Lord willing, exactly 15 weeks from today I leave for Hawaii. 5 weeks later I'm scheduled to fly to Switzerland. I love being active, and I hope always to be able to maintain that. I simply love the feeling of moving, as I did during today's workout.
That workout included walking 6 miles.
I love being fit, healthy, and lean and using the body that God gave me in the way it's meant to be used. I know one day all this will come to an end for me, as it will for all of us. Eventually you'll look back and think, "That was a beautiful thing, this thing called life. I'm glad God allowed me to do it." You also realize that although we're ultimately responsible for our own lives, we owe so much to others for their support in allowing us to do what we do. Other than the Lord, I owe the greatest debt to my wife Becky, who for 37 years was the wind beneath my wings.
When I look back over these 12 years she's been gone, I see grace revealed and experienced, made abundantly evident by the forces that have shaped my (really, our) story. I so wish she could be here to share life with me. I know she'd be my greatest cheerleader. Words will never be able to express what she meant to me.
"The edges of God are tragedy," wrote Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki. "The depths of God are joy, beauty, resurrection, life. Resurrection answers crucifixion; life answers death." And Jesus is at the center of it all. He leads us through the dark valley. Then light gradually dawns again in our hearts. Somehow we find reason to keep going and to continue believing. You end up living with greater depth and deeper joy than you had before, even in your sorrow. Your loss has joined brokenness and wholeness together, and in Christ you find a source of peace you could never find in yourself. He wipes away your tears and heals your broken heart. And you realize that whatever joys and pleasures you experience on this earth, you can't wait for him to welcome you into the joy and pleasure of heaven, which is our true destination, however wonderful life here on earth seems to be.
In the meantime, on the roads and in the gyms and on the mountains and in the waves, I give the Creator a standing ovation.