So, only a couple weeks since the last post, and Ben's cancer has nearly taken over. When I saw him the other night I saw his life in days, not months. His small, pale frame crumpled on the couch and his bald head lying on a pillow, mouth hung open and eyes closed; he looks nothing like the Ben I used to know. Not even a year ago, I had to remind myself that Ben was a cancer patient. Not only did he look nothing like one, he acted nothing like one. He didn't talk about it much or act like a victim. Looking at him now, I see an outside shell that is changing drastically. But as he opens his mouth to pray, I hear the old Ben. Even though his words were barely audible, they reflected the life bursting underneath the outside shell. That life will never end. I just wish the suffering would.
Very little of my life seems important these days. My work, money, the olympics, politics, etc. are fading fast on my list of priorities. When someone I care about faces death every day and his loved ones can do nothing but watch and pray, I am reminded of the meaningless of everything under the sun. Mom always told me that the only things that matter in life are God's Word and people. They are the only things that last forever and they are what set priorities and govern the way we live. I take comfort in the fact that they are eternal in a time when it seems that nothing lasts.


Romans 14: 8-9
8If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
9For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.