead you to the foot of the cross where Christ stands waiting to receive you. Facing Cancer with CHRIST! was written to provide you and others hope when life seems overwhelming. It is designed to build trust when you feel alone. But most of all, it was written to build your faith that God will never forsake you even till the end of time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 20, 2017
• ISBN: 9781640793071

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Facing Cancer

with

CHRIST!

Tommy Tucker

ISBN 978-1-64079-306-4 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64079-307-1 (Digital)

Copyright © 2017 by Tommy Tucker

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

296 Chestnut Street

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Movies that are inspiring to watch while facing cancer with Christ!

First and foremost, I would like to dedicate this book to glorifying and praising my Lord and Savior from which all good things flow. There are others that I want to accredit this book to and those are: My loving and devoted wife Donna, which is a gift from God and my best friend. To my awesome brother Paul, CJ—Paul’s wife and Ann Jordy, Paul’s mother-in-law for providing love offerings that financially helped in publicizing this book. To my niece, Karen for her internet browsing skills on what steps to take in order to combat cancer with changes in my diet and using herbal means to help fight off this thing called cancer. All of my family and friends that have supported me as well as an awesome church family and prayer warriors that lifted me up to the Lord during my time of struggles and hardship. There is nothing like being loved by family but even greater when we feel the love of God! I am blessed and so very thankful for this time of facing cancer with Christ! It has changed my life forever!

My name is Tommy Tucker. I am writing this in the hopes that it might help others when faced with that one word,

cancer

. I would like to go back before I experienced that statement: The tumors were cancer.

Just to give you some background on me before this life-changing experience happened to me, let’s look back on some things that made the person that I am today.

I was born into a family that loved the Lord, and when I was brought into this old world, the first place most likely I went from home was the church, in which I am still a member of. My parents were by no means rich. But they were honest, hardworking people who taught the ethics of what living is all about. So as it was, while I was a child, our family always was in church when the doors were open. Our parents worked in the nursery for over forty-five years and impacted a lot of folks’ lives as they journeyed down the road of life.

So as life went on, my friends in my Sunday School Class were all getting baptized. One Sunday, I was getting prodded to walk the aisle. Well, I did, but it was all for the wrong reasons. But life moved on, I was baptized, and became a member of the church.

As I had mentioned, my parents were such wonderful people that my siblings and I were blessed from the very start of our lives. In these days that we live so many children do not have that benefit that we did. I thank God daily for it.

I grew to a point in my life when I thought I was grown and took a wife. Well, one day after my wife and I had returned back to our home, mother asked me, Are y’all going I church today?

My reply was this: I am churched up!

Here I was, thinking I was a man! I could make my own choices, and as you all know, we all make bad decisions. And this is one that today I look back on as one of my biggest. But you know there were others in the back ground praying for me. You know prayer is so essential in life as we will reflect on as we travel down this ole life that I have lived.

So again, life moved on, and I started to work through Local 84 Iron Workers Union out of Houston, Texas. Well, it was a year of hard work, but exposed to all kinds of people but not many that honored God with their lives. Now just remember that I had walked the aisle some years ago, but it wasn’t real. So when you don’t have God in your life, that is when Satan takes a hold and before you know it, he has his grips on you.

After a year of rainouts and layoffs, I thought I best find something that was more stable. This stage in my life was from September 1971 to September 1972. So this chapter in my life lead me to Texas Department of Corrections Unit where I went to work as a correctional office. Well, I can tell you this, that Satan runs ramped in the walls of these places. And if you don’t have God alive and well in your heart and spirit, Satan will put his hooks in you and change you into someone you might not recognize. Well, I spent the next five years working in the walls of this place. Before, I thought that I was a gentle spirit, but in time, Satan had worked his way with me, and my language had changed to a point that people I had known didn’t recognize the once gentle fellow.

Well, during those five years, my wife and I had a son. And as much as he was a joy, he didn’t have a very good father. You know when you start treating your family like inmates, there is something wrong. In the last year, while I was at my unit, we conceived a daughter. Just prior to her birth, my wife told me that I had a choice: You stay with that job, I am taking our son and I am leaving you.

This set in motion another change in my life. That very next day, I picked up all my clothes and quit working as a correctional officer. Just to reflect on those five years, there was very little church life in my life. But there were others constantly praying for me. You know God is always watching over us; just sometimes, we just can’t see or feel His amazing love He has for us.

This is where I went to work for Ralston Purina in September 1972. I started to work as a parts goffer at $2.85 an hour, and for once in five years, I was happy. I wasn’t making any money per say, but life was better and I was thankful. I worked lots of hours, but life seem to get back on the right track. So life went forward with a new job, and soon, an addition to our family was a daughter. And as before, there was always someone praying for us.

Seems like life started getting on more even ground. I worked hard and worked all the overtime that was allowed. After the first year, all the dedication paid off, and I moved into the boiler room. Man, I was making $4.35 an hour and loving what I was doing. That year alone, an average week was extremely long and demanding. We had started back in church, my wife was teaching Sunday school, and life had improved drastically. Things rocked along, and the harder I worked, the promotions came. I had moved up into a shift lead, and things progressed in our lives.

Then on one of the Lay Wittiness Rivals at our church in August 1984, there was a pastor that asked the congregation to stand in silence and pray for those that were lost. I bowed my head and started my prayer. I started with something like this: Father, I pray that if there is anyone here without you in their lives, that You would enter into their lives.

At almost the instance that I got to that part of the prayer, it was as if someone walked up next to me. With this gentle feeling that someone was standing next to me and whispered into my ear, Tommy, you cannot pray for the lost when you, too, are lost. You see, up until that time, I had been a member of a church but not fully surrendered to Him. As soon as I felt this hand of God, I took off to the front of the church with tears flowing down my face. At that moment in time, I knew that I asked Jesus to come into my life and He did that day.

Now, as some of you might relate to this, I was on fire for God. I was trying my best to go to work for Him. I was visiting every Tuesday night, and this is where you need to remember that works does not get you into heaven.

So life was good, and prayers were answered. This rocked on until about a year later, when I was faced with a devastating time in my life—when I went through a divorce. My mind was torn, my spirit was broken, and my family was separated. I thought to myself, God, how could You allow this to happen to me and my family? I was angry with God! I didn’t understand; I was in a battle in my heart and my mind was like a maze that I seem unable to find my way out. There were times of depression that life was bleak, and at times, ending it seemed like the only way to end the agonizing pain. But even then, there were those in the back ground praying for me. So I stopped going to church and jumped head first into a bottle. I assure you, there are no answers in the bottle of liquor only a horrible hang over and the worst of headaches!

During those days, I had bought a piece of junk travel trailer to live in until the divorce was finalized. Even though I dove into the bottle, it was never when I had my children or when I was at work. But when I did have time to dwell on it, I found myself in a beer joint in Bryan. There were times that I never knew when or how I got home.

One particular occasion while in Bryan, I left and when I awoke, I was in the floor of the A-frame house I had built. My glasses were across the floor from me, and it being in the fall, there were leaves tumbling by as I opened up my eyes. I couldn’t remember leaving Bryan or getting home. I managed to get up off the floor and went outside to see where my truck might be. There it was on the backside of the house sitting directly in front of a pecan tree. The door was standing open, and it appeared that I had driven in, left the truck running, and went into the house where I passed out in the floor. The truck was left running until it ran out of gas, draining the energy from the battery. So it wasn’t about to start.

After I had gone back into the house and passed out on the couch, the truck could just sit there. I felt so bad I really didn’t care if I spent one more day on planet earth. So I passed out until later in the day. Once I felt half-human, I called my father and asked him if he could bring me some gas and jumper cables to start the truck.

You’d have to know my earthly father. He was a man of few words in times like this but always told his children the truth. He came to the house just as I knew he would and pulled up next to my old truck, put his jumper cables on the battery, and then added five gallons of gas into my tank. I started my truck and let it run awhile to charge up the battery. My father never said a word until he had gotten into his truck. As he pulled up, I told him I sure appreciated him coming out with the gas and jumping me off. All he said was, When are you going to stop this foolishness?

I stood there with my truck still running and watched him drive off, but as he did, the truth about what he had said hit home. I started to examine my life and some of the choices I had made and the word foolishness stuck in my mind. I had allowed my situation to rule over me and went into a self-destruct mode. Again, I had folks praying for me and God had never took His watch care off of me!

The next day, I started with a fresh new way of thinking. First, I started with a different attitude—a mind-changing process that would get me back on the right track. And again, prayers that were lifted were being answered.

I returned to church, joined the choir, and began once again getting back to a place where God wanted me to be. And again, prayers were answered.

Just let me give credit where credit is due. My mother, being a devout Christian, never gave up praying for me, as well as a host of loved ones and friends that Mother knew as well as family.

So as we continue our journey down this road together, we are going to focus on certain things, like prayer, faith, attitude, and trust. All these are ingredients to acquire as we are faced with cancer with CHRIST!

So getting back to my journey, I had changed my attitude of living and started moving back to the place where God was standing, waiting, and watching. You know when you process being married for fourteen years and lose that, trust becomes a matter of living. But I was wanting someone so bad to share my life with. So I posted a singles ad in the Thrifty Nickel. That’s right, in 1985, there was a place for personal ads. So I started meeting ladies. But with the trust factor being a problem in my heart, I normally only went out on a single date then drifted away.

Not long after this, my ex-wife had called me that she needed me to take our son and have him come live with me. So a new chapter started in my life. So the next three years, my son and I batched it, so to speak.

Things rolled on pretty good until one day, not sure who needed to be away from the other the most, so I dropped my son off at his grandmother’s. He had several tanks(ponds) behind my aunt’s house to fish, so off he went fishing and I went riding around. I recently had ran into a friend of a friend, and she had mentioned that I should come out and look at her new double-wide. So I remembered the invitation and took a drive out to her place. But when I arrived, she was gone. So I backed up and started back to town, when I passed her on the road. So I turned around and made my way back to her house. Of course, she invited me into see her home and in the midst of everything, there were teenagers everywhere. The girls were getting ready to go out, and they would come into where we were and ask, How’s this look, Mom? So here I was, thinking that all these kiddos were hers. But only one of the girls was hers. Then there were her niece and nephew there as well. We had visited a while, and just about dark, her son came in. He was just about thirteen; well, here he came and sat down at the table where we were and started unloading his rife. I distinctly remember the next thing that he said to me. Or, should I say, asked me, Are you going to marry my mother?

Say what, I replied, "No! I just came out to see your Mom’s new home. I guess he was satisfied for the moment as he took his shells and rifle and moved into his room. Well, I’ll give you a hint: I did marry this pretty lady, but it was not until the next year.

Donna was her name, and she was looking for the same thing that I was looking for. Just someone to go to a movie with, go dancing with, or just hang out with. No strings was our agreement. Well, have you ever just got comfortable to a point that you let your guard down? Well it happened to me first.

Again, there was always someone praying for me. My mother, being one of those people, was always praying for her children. And I know she had God’s ear on this one as well.

So life was good; her son and my son became the best of friends and Donna’s daughter accepted the situation as well. My daughter was still young enough that she had some hard times accepting it, but with time, that faded away.

Those were some times of challenges, if you know what I am saying about putting two families together. But with those constant prayers being lifted, we came together as a family unit.

Donna and I were happy, both had pretty good jobs, and we were moving forward. On April 6, 1998, Donna had to undergo five bypass surgery. I just knew I would have lost her, but again, God was in the midst of it all. Prayers were lifted, and God was in control. The night before they operated, I asked her if she was scared. She said, No, I am ready if God wants to carry me home, but if He will allow me to stay, then I make the time I have count. And she has been doing great ever since.

I was one of those kind of guys that was never sick. Always healthy, never missed work even when I needed to. So in my mind, I never in the foggiest of dreams ever imagined that I would have anything major happen to me.

So we moved forward in life, losing my father in September, ten years ago, Donna’s dad a month later, then a month later, Donna’s mother. Man, that was a tough year. My mother had passed away three years before my father passed. So in a very short time, Donna and I became the elders. We had lost our anchor as our prayer chain warriors. But prayers still came from other directions.

Donna had been a nurse all her career and retired in 2004 at the age of fifty-six. She was in a holding pattern waiting on me. Just FYI, Donna is four years older than me. I had to continue to work until at least I was sixty-two. So that was the plan, and we moved forward.

So on December 31, 2014, I walked away from my job of thirty-five and a half years and woke up on January 1, 2015, retired. Reflecting back on those last years, we had a plan of what we were going to do when I retired. One Sunday years before the Texas Church Builders came and visited our class. After listening to his testimony, I knew I wanted to give back to others once I was retired.

Have you ever seen the meaning of JOY like this:

J = Jesus should always be first and foremost in your life.

O = Others should be your next priority.

Y = Yourself being last.

That is so true! So to obtain that order in life, Donna and I wanted to give back in service, but we wanted it to honor God. So in May 21 and 22, 2016, we joined SBTC Disaster Relief Team. On May 24, we received our first deployment. This was the time all of the flooding happened in Wimberley, Texas. We were loaded and ready to leave in short order when we were redirected to Jacksonville, Texas, to assist the chainsaw crew, removing fallen trees off homes. We were there two weeks. And it was an amazing experience to share with others that loved the Lord, while administering to others’ needs. That year, we went to Martindale, where we went to Wimberley and San Marcus area. Then the last call out was in South Austin, Texas, feeding meals in conjunction with the Red Cross to those in the flood area. That was the last deployment we were called out on in 2015, but it was a true blessing. If you ever feel that you need a purpose, join a group that is about serving others while sharing the love Jesus has for them! It’s an amazing feeling and you get filled up spiritually as you are emptied out physically.

Life moved on, I had the opportunity to team up through our church to help building wheelchair ramps. That was such a joy to be a part of those amazing men that gave their time and talents to help those that needed a helping hand while faced with their health crises. We had built four of those before this life-changing event came to take place. But still today, I look forward to strapping on a tool belt and helping those amazing men be the hands and feet of Jesus!

So life was good, and we continued on. I had the opportunity to work with my brother on his place and my sister doing some things that they needed done. I was truly loving retirement and felt I had arrived to a place that God would be honored.

Well, as we all know, life has a way to take and change your plans. I had a good week working at my brother and sister’s place, and up to that day, I always seem to blow up when I ate a burger or anything greasy. I had stopped, had a burger, then went out to meet a fellow friend and brother move a wheelchair ramp. Afterward, I returned to my brothers and worked until dark. That day, February 12, 2016, was Donna and my twenty-eighth wedding anniversary. But she teaches water aerobics through the church three days a week. So we decided to wait and celebrate it on Saturday, February 13, 2016.

That Saturday, we had a good morning and then made our way to Bryan College Station to go shopping and out for a good meal.

We wanted to try some place we hadn’t been, so we went to Johnny Carino’s. We both ordered a steak as a real treat and ordered it cooked well done. Well, when the steaks came out and we stuck our knives into it, blood ran out. Well, I don’t do blood when I’m eating it! No way! So they took it back, and when it returned, it was cooked and no blood. After we had eaten, we continued shopping. We were in a shoe store, and I had constant gas! Almost every step! It was kinda funny, but I would wait unit I was out of ear and smell shot before I expelled! Donna told me several times, You are so bad! But I just said more room out than in! So we laughed about it and continued on.

We had stopped at my sister’s on the way home and showed Donna a sliding glass door kit that I had installed on one of their tubs. I told my sister when I installed it that previous Wednesday that everything seemed to blow me up. She cooked salmon patties and fries!