you only get the days you get

OK, so its been a while! This blogging thing can be demanding. The desire to wax poetic, devotional, or thought provoking is still strong, but the busyness of life makes that tough. Will plan to broaden my range and just get out there more often, even if just commentating on life.

Speaking of commentating, its hard not to notice two newsmaking women the last couple of weeks. First is Ashley Smith, the single mother from Atlanta whose heroism and bravery has landed her face on the covers of magazines and national headline news. I find the story quite remarkable. I'm not a huge salesman of The Purpose Driven Life. I have read it, it is good, and perhaps I should read it again. I have no beef with it either as some might. However, its hard to argue with it in this instance. No, as Warren points out, his book isn't saving anybody. It's the 1500 verses of Scripture woven into the book and upon which its based that's doing the transformation.

A couple of articles worth your time....

• First, an interview with Rick Warren on Larry King from Tuesday, March 22nd http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0503/22/lkl.01.html
• Second, a short article from a journalist from Texas that caught my attention http://www.mywesttexas.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14147134&BRD=2288&PAG=461&dept_id=475590&rfi=6

Another hard-to-miss story in the news is that of Terri Schiavo (read the Rick Warren interview with Larry King above - he has some interesting things to say about both Angela Smith, her kidnapper, AND Terri Schiavo).

What are we learning from this?

First, living wills are a smart idea, and we all should have one.

Second, there are issues in life where there will be no clear-cut answer - most of us will say that life matters, but then turn around and say "but I hope that if that ever happened to me, my family wouldn't let me exist in that state." Or something like that.

Third, politicians will always be politicians. I laughed out loud when I heard a "prominent Senator" speak out that the government should have no say in this private family matter. Oh, BTW, the same prominent Senator who feels the government should have something to say about other private family matters like abortion. Which is it? I guess whatever is popular at the moment.

Lastly, I heard a quote not long ago..."You only get the days you get." We don't know what tomorrow holds. We don't even know about the rest of our day. Maybe a gunman forces himself into our apartment and holds us hostage. Maybe we're confined to a wheelchair because of an accident or a disease. Maybe we're part of the collateral damage during a terrorist bombing. Sound outlandish? There are those who would tell you it may have sounded ludicrous to them...before it happened to them. Bottom line: we don't know when our how our life will come to an end, or when it might be radically altared. All we have control of is how we live our lives.

How am I living mine? How are YOU living yours?