Oops!

November 13, 2007

By T. Ray Rachels

The May 7, 2007, issue of the Los Angeles Times reported an unusual story:

A man who said he spent his life savings after being told he had only months to live is seeking compensation after doctors at Royal Cornwell Hospital in southwest England conceded that the diagnosis was wrong.

John Brandrick, 62, was told two years ago he had terminal pancreatic cancer, Britain’s Press Association reported. He decided to spend his remaining time in style, quitting his job and spending his savings on hotels, restaurants and holidays.

A year later, he returned to the hospital, asked doctors how long he still had, and was given a new diagnosis. He had nonfatal pancreatitis. Full recovery was expected! Sorry.

“I was told I had limited time to live,” Brandrick said. “I got rid of everything — my car, my clothes, my money, everything.”

I know family and friends who have been given a hopeless survival diagnosis by doctors. When hope of living, of having an earthly future beyond a few months or weeks, was taken away they succumbed to the numbing fact their life was over.

The fact is we all will die. We just don’t know the when part. What keeps us going with energy and vision is that faithful companion — hope. We plan, we continue to develop, we look for ways to be happy, and we seek for ways to delay the inevitable.

But what if you knew the when? What steps would you take to stay productive until the end? How would you spend your money? What things would you choose to leave behind, tangible or intangible? What words would you speak, and to whom? What repairs would you make to a broken relationship? What good advice would you leave to people you know and love, advice you’ve learned from experience and now have a last chance to give?

Think about it.

“Everyone has to die once, then face the consequences” (Hebrews 9:27, The Message).

“If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we’re a pretty sorry lot. But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries” (1 Corinthians 15:19,20).

T. Ray Rachels is superintendent of the Southern California District of the Assemblies of God.