Toby Sumpter

16 Days

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Humbled I have heard people say that they were humbled when they were told that other people were praying for them. I always thought that was a strange reaction. Grateful or thankful would make sense. But why would you feel humbled to hear that someone was praying for you? Well, I think I have learned my lesson here. Over the past two and a half months I have been humbled in wonderful ways. Well, wonderful is a strange way to describe it. It started with a prostate cancer diagnosis in August. There were lots of doctors’ appointments that, finally, have culminated in surgery in Orlando this last week. But all along the way I have consistently heard from friends and from people I don’t think I even know, all tell me that they are praying for me. And the whole experience has been wonderfully humbling. So let me just take a moment to express my gratitude for a whole host of blessings that I am not worthy of. First, I was diagnosed because of an annual blood test that I probably would have skipped except that I have a fantastic family doctor, Rod Story, who appears to take my health more seriously than I am prone to do. I am tremendously grateful for his attention to this, as well as to the medical technology that allows us to catch something like this at an early stage when it can be effectively addressed. From the first diagnosis to all the handholding through booking all the necessary procedures, I’ve had someone who eliminated bureaucracy and just gave me very personal and effective care. Since then, I have been tremendously blessed by the elders of Christ Church and the board of NSA that have both given me a little bit of a break to take the time to address this and have given support throughout. Many thanks to the faculty, staff, and students of NSA who have been enthusiastically prayerful on my behalf. I’m especially grateful to NSA’s President’s Council who have shouldered a lot of work on my behalf during an exceptionally busy period. How great is it to be able to walk out of your office for two weeks and feel confident that everything will be fine? And then I’m also very thankful for Dr. Patel and his staff at Advent Health in Orlando where I had my surgery. How many generations of men went before me who had no possible solution to this cancer? And how blessed am I to have such incredible medical knowledge at my disposal to remove the cancer and put me all back together? It is astonishing how spoiled we all are. And so I am truly grateful and humbled, as I know that I am in no way worthy of such blessing. Lastly, I am tremendously grateful to my wife and kids who have been such staunch allies throughout all of this. Bekah has, more than once, stood with me as we emptied all our emotions onto the table and then sorted through them all according to God’s promises and put everything where it belongs. You can’t carry this sort of trial like a man, without having your heart and mind all sorted out. I’m very blessed to have such a helpmeet. Cancer has been an astonishing little blessing to me. I’m almost to the point of wanting to recommend it to others. Are you feeling a little sorry for yourself? Are you getting a little resentful and petty? Are you turning into a bit of an insufferable ingrate? Try cancer! Okay, I’m not quite there. To be clear, I still recommend against it. But we serve a God who works for the good to those that love him and are called according to his purpose. And I have tasted this goodness plentifully in ways that I don’t deserve. And so I am happily humbled.