One beautiful aspect of family and of love is the way we draw strength from each other...

Thousands fill the great arena, clapping, smiling, dancing, cheering for the entertainer. He works the crowd into a frenzy of pleasure and joy, his fans delighting in every well-loved song....

But in Section 118, Row 17, I sit in a different world.

As the man on the stage sings and struts, as the crowd roars its approval, the beautiful girl in seat 5 can only sit in stillness, pain and fear.

Shivering beneath a pile of coats, she is a woman, she is a child, she is a mother.

And it seems clear that when the test results are in, perhaps later this week, the doctors will inform her that she has cancer.

From two seats and a generation away, I watch her. My heart breaks, for the path ahead of her will be so hard, and I am so completely, utterly powerless...even if she wanted my hugs, I cannot hug away the disease or kiss away the pain.

The girl's mother, in the seat between us, weeps. My best friend and the strongest person I know, she turns to me, turns to me to hide her tears, turns to me looking for strength. I am her rock, that's what she had said to me.

I look into her moist eyes, as she grips my arm and mouths the words, "this is so hard," and I realize that she has already given me my job description, and it is a simple one.

I am to be her rock.

I will show her strength, when she is weary, so she can help her daughter be strong.

I will show her, always, the face of faith and of hope, the quiet assurance that God is with us.

And I will constantly fill her tank of love, so she can love her daughter through this ordeal.

The concert is almost over, now. No longer shivering under a pile of coats, the girl has found a burst of energy, and is on her feet dancing, smiling. Her mother rises from her seat, and joins in the dance. It is a celebration of family, of unity.

For a few minutes, I watch and smile, until their strength and joy draws me to my feet and we all dance together, the dance of faith, hope, and love...the dance of life.