“This is not how I planned it” Have you ever said that about your life? Have you ever said that about the direction that something you anticipated going in changed? You had a different idea in mind. Life played out differently than you had dreamt. Life played out differently than you had hoped. That situation played out differently than you prayed for. I was talking with someone this week who sheepishly admitted that this wasn’t…

It was getting close to spring during my junior year of college. A few buddies and I decided to plan an epic spring break adventure. To qualify as “epic” it needed to involve a challenge that we weren’t sure we could actually pull off—a challenge that would blur the line between risky and just plain stupid. After about half an hour of scheming and consulting a map, we decided we would spend several nights on…

"Bad tapes".   That is the phrase a good friend used to describe when people have unhealthy thought patterns repetitiously swirling around in their head.   Remember mixed tapes from when we were kids? Okay, all my 80's and 90's friends know what I'm talking about. All of my iPod generation friends are going "mixed tapes - does that have something to do with Scotch tape?"  No, forget it, I'm dating myself and its embarrassing.  …

My husband’s sister died of breast cancer when she was just thirty-six. I was pragmatic about her diagnosis at first. I was a nursing student back then, and I knew the statistics: most people do survive cancer. At first, it seemed my sister-in-law would be a survivor. The cancer was treated and wiped out. But it came back, and then it metastasized. The blow of this was long and crushing, and it seemed to come…

I’ve often said in jest, but somewhat seriously also, that one of the blessings of getting older is your vision starts to go. Now you might think that an odd thing to think, but in many ways not being able to see all those wrinkles daily taking over your face, is a blessing. That is, until you get your hands on a magnifying mirror and “Wowzer!” The reality that time has passed—years, maybe even millennia—is clearly…

Eight years ago, at the age of thirty-five, with a wife and three young daughters, I heard words that inspire a whole different kind of fear: “Michael, I’m sorry but you have colon cancer.” Tests would show that it was stage III. I had a world of suffering to go through to beat that nasty monster. Multiple surgeries, chemo, an ileostomy, fatigue, depression, pain. A new kind of suffering. By the grace of God I…