There is something about dying...

Yesterday, I spent part of the afternoon with a friend of mine who has a terminal illness. He thought last Friday was going to be his last. Over the last couple years we have found a rhythm in our relationship where we get together about every couple months just to talk. And every time I get together with him, I come away inspired. There is something about dying...

...that makes me want to make every minute count.
Much of our conversation evolved around how to spend his time. Every minute mattered and needed to be leveraged for the greatest possible potential.

...that makes me grateful for Sue, Amy, Josh and Caleb.
Guess how my friend is going to spend his Thanksgiving? Of course, with the one's that he loves. When you begin to make every minute count, you spend it with the people that count. In his case it was people that were close to him and people who are far from God.

...that reminds me of what is really important - "helping people find thier way back to God".
One of the e-mails he sent to me last week was in response to me asking him to write something about "helping people find thier way back to God" that I may get published. Here is part of what he said, "I don't know how much time I will have on this earth, ... I would love to help in anyway to help people find there way back to God. I feel this is the area I can help the most, the awakening of my soul has been so great and you opened my eyes to the power of the Holy Spirit. Your friend..."

...that reminds me God is more interested in our significance than he is our comfort.

During most of our conversation he had a "pain stick" in his mouth - it is something the doctors prescribed that releases medication to alleviate some of his pain. We talked about the pain and why God hadn't healed him. That is a tough question and an even tougher conversation. But he firmly believes that he his closer to God now than he has ever been before. He also feels that he is being used by God more than ever before to reach out to his family and people at work. And because of that he says he is truly grateful for his illness. It is clear that his life now has greater significance and is making a bigger difference than at any ever before! We ended our conversation with a new understanding that God is more interested in our significance than our comfort.

There is something about dying that makes you alive!