Have you ever heard a song for the first time and said , “That’s my song. It says exactly what I’m thinking.” Or, “It hits me right in the middle of my life, my feelings, my heart.”
Tim McGraw recorded a song a few years ago entitled “Live Like You Were Dying.” Holy Wow!! (Lyrics and video below)
For the past two plus years, after being told I only had a couple of months, that is exactly what I have tried to do. I purposed to love my family more than ever before. It’s been important to connect with my family, hold them, treasure them, and speak into their lives.
Spending time with friends has been priority number one. Traveling to special places, reconnecting with old friends and fulfilling some items from my bucket list have also been at the top.
But after a while, I turned a corner and it all changed. I was no longer living like I was dying, but I was living like I was living. Yes!
I believe that God has answered the prayers of thousands and thousands and, while a remnant of cancer still sits on my brain, it is not active or growing. Hallelujah!
I’m a miracle! Thank you Lord!!
So, if the Lord wanted me to live, then I’d better start living like I was living the life this gracious Father has given me. For this new season … I choose living LIFE.
I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live. And love God, your God, listening obediently to him, firmly embracing him. Oh yes, He is life itself …. Deuteronomy 30:19b-20a The Message (MSG)
When I wake each morning not sure of my state, I open my eyes, look around the bedroom, take a deep breath, and thank our Gracious God for another day to live like I’m living.
Please consider joining me this new year to live like you are LIVING.
LIVE LIKE YOU WERE DYING
LYRICS (video below):
He said: “I was in my early forties,
“With a lot of life before me,
“An’ a moment came that stopped me on a dime.
“I spent most of the next days,
“Looking at the x-rays,
“An’ talking ’bout the options an’ talkin’ ‘bout sweet time.”
I asked him when it sank in,
That this might really be the real end?
How’s it hit you when you get that kind of news?
Man whatcha do?
An’ he said: “I went sky diving, I went rocky mountain climbing,
“I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu.
“And I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter,
“And I gave forgiveness I’d been denying.”
An’ he said: “Some day, I hope you get the chance,
“To live like you were dyin’.”
He said “I was finally the husband,
“That most the time I wasn’t.
“An’ I became a friend a friend would like to have.
“And all of a sudden goin’ fishin’,
“Wasn’t such an imposition,
“And I went three times that year I lost my Dad.
“Well, I finally read the Good Book,
“And I took a good long hard look,
“At what I’d do if I could do it all again,
“And then:
“I went sky diving, I went rocky mountain climbing,
“I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu.
“And I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter,
“And I gave forgiveness I’d been denying.”
An’ he said: “Some day, I hope you get the chance,
“To live like you were dyin’.”
Like tomorrow was a gift,
And you got eternity,
To think about what you’d do with it.
An’ what did you do with it?
An’ what can I do with it?
An’ what would I do with it?
Sky diving, I went rocky mountain climbing,
I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu.
And then I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter,
And I watched Blue Eagle as it was flyin’.
An’ he said: “Some day, I hope you get the chance,
“To live like you were dyin’.”
“To live like you were dyin’.”
“To live like you were dyin’.”
“To live like you were dyin’.”
I love this, Brother Steve. So much! God bless you and your family. Merry Christmas!!