Dick Tepp was diagnosed with cancer in August and told he had between two and six months to live.
Tepp, who has attended Green Bay Community Church for 12 years, maintains an amazing attitude considering his health.
“Right now I’m going through this cancer thing,” Tepp said during a recent interview. “I have to make a decision. Am I going to have faith? Am I going to place my trust in Jesus? Am I going to accept this as a blessing, as an opportunity to be transformed? If you do that, you’re going to be drawn closer to God and can help others."
Tepp was told his cancer, which showed up in several organs, was severe, in the fourth stage, and incurable. But he has chosen to look at his situation in a positive light.
“If it’s not a gift or blessing, it’s a handicap, it’s a condemnation,” Tepp said. “How are you going to think? Why is this happening to me? What did I do to deserve this? Blah, blah. Where’s that going to take you? If you look at it the other way, if you have faith and are connected to God, you will look at it differently. What can I learn from this? What can I do to help others? There’s a hundred good questions you can ask. The blessings are unbelievable."
Tepp, 78, began chemotherapy treatments but was left exhausted and feeling so terrible he could barely leave his house. He decided to stop those treatments and is taking a naturopathic approach to battling the disease. It has left him feeling much better, and his energy level has returned to normal.
Through it all, Tepp has remained grateful and confident he is in God’s hands.
"Here’s the thing, everybody is gripped with fear when they hear the word cancer,” Tepp said. "I never felt that fear. Love is the absence of fear. One thing I learned at GBCC is if you have a relationship with God, He has an infinite amount of love. If you feel that love, there is no fear.
"I am at serenity with God’s plan for my life, that’s No. 1. I believe everything happens for a reason. If this is happening to me there has to be a reason. You don’t know how many blessings I have already, how many people have asked questions. I hope I have helped be a good witness."
