Nov 01
My friend Bunnie is a redheaded, retired heavy equipment operator with a delightful New England accent who loves to laugh. On weekends she “clowns” around at the local Dairy Queen as she whips up balloons and smiles for children, while sharing God’s love for them. On weekdays she takes off her clown make-up and cooks hot meals which she joyfully delivers to the homeless folks in a nearby neighborhood.
Did I mention that she has stage 4 tongue cancer, carries her portable oxygen tank everywhere and is on hospice?
“I’m a bulldog for the Lord!” she explains.
“When I make dog balloons for the children, I tell them ‘God wants us to be like dogs’—a dog is loving, faithful, obedient and always happy to see us!”
And with the tenacity of a bulldog, Bunnie has refused to allow a cancer diagnosis and multiple recurrences to change her goal of sharing the joy of Jesus with anyone she meets. Here’s a little of her inspiring story from my new book Peace in the Face of Cancer.
When Bunnie moved to Florida in 2011, she wondered what she would do in her post-retirement life.
“I was laughing so much, I dreamt I should be a clown,” she recalls with a chuckle. On a whim she searched online for “clown schools” and found there was one only two hours from her new home. She took the courses, and since 2012 she has been a professional clown and member of the Fellowship of Christian Magicians.
She began volunteering at her local Dairy Queen, where she performed magic tricks and twisted balloons into animal shapes. While the children enjoyed their ice cream, she shared character-building stories and told them about God’s love for them.
But in August 2013 the shows stopped when Bunnie was diagnosed with inoperable tongue cancer. Doctors told her that without chemo and radiation, she probably had six months to live. She was devastated with that prognosis, but resolute in her faith: “You can even take my tongue, and I’ll still find a way to share the gospel,” she announced to her doctor.
Bunnie had thirty-five radiation and eight chemo treatments. After a two-week hiatus, she was back whipping up balloons and smiles at Dairy Queen.
When she read a copy of my first book, When God & Cancer Meet, Bunnie felt as if God were telling her to share her story by giving away copies of the book. (Why doesn’t He tell everyone to do that?J)
So she bought dozens of books and gave them away to cancer patients and their families at the cancer center. But in May 2015 a scan showed the cancer had spread to her lungs.
“I was really, really devastated for a little while—for maybe an hour or something,” she told me, chuckling on the phone, after we became Facebook friends. “The Lord said, ‘You’re still here for Me and I’m going to use you right here at the cancer center.’”
She headed back there for more treatment, armed with more books.
Her methods might be a little unorthodox, but they produced her desired results.
“I went to the chemo waiting room with twenty-six books,” she explains. “I stood up and said, ‘Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, but two years ago I was right where you are, and the Lord gave me peace and brought me through. And my friend gave me a book that strengthened me so much.’”
Then she held up a copy of the book and announced, “If you’d like a free copy, just raise your hand.”
Within a few seconds nearly every book was taken, and that’s what happened every time she spoke.
I promise you that my purpose in sharing Bunnie’s story is not to draw attention to her giving away, by her count, 425 copies of my first book—as grateful as I am for that! What I want to highlight is her generous and bold spirit as she has learned not just to battle cancer, but to dance with it.
Think about it. She has every reason to be bitter—a devastating cancer diagnosis in a new state with no family nearby, just when she was ready to relax and enjoy retirement. Cancer of the tongue when she loves to talk fast and laugh often.
But Bunnie knows what I hope you do too—that your purpose in life never changes. It is the same whether you or your loved one has a lot of cancer, a little cancer, or even no cancer. Your purpose in life—and mine—is to know God and love Him more, and to help others know God and love Him more.
Bunnie says her life verse is the same one I have chosen in my retirement: “My life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the task assigned to me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” (Acts 20:24 NLT)
As long as you have breath (even if it’s from an oxygen tank!), God is not finished with you.
I waited patiently for the Lord to help me,
and he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the pit of despair,
out of the mud and the mire.
He set my feet on solid ground
and steadied me as I walked along.
He has given me a new song to sing,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see what he has done and be amazed.
They will put their trust in the Lord.
Psalm 40:1-3
Please enjoy this music video with Jason Davis, the pastor who lost part of his tongue to cancer singing his original song “These Walls.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga_m8wqg3us
Oct 25
Anybody else old like me and remember the 1965 Anacin pain reliever commercial shown here?
I was a pre-teen when that commercial appeared on the screen of our little black-and-white TV (with the aluminum foil on the rabbit ears) and my mom and I thought it was hilarious. We would joke around and quote it to each other whenever one of us offered to do something for the other. But headache or not, I think most of us are I’d-rather-do-it-myself kind of people. That’s one of the reasons why it’s especially frustrating when serious or chronic illness hits us or those we care about. It’s not really in our nature to admit there’s something weighing us down and we can’t really fix it. How heavy is the load you are carrying these days? Are your arms weary from trying to hold up yourself or your loved one? Is your back breaking from the weight of medical bills piling up? Is your mind exhausted from trying to keep track of all the appointments and medications? Is your spirit feeling let down by the unfairness of life? Jesus has an exchange He’d like to make: your heavy burdens for His light one. Then Jesus said,”Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest, Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 NLT
Notice He doesn’t promise to just take everything away so that we have no burdens? It’s as if right now we’re plowing through life as a single ox 
with a heavy yoke on our necks. When we give that big burden to Jesus, He comes alongside us, attaches His double yoke, and plows right with us.
No wonder our burdens are so much lighter and we are so much less weary! You don’t have to carry this heavy load by yourself. Lay down your I-can-do-it-by-myself yoke and allow Jesus to lighten the load as you walk side by side through whatever lies ahead. Please enjoy this “oldie but goodie” song from 1975 by Chuck Girard, whom I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing back in the ’90s when he sang at Houghton College (and yes, I still own and listen to this album!). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbLpncI4OvY
Oct 17
Would you believe I met, shook hands with, and received a mini-apology from Muhammad Ali, aka “the Greatest”? 
In 1970, when I was a college freshman, my best friend, Jackie, and I went to hear Ali speak at our Mansfield branch campus of the Ohio State University. We were excited to see him, so we arrived early and sat in the front row. The person introducing the former heavyweight boxing champion of the world presented a very large original painting of Ali to him.
The Champ looked around to see where he could safely set down the portrait and motioned for me to come forward. I jumped up and took the huge painting from him as he loudly announced: “Thanks, I always wanted a white slave!”
I thought it was a hilarious comment, but after his speech, Ali sought me out, extended his right hand, and said, “You knew I was just kidding, right?” And then the hand that would punch the likes of Sonny Liston, George Foreman, and Joe Frazier warmly clasped mine.
True story.
In 1984 Ali announced he had Parkinson’s disease, and if you watched that incredible moment at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics when he shakily lit the torch, ( https://youtu.be/QEhNDUwksvU ) you could see what a painful turn the former gold medalist’s life had taken. No wonder he talked about making the days count before his death in June 2016.
Once we or someone we love has gotten a life-threatening diagnosis, we come face-to-face with our own mortality and often feel an urgency to make each day count.
My longtime friend Georgia, a double-cancer survivor and a licensed psychologist, says cancer helped her answer the question “What do I care deeply about?”
In 1989 she was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 38 and had surgery, chemo, and radiation. But six months later the cancer was back. After her doctors gave her only a 2 percent chance of still being alive in ten years, she decided to undergo a risky bone marrow transplant.
Georgia survived the transplant, but she still faced an uncertain future.
“At the time I was in the process of really learning to know Jesus,” she says. “And as I prayed about what I should do [after the transplant], the answer was ‘Do what you love, Georgia.’
“But I honestly didn’t know what I loved—what I cared deeply about—because I had focused on pleasing others,” she says. “So I had to start paying attention to my life.”
It wasn’t long before Georgia found her passion.
“For me it started in the garden—God’s creation,” she explains. “That’s where I really feel connected to and loved by God.”
So she decided to do what she loved: gardening. With more sweat equity than money, she and some friends turned her drought-damaged lawn into a garden and a small fishpond.
“As I watched my dead lawn being transformed into a beautiful sanctuary, seeds of hope grew in my heart,” she recalls. “Like my life, there was so much I could not control in the garden (i.e., the weather), yet beautiful things happened—I remember one plant that looked absolutely dead and it totally came back!”
That garden started with a little pack of morning glory seeds from her aunt and ended up inspiring Georgia to write a book about restoring your life after loss, A Gift of Mourning Glories.[1] 
Then in the fall of 2013, Georgia received a second cancer diagnosis of stage 4 nonsmokers’ non-small cell lung cancer. Now a stunningly beautiful 67, Georgia continues to make every day count.
She has written several more books and become a credentialed life coach, and she speaks frequently around the country—all the while continuing on maintenance chemo and not canceling a single speaking engagement since her diagnosis.
“Life is a gift, so what am I going to do with it?” she says. “Live it purposefully and passionately, and make the time I do have count!”
If a physician has told you that your days or your loved one’s days are numbered, I hope you are not trying to count them. Do not embrace those longevity guesses and allow them to become self-fulfilling prophecies. I’ve lost count of the scores of cancer survivors I know who have outlasted medical predictions and aren’t “supposed to be here.”
And if you or your loved one is cured or expected to still live a long life, I hope you’ll ask yourself what you care deeply about and then allow that love to nurture your spirit and give you hope. If you have regrets, make amends where necessary and be thankful for the God of second chances. Seek out and enjoy the things that help you feel God’s peaceful presence.
The Bible doesn’t tell us to count our days, but it does say we ought to learn to “number” them. That doesn’t mean we should try to estimate how many we have left. Instead, we should realize that every person—sick or well—has a limited supply. Cancer or any life-threatening illness does us a favor when it reminds us that however long we live on earth, it’s a blink compared to eternity.
Eternal One, let me understand my end
and how brief my earthly existence is;
help me realize my life is fleeting. —Psalm 39:4, The Voice
Teach us to number our days
so that we may truly live and achieve wisdom.–Psalm 90:12, The Voice
Nobody really knows how many rounds we have left in us, but as long as you have this day, there’s no reason to throw in the towel. Ask God how you can make this day count in your life, in the life of someone you love, and for eternity.
Peace will happen when we remember everyone’s days are numbered, but we don’t need to count them.
[1]For garden photos and info on her ministry, go to www.georgiashaffer.com.
(Excerpt from Peace in the Face of Cancer, Chapter 28, published 2017, Tyndale Momentum. Copyright by Lynn Eib)
Oct 11
I’m trying to keep in mind a saying my good friend Doris Martin often would use after something went wrong: “Well. if that’s the worst thing that happens to me today, it will be a pretty good day.” And for many disappointments in life, that phrase works well. It fits my dilemma today–once again I am having technical problems with my blog and it is not posting correctly to Facebook. Last week it also did not email correctly the first time to all of you and I apologize if you got it twice–or not at all! I have someone younger, smarter and much more techy than I am working on it, but every time he thinks he has it fixed…it’s not. So because of that hassle AND the fact that our middle daughter Bethany and her three kids, 3, 5, and 6 1/2 are visiting from Indiana this week (and the rest of our local family have been coming over everyday!), I did not get a blog done. I am very sorry not to have a special word for you today and am praying that God brings encouragement to you from many other sources. And I also hope you might be able to agree with my friend Doris that if not getting my blog emailed is the worst thing that happens to you today…it will be a pretty good day! I am including a song which I pray reminds you that even though friends like me may let you down, God always will be faithful!
Oct 05
The world is so stressful right now, I thought I would post a little humor coupled with a little encouragement today. Enjoy the hilarious Seinfeld clip, the challenging “revised” Serenity Prayer, the inspiring original version, the peaceful Serenity Prayer Project music video and experience some “Serenity Now!”
The Original Prayer as written by Reinhold Niebuhr 1892-1971
American theologian, pastor & political commentator
God, give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.
I’m a newspaper reporter-turned-author. And I’m a passionate encourager, but always a truth-teller. I worked for nearly two decades in a unique position as a patient advocate in my oncologist’s office and the Cancer Prayer Support Group I founded in 1991 is the country’s oldest such faith-based group.
