FERTILIZER HAPPENS: A PASTOR'S FAITH, CALLING, AND JOURNEY WITH CANCER

The week before Easter 2013. Rev. Jean Niven Lenk was busy preparing Holy Week observances at the church she served. But she could not ignore the nagging backache that had dogged her for months. In between her pastoral duties that week, she underwent a variety of tests. And then, on Good Friday – the most somber day on the Christian calendar – she received the devastating diagnosis that changed everything: Stage IV cancer. Overwhelmed by the sudden change in her life from pastor to patient, she found an outlet for her raw and often conflicting emotions by writing a blog about her daily experience of fighting cancer. The result is a sometimes irreverent but always authentic account of her struggle which reveals how the “stuff” she has experienced has become fertilizer for a life brimming with meaning, purpose, hope, and love.