Have you ever looked backward and it changed your view forward?

Recently I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Short version, it’s a blood cancer that, in my case, attacks and weakens the bones. I will begin a regimen of chemo pills and injections, along with taking a fistful of other stuff. Surprising diagnosis, but I have a great medical team and the support of many.

A few months ago, I decided it was time to write another book. I was given suggestions but the one that resonated with me was writing a book on Hope. I had begun a framework for the book and began reading about hope. What does hope look like in difficult places in the world, in daily life, in religion, as death is closer, in the context of trauma, mental health and medical issues? Oh, guess writing on hope was for me.

Took a trip to Haiti in January that was an arduous journey. Shortly after my return from Haiti, the capital was overtaken by gangs and travel in and out of the country has virtually ended. It was wonderful to see our new Women’s Village, improvements to the school, to see how Haiti Alive and my visit brought hope to people on the island. It is very unlikely I’ll be able to travel again to Haiti any time soon, or perhaps ever. Oh, guess that trip was for me.

We have done A LOT of traveling over the past two years to really fun and unique places. I told our financial advisor; we’re going to travel until she puts up the stop sign. Scotland, Britain, Ireland, Los Cabos, Alaska, Denver, and other regional destinations. We took family vacations to San Diego and Florida. Two of the trips were with good friends, who had received some tough diagnoses. My thought was, lets travel while they could. Oh, guess that was also for me.

I have enjoyed rediscovering bike riding. Bought a couple new bikes and biking has been good for my physical and mental health. It is something I truly enjoy, being out and about on a bike. A good friend and I covered the 110-mile Mickelson Trail in the Black Hills in segments, did a 50-mile ride with a friend in Waterloo, IA, and put on 800+ miles each of the past two summers. In May of this year, I was on the Mickelson and just couldn’t catch my breath. I figured it was just the elevation. At mile 10, I told my friend to go on and I’d wait for him and we’d ride together on the return, downhill route. I realize now, it was more. While I hope to ride again, my stamina won’t allow these big rides anytime soon. Oh, guess the last couple years was for me.

As I get invited to preach in churches, I wrote a sermon based on the Hebrews 12 scripture verse, “run with endurance, the race that is set before you.” The sermon identifies that we all have a race and it’s our race to run. The sermon talks about endurance and that, along the way, we have the encouragement from a “great cloud of witnesses,” from our faith, and from others. Holy crap, I wrote the sermon for me.

The rear-view mirror showed me that life is unpredictable, and we better take advantage of and enjoy all the moments we can, as we look ahead.