Meet my new and gracious friend, urologist Dr. Peter Tran! He recently diagnosed me with aggressive prostate cancer. If you know me, you know my response: "Hey, this ain't so bad -- I should be burning in hell!"  :-) Whatever the outcome, my desire is to embrace every divine appointment, do everything I can to bring glory, honor and praise to the matchless name of Christ through the unexpected platform of cancer and be a blessing to Becky, John and Michael, Crossroads Christian Fellowship, Kauai Bible College and each of you! Becky and I so appreciate your love, friendship and prayers as we trust the Lord on this new and spiritually invigorating journey of faith!  :-)Mahalo Nui Loa!!  

P.S. -- I have attached a more detailed letter to the members of CCF below should you wish to read it.  

Aloha, my brothers and sisters in Christ!

We had a phenomenal weekend at our annual North Shore Ohana Camp — so many wonderful experiences, conversations, fun, adventure and ministry! And, from what I hear, everyone else enjoyed a great weekend of services and teaching at CCF with Pastor Orlando Vigil. We’re so thankful to be a part of such a wonderful, loving, Spirit-filled, servant-hearted and fruitful church family! Priceless!!

As most of you know, two months ago I went in for my annual physical and, after my blood tests came back, my PSA (Prostate-Specific Antigen) number came in at 9.9 (it’s supposed to be anywhere between .5-1.5). Hoping it might be an infection, my doctor prescribed two weeks of Cipro (antibiotics) and then retested me. My new number came in even higher at 11.3.  

So on Friday, April 28, I had a prostate ultrasound biopsy (I describe it in my most recent sermon dated March 30, which is online should you wish to view it). On Tuesday, May 2, my biopsy results showed that my prostate is 95% saturated with cancer, which is obviously not good news. Worse yet, my Gleason score, which measures the aggressiveness of the cancer, came in at a 9 on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest). So on Wednesday May 10, I went in for a full body CAT and bone scan to see if the cancer has spread. If the cancer had already breached my prostate (which was highly probable), like dandelion seeds in the wind, the cancer cells would have matastisized throughout my body and disqualified me from any traditional surgical or medical life-saving treatments.  

On Thursday, May 11, I met with my urologist, Dr. Peter Tran, to go over the CAT/bone scan results. He was happy (he used the word "shocked") to report that both my CAT scan and bone scan came back completely clean and clear of cancer! Considering the 95% cancer saturation level and my Gleason score of 9, this is nothing short of a miracle!  

In light of this wonderful news, Dr. Tran is scheduling me for a prostatectomy on Oahu followed by a brief course of radiation to ensure that there's no remaining cancer. There are a lot of details involved in all of this along with a recovery time of somewhere between 2-4 weeks, but overall things are looking up! God’s evidently not done with me quite yet!  :-)

In the meantime, I want you to know that I currently feel fine and am, in the end, going to be fine — whatever the outcome. My relationship with the Lord, my confidence in the Word of God and His promises, my trust in His loving kindness, my understanding of doctrine/eschatology and my hope in the resurrection from the dead all serve to put my heart at rest and my mind at peace. My desire throughout all of this has been to embrace every divine appointment and do everything I can to bring glory, honor and praise to the matchless name of Christ through this unexpected platform of cancer and to be a blessing to Becky, my sons, the church, Kauai Bible College and to each of you!

Becky and I are so thankful for your kindness, prayers, friendship and support over the last few weeks! Words are inadequate to describe the gratitude and love we feel toward each of you and our joy in carrying out the Great Commission alongside you as we, together, serve to advance the Kingdom of God here on Kauai and beyond!  

In closing, I wanted to share some thoughts from the Apostle Paul recorded for us in Philippians 1:19-26 that have deeper personal meaning to me than ever before: "For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith, that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again."

I love being your pastor,

Bob