A full day

You may remember that a month or so ago I blogged about a request for a pic of me on my bike to go along with an article I'd written. I figured it was going to be the standard 1" photo at the end of the article. Nope. I was very surprised to see that this is what happened with the pic I sent. The mag hit the streets today so I figured it was OK to put the cover here. The editor photoshopped in a background of the Painted Desert, a lot more interesting than the local hills I had. One of my sons saw it and said, "Of all the things in that photo that needed work and he did the background??"
Alas, I agree with him.

I spent 8.5 hours putting down vinyl today. Steve helped me for the first 4 hours or I'd be there still. I'm very tired and sore. And I may be getting too old for this. On the other hand, there's that old saying that you don't stop working because you get too old, you get too old because you stop working. At this rate I'm going to live to 110.

I got a call today telling me that a very dear friend has an aggressive form of cancer. I tried to call him tonight but didn't get through. I'll try again in the morning.
The news made me very sad, and concerned for him and his wife. Tough times ahead.
I was told a few years ago that I had cancer. Thankfully, early intervention took care of it and regular check-ups since then show no recurrence. But I learned first hand what it means to hear the "C word." I told my students that, IMHO, there is no "right" way to respond to that news. And no wrong way. Everybody handles it differently and their reaction, whatever it is, is OK.
Some go into denial, some go into withdrawal, some reach out to anyone and everyone, some respond with great strength and others with paralyzing fear.
And I'm talking about believers.
My experience is that after the initial reaction almost all Christians come to grips with the news and respond with faith in God's perfect will. But I think pastors, and friends should allow people to go through that time of adjustment without passing judgment or coming to conclusions about their spiritual maturity.
FWIW

They say you should learn something every day. Today I learned that you shouldn't hold a bottle of water between your legs while you open it.

The Pope arrived today but I was down on my hands and knees spreading adhesive so I didn't see it on TV. Did Bush kiss his ring?

Oh, that round of golf with the guy at church who carries a one handicap? It's scheduled for the second Sunday in May. So I'm going to play golf with the guy who won the club championship by more strokes than he'd admit to (he really is humble!), and I'm going to do it on a Sunday afternoon, after preaching and teaching. My goal is to not have an emotional break down after the first hole.