Apr 20
Dr. Marc Hirsh has walked some deep valleys since he was diagnosed in 2020 with such a serious and rare cancer that he and every specialist he consulted thought his death was imminent. Within days he was forced to close his busy, solo practice of more than three decades and then undergo a painful thoracotomy …
Mar 23
When our grandson Benjamin was four, he was a total Daddy’s boy—as in, the best time of day was when Daddy came home and the worst time was when he had to leave. So it wasn’t surprising when we were together at a local pizza buffet a few years ago and Benny stopped eating pasta …
Mar 08
My younger brother Jim and I invented a game as little kids and for some inexplicable reason we continue to play it now in our late 60s. We call it “Touched You Last.” The rules are simple: When it’s time to part, be the last person to touch the other. Finesse is important as we …
Feb 09
May I be honest and share two things?…First, this short post is mainly for me. And second, the song at the end is the best part of it. I’m writing for myself because unwelcome events have left a trail of sadness in my heart. Perhaps you can relate. I’m mourning two years of a brutal …
Jan 26
So, this month is my 50th birthday! I know that surprises some of you who thought perhaps I was pushing 70. Well, actually both are true… It was January 1972, my sophomore year of college at THE Ohio State University (some of you are cheering and others are booing—I love you all). My best friend …
Jan 12
I literally have known thousands of people diagnosed with cancer, but there has only ever been one whose diagnosis made me smile. I think you’ll understand why after reading this story of how God touched two hearts to bring hope to hundreds of hurting people. I met Karen Wineholt in 1983 at a meeting for breastfeeding …
Dec 15
I thought it wouldn’t. But it did. It happened again. Kenny G was belting out jazzy, holiday cheer. A burning candle wafted a delicious candy cane scent. I was by myself happily decorating our house for Christmas. I lifted a slightly torn, rectangular box out of the large plastic storage bin and chuckled to myself. This box …
Dec 01
Those are the words penned by author-pastor John Piper on the eve of his surgery for prostate cancer in 2006. My cancer prayer support group often discussed one of Piper’s ten ways we can “waste” cancer by allowing it—instead of God—to be foremost in our lives.* Probably the cancer survivor who most often expressed …
Nov 17
It’s pretty easy to thank God when everything’s going well. When you feel happy. When you have your health. When your loved ones are doing fine. It’s a lot harder when some things—maybe most things—are not going well. In those first dark days after my cancer diagnosis in 1990, I literally could not pray. Sentences simply …
Nov 03
I’ve always been fascinated by the bald eagle, our country’s national symbol. But about a decade ago these once-endangered creatures came to symbolize something even more special for me. My women’s group was reading a book by husband-wife duo John and Stasi Eldredge in which they shared an amazing story. While John was on a …
