I went to a doctor to get a second opinion about treatment options for my prostate cancer.  Since he knew I had talked at length with a surgeon and a radiation oncologist, he decided to approach me differently.  “How long do you plan to live?” he asked.  I was taken aback and told him that is not my department.  We talked for a while, then he summed up his advice this way:

    “If you plan to live ten to fifteen years, go for the surgery.
    “If you plan to live ten years, go with radiation.
    “If you plan to live four or five years, go have a good time!”

    Now he didn’t help me with my treatment decision, but he did get my attention.  His questions really were a “Kick-Start” to my thinking.  What kind of time frame am I using as I live out my days?  Am I thinking I might not live but a few years, or am I thinking I have quite a bit of time?  The answer surely affects the way I plan and the way I act.

    It seems to me that I spend a lot of my time just stumbling from one day to the next, with little thought about how many more days may be ahead.  Maybe that indicates I think I have lots of time.  Or maybe it is a sign I haven’t come to grips with how brief life is.  But I have been thinking.

    As I approach my seventy-second birthday in a couple of weeks, I have begun to be keenly aware that even if I live another ten years or more, I may not have that many years of effective ministry.  Not only does my body have a hard time keeping up with the demands of ministry, but my mind is not nearly as sharp and retentive as it was ten years ago.  I may have waited too late already.

    There are so many things I have wanted to do and planned to do.  But I have put them off to the future.  Well, the future is here, and it is time for me to “fish or cut bait.”

    The main thing I would like to do with my time now is to write.  I may never be published.  But I have much I want to say.  There are many things I have taught over the years which I want to put  down on paper.  I want to leave a body of writing that might be helpful to others after I am gone.

    Thank you, doctor, for the kick-start.  Help me, Lord, to keep going.