Welcome back to the Ask Pastor John podcast and before we begin, if you haven't already,

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slash Ask Pastor John.

Today's email comes into us from a young podcast listener named Austin who writes this,

Dear Pastor John, I'm 17 and I have terminal cancer.

The doctor say my cancer will come back and my body cannot handle any more chemo or

bone marrow transplants.

God has used the past five years of fighting it to bring me closer to him and to use my

situation to bring a few people closer to himself as well.

But I'm getting weary and I'm ready to go home.

I don't like to admit it but I pray that God would take me home but he keeps sustaining

me as the answer is clearly no or not yet.

How do I keep my joy even when life is hard and painful?

I feel like when I approach this question, it's entering into holy ground.

What I mean by that is ground just outside heaven.

This is like a step away from heaven.

I'm standing here on the edge and heaven has made this ground holy, it's like giving

advice just outside the door of God's temple and he can hear what I'm saying.

Of course, he can hear what I'm saying all the time but there's something sacred about

talking to someone who is likely about to stand before Jesus in a very short time.

So I want Austin to know that my faith is strengthened and my love for God is intensified

in hearing him ask the way he asks, mainly because you have not expressed anger and

...