I Gave My Daughter the Predisposition for Cancer - And She Got It!

     I gave my daughter the predisposition for cancer - and she got it.     This is not the legacy I wanted to leave.     
     Ashley was diagnosed with cancer at age thirty-seven just before the birth of her second child. My husband Duane and I ran some genetic testing to see where this propensity came from, and I learned I’m the one who passed a mutant gene on to her. So I’m the mutant, but not a ninja.     
     I felt wretched and apologized to Ashley for what she is experiencing -  chemo sickness, hair loss, and all the uncertainty of the future. But she graciously reminded me it wasn’t my fault. This weakness was genetically passed on to me, too.     
     It’s true. We inherit our chromosomes from our ancestors, getting things like our hair and eye color.      
     However, sometimes we receive crummy-zomes. It’s part of the brokenness of this world, a shattering that occurred when our first ancestors turned their backs on Goodness in the Garden of Eden, saying they wanted more.      
     But there’s hope. In the first century, Paul of Tarsus wrote that this whole world - from ecology to biology - yearns to be remastered. Don’t you feel that longing in your soul for things to be made right? The great news is that the Creator has inaugurated the re-creation of everything, and we can join him in that process. Jazz great Nina Simone captured this vision in “There’s a New World Coming,” and I invite you to listen to it.