Questions

Just so you know, dear reader, I have had my moments and pains from cancer. I have had treatments and surgeries and obstacles to overcome. But I am doing great today and feel perfectly fine, albeit minus an ear, but hearing fine, working, and going on with my life.


Yesterday two friends asked me questions that made me ponder. I really like it when people ask questions,  especially when the questions are good, and when the questioner truly listens to the answer. I think we all like it when others ask us questions about ourselves. I had reckoned that these two friends knew more about my condition than they actually did.

One man said that he was amazed at how I was doing, considering I had been told I had “one month to live.” Well, just so you know, I have NEVER been told I had only one month to live, and I also have never been told by a doctor, “I’m sorry, Mr. Woolridge, there is nothing more we can do for you!”

This man went on to say he had found great encouragement in the way I worship God in church on Sundays, worshipping in spite of this dire diagnosis. As if to say, if Ray, as sick as he is, is still worshipping God, I can worship God also. Kind of like what Evangelist David Ring, who has cerebral palsy, says, “I’ve got cerebral palsy, what’s your problem?” Now, in all fairness, this friend may have been watching me closely during the summer of 2008 when interferon was “kicking my butt.” (Sorry if you are easily offended by that crass expression, but I can’t think of any polite way to say it…maybe interferon “knocked the snot out of me (football expression), or greatly fatigued me (too delicate and doesn’t express the emotion)).

I am no David Ring. He has overcome far greater challenges than I. But the question the man asked me is valid, and challenging. How would I live differently if I knew that I only had one month left to live? What priorities would I set? What conversations would I have? How would those conversations be different? I’m sure that if I knew that execution day was 30 days away, this dire knowledge would drastically change my perspective. Why do we waste so much time, squander our energy and resources on things that don’t matter? Because we assume, falsely, that our time in this life is unlimited.

My other friend asked me about my pain level, perhaps assuming that I live in constant pain. Thankfully, I do not, and replied that I am in no pain, except after surgery. I am aware that for almost everyone, pain and suffering await, but mercifully today, there is neither pain nor suffering. In fact, today, I feel perfect and fit as I did years ago. I guess that most folks don’t understand what it is like to live with cancer, or that many cancer survivors go years and decades after a cancer diagnosis, without pain, surgery or treatment.

May I live today as if I had one month left to live!.  Thanks to God for today, a day in which I am not in pain! Good questions that get you thinking…©2010 Ray Woolridge