Jeremy L. Berg

Michael Spencer (Internet Monk) is a well-known Christian blogger who has been a special part of my journey the past couple years as I’ve enjoyed his daily writings and especially his western Kentucky accent and candor on his weekly Internet Monk Radio Podcast.  I’ve never met Michael but I feel like he is a good friend and brother in Christ.  He has been an encouragement to me in ministry, and a fellow sojourner in this strange journey of faith through what he calls “the post-evangelical wilderness.”  I share his passion to find a more robustly “Jesus-shaped spirituality.”

Michael was diagnosed with cancer in December and I have missed his voice and writings for the past 3 months.  His large community of supportive readers have been lifting him and his family up in prayer.  Unfortunately, today we received a very painful update from Denise Spencer, wife of Michael Spencer (“Internet Monk”).  My heart his heavy as I am losing a dear friend in Christ:

It is with a heavy heart that I bring my latest update on Michael. We have learned that his cancer is too advanced and too aggressive to expect any sort of remission. Our oncologist estimates that with continued treatment Michael most likely has somewhere between six months and a year to live. This is not really a surprise to us, though it is certainly horrible news. From the very beginning, both of us have suspected that this would prove to be an extremely bad situation. I don’t know why; perhaps God was preparing us for the worst all along by giving us that intuition.

The combination of the cancer and the chemotherapy is keeping Michael in a very weakened state. He is in bed all day, getting up once or twice only to eat a “meal.” His meals consist mostly of Ensure, with occasional mugs of soup, dishes of ice cream and milkshakes. He’s still taking fluids well, currently preferring Sprite and ginger ale. His tastes do change slightly from time to time, and I try to be ready to jump in whatever direction they seem to be moving. He is in no pain at all, for which I am unspeakably grateful.

Michael went through a period of depression, as I’m sure you would expect. He seems to have come through that now, for the most part. He knows he is dying, and he says he is at peace. Though he will still say with unashamed honesty, “I don’t want it to all be over at age 53!” he has the confidence of knowing that he has run the race God set out for him. He believes he has done the work our Lord intended for him to do, and if the last task God has for him in this life is dying, then he will do that to the best of his ability.

Through all of this, in every phase of illness, diagnosis and treatment, Michael’s faith has not wavered. I know most readers love Michael for, among other things, the transparency of his writings. If I may be allowed such honesty for just a moment, I will confess that I have been amazed at how strong Michael has been spiritually and emotionally from the very beginning of this ghastly journey. Day by day I continue to see the Holy Spirit at work in him, molding him, softening him, giving him a more childlike faith than I believe he has ever known. When the moment comes, I am assured Michael will be ready. I am the one who doesn’t want to let go.

Words can never express our gratitude for every thought, every gift, every note, every prayer you have blessed us with. Please pray for continued peace and strength for Michael, for me, and for Noel and Clay. This is the most difficult thing we have ever been through, and only with God’s help can we make it.

[Read original post and comments HERE]

Please join me in lifting up my brother Michael in prayer along with his dear family.  It is a sign of the times and the strange new technological world we live in that I am sitting in my office in tears over a dying friend whom I’ve never met.  Our words, whether shared in print, by blog, over the radio waves or via an old fashioned letter, are powerful in touching others’ lives.  I miss Michael already. May He rest in the grace and hope of our Lord Jesus as he finishes the race and wins the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.