So I watched the Diane Sawyer special on the gentleman who has terminal cancer and is known world wide for his You Tube video titled "The Last Lecture." This man is an amazing professor, a phenom of a father and husband from the way they portrayed it, an all around awesome human being and he is going to die in give or take two months. I sat watching this program wanting to know why on earth the good Lord would allow this man to be taken from us, knowing all the good he could do, while the drug dealer on the corner would probably live to be 100. I know that sounds cynical, but it is hard not to be when you see a story like this one. The end of the program brought some clarity for me. There were about 2 dozen people who gave interviews or wrote letters talking about how this video had completely changed their lives. (The video was actually only recorded because there were some family members who were not able to attend the lecture). The video has had over 15 million hits. One woman wrote that she had thought of taking her own life 10 days ago and since seeing his lecture, is thankful for every breath she is given. That 2 dozen was just the tip of the iceberg in the masses he has reached with this lecture. The scripture came to me, and I was very much happy with God's answer to my question. Romans 8:28...and we know in all things God works for the good....
As I am watching this, Stephen is in the other room talking to his sister. This is how the story goes.
Karen ( Stephen's sister ) has a friend named Marcus. Marcus' brother Nick was diagnosed with a brain tumor in November of 05. He was 29 years old with a sweet young family. He had surgery and things looked good. The next October, it had returned and things did not look so good. He passed away two months later in December. His family, obviously devastated, decided they wanted to raise money to fund a research grant in Nick's name. Apparently this tumor is the most common brain tumor that afflicts young people, including children. Nick, prior to his death, had traveled to Italy with his wife and some friends and they had a wonderful time. A friend (I believe...it may have been a family member) purchased a trip to Italy to honor Nick and raffle off to raise money in order to fund this research grant. Karen (my sister-in-law) purchased some of these tickets. And oh yeah, you know what I am going to say, she won it. She, being the AWESOME person she is, has traveled quite a bit, and has lots of frequent flyer miles. So, she would not have to buy a ticket to Italy....and the trip is payed for two....and the stay is in a villa with two rooms....SO WE ARE GETTING TO GO TO ITALY! WOO HOO! All we will have to pay is sight seeing and food. AMAZING! I am SO pumped I cannot even explain. I have wanted to travel to Italy since I fell in love with Renaissance art in my art history classes freshman year of college. Karen is an amazing person for giving this gift to us. We would not be able to afford this in a million years...or at least till we were retired. Of course Stephen is so excited about the culinary opportunity in traveling to that part of the world...the food is crazy amazing. Needless to say we are overwhelmed and SO excited. Have a great week!
As I am watching this, Stephen is in the other room talking to his sister. This is how the story goes.
Karen ( Stephen's sister ) has a friend named Marcus. Marcus' brother Nick was diagnosed with a brain tumor in November of 05. He was 29 years old with a sweet young family. He had surgery and things looked good. The next October, it had returned and things did not look so good. He passed away two months later in December. His family, obviously devastated, decided they wanted to raise money to fund a research grant in Nick's name. Apparently this tumor is the most common brain tumor that afflicts young people, including children. Nick, prior to his death, had traveled to Italy with his wife and some friends and they had a wonderful time. A friend (I believe...it may have been a family member) purchased a trip to Italy to honor Nick and raffle off to raise money in order to fund this research grant. Karen (my sister-in-law) purchased some of these tickets. And oh yeah, you know what I am going to say, she won it. She, being the AWESOME person she is, has traveled quite a bit, and has lots of frequent flyer miles. So, she would not have to buy a ticket to Italy....and the trip is payed for two....and the stay is in a villa with two rooms....SO WE ARE GETTING TO GO TO ITALY! WOO HOO! All we will have to pay is sight seeing and food. AMAZING! I am SO pumped I cannot even explain. I have wanted to travel to Italy since I fell in love with Renaissance art in my art history classes freshman year of college. Karen is an amazing person for giving this gift to us. We would not be able to afford this in a million years...or at least till we were retired. Of course Stephen is so excited about the culinary opportunity in traveling to that part of the world...the food is crazy amazing. Needless to say we are overwhelmed and SO excited. Have a great week!
This picture was taken on my way to work...even though the quality isn't that great ( camera phone ), you can see how amazing that sunrise was. God was definitly shining that morning.
2 comments:
WOW...how exciting! It will be so good for y'all to be able to get away and relax! I tried to watch that special on tv, but I couldn't stop crying so I made Jered change the channel. Once you have a child, it puts everything in perspective.
tag, you're it...check my blog. :)
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