September 17 2016-
I have shared this story every year for about five years now. Each year I re-read it and maybe make an adjustment or two. This year I decided to let it remain as it was last year-I need those memories to remain fresh.
September 17, 2015
As many of you know, I was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer last year. And although the cancer settled in a good distance from my think tank it was able to propagate haunting thoughts of a real Bucket List.
I have shared this story every year for about five years now. Each year I re-read it and maybe make an adjustment or two. This year I decided to let it remain as it was last year-I need those memories to remain fresh.
September 17, 2015
As many of you know, I was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer last year. And although the cancer settled in a good distance from my think tank it was able to propagate haunting thoughts of a real Bucket List.
I have finished the bastardly chemo-therapy and my cancer is
in remission. Evidently I am not allowed to say “cancer free”; the day I can
sing those wonderful lyrics is still more than four years away. I look forward
to it, but I also understand the physician’s prudence in announcing such a
statement.
You see, for the cancer patient in remission there enters
into our life a very mysterious companion. My companion is called Antog. This purple colored pixie resides
in the imagination sector of my mind. Antog
arrives during my most vulnerable moments…when I am in pain. Suffering a
headache or sore muscles, maybe in the middle of the night when I suddenly
awake, unable to breathe. Antog whispers
quietly an unanswerable question-
“Do you think the
cancer has come back?”
I don’t. Most the time I don’t. I don’t like Antog.
His whispered words have stirred up thoughts of a Bucket List. Below is the original “Bucket
List”, I haven’t changed the prose and try to remember each year around this
time to share it with you. If I did construct a new list, after this journey I
have been on, the list would only include two new items.
The first has been
achieved-to see my children become adults, to know they love Christ, to strive for
success as defined by their own goals. My youngest, Joseph, is a sophomore in
high school, so technically not an adult.
But over the last year, standing at my side, holding me up… he has become a
man.
The second item on the list? To write the great American
novel. You see, I do believe in that imagination sector where Antog lives there is also a great story
to be told. I will keep looking for it. In the meantime, I share with
you “My Bucket List”.
My Bucket List
I turned 54 years old today. I had a thought early this morning,
what if this is the last birthday I will ever have? What if 54 is all I have?
So throughout the day I pondered over my Bucket List. There wasn’t
much pondering, you see I have never had a Bucket List. So the task last year
on my 53rd birthday, was to
create my own Bucket List.
I scratched my head and put teeth marks in the proverbial pencil
as I mused over what would be number 1 on my list. Minutes then hours passed
with nothing rising to the surface. So I changed strategies, I thought about
the things that I have already accomplished or have been blessed with, things
that may have been on a bucket list if I hadn’t already experienced them.
Family always comes first to mind. I was born into the most
incredible family 54 years ago. I still see them every week, we still talk and
hug, and we laugh and cry together. We grow old together.
I have lived in the Great Northwest, the South Pacific, the east
coast and the great state of Texas. I have fished for rainbows in the Russian
River and went snorkeling along the Coral Reef.
I have served my country and been called a U.S. Marine.
I went to school with Mark Twain and Thomas Edison and tasted
college for a short while. I have read Tolstoy, Dickens, Stephen King and the
Bible.
I have eaten at the Ritz Carlton and Taco Bell, both on the same
day.
I have had money in the bank and I have sold Coke bottles so I
could buy a pack of smokes.
I have been high and I have been so low that all I could see was
the bottom.
I have run marathons. I have crawled across the cold floor
on hands and knees, unable to stand because of pain.
I have gone from a 34 waist to a 38 waist and back to a 34 waist.
(it is okay to applaud here)
My favorite teams have won the Super Bowl, and the Stanley Cup. I
have watched a perfect game and caught a foul ball.
I have listened to Vivaldi, Miles Davis and ZZ Top, all in the
same afternoon.
I have tasted Opus One in Napa Valley and drank a Lone Star beer
with Willie Nelson while sitting in the Recovery Room.
I have seen every episode of Seinfeld at least three times.
I have fallen in love and out of love. I have made love on a beach
and on a mountain top.
I have had two wives, two ex-wives and six children. (Maximized
the limit on both of these!)
I was with four of my children when they took their first breath.
I was with my father when he took his last.
I have done everything I want to do... almost. At the end of the
day my Bucket List only had one thing written on it… you.
I figure if you are reading these words then you and I have at
least met somewhere along the way. And I don’t know if I have ever told you the
story about Jesus. You see, He is the reason I made it to 54, I know without
Him I never would have.
So, on my Bucket List I wrote just one thing,
Tell someone about Jesus.
I think that someone is you, so here goes-
God loves you and me so much; He has since the very beginning of
time. God can see everything from the beginning to the end; everything, every
day and everybody and everything in between.
God knew that we would never love Him as He loved us, and He knew
that would mean separation forever and ever.
So God sent His son down from the heavens, down to earth. We
called Him Jesus, teacher, King and Messiah, and then we killed Him.
And when He died He took all of your sin and all of my sins and He
paid the price for them. He paid the price of admission to an eternity with
God. He did it for you and me, and He said all you have to do is believe, He
would do the rest.
If you were the only one in the entire world, He still would have
died for you.
Do you believe?