I have had some e-mails asking how Joni is doing. Thanks for caring and especially thanks for praying! She is doing really well. Joni looks fantastic and she is feeling better everyday. She is getting comfortable with New Hair – Version 2.0. We just got back from a little family trip to Florida this past weekend and this shot is from our balcony.

There are still a couple of areas for prayer. The chemotherapy did do some damage to Joni’s heart function but we hope that will recover in the next few months. To that end Joni has embarked on a walking program and is walking in the 3 Day Breast Cancer Walk in Dallas/Ft.Worth at the end of October. Joni, her sister Gayla and a couple thousand new friends will be walking 20 miles per day for three days to raise money for breast cancer research. You can check out Joni’s 3 Day Walk Webpage by clicking here. Yeah, I know. She is amazing.

This Saturday I am joining her on a nine-mile “test walk” around White Rock Lake in Dallas. You can pray that I will make it to church on Sunday. Thanks again for asking about my bride. We are blessed and grateful that God has allowed Joni to live and serve. We don’t take that for granted and we are determined to live each day for Him. Her prognosis is good but the reality of the disease makes us realize that every moment is a gift. To keep the iPod Devotional thing going I will finish with some lyrics from a Rascal Flatts’ song called “When the Sand Runs Out.”

I’m gonna stop lookin’ back and start movin’ on
Learn how to face my fears
Love with all of my heart, make my mark
I wanna leave something here

Go out on a ledge, with out any net
That’s what I’m gonna be about
Yeah I wanna be runnin’
When the sand runs out

If the Lord wills we both want to be runnin’ when the sand runs out on our time here. Cancer has changed both of us. We don’t have time to sweat the small stuff. So many times I have told myself that I will live for today and then I get caught up in stupid minutiae. Cancer makes living in the moment more of a priority. The song lyrics talk about the difficulty of living each day fully.

‘Cause people do it everyday
Promise themselves they’re gonna change
I’ve been there, but I’m changin’ from the inside out

That was then and this is now
I’m a new man, yeah, I’m a brand new man
And when they carve my stone they’ll write these words
“Here lies a man who lived life for all that its worth”

That would be okay for my stone. But what I really hope is that I can echo the words of Paul when my sand runs out.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (2 Timothy 4, NIV)