WHAT IS YOUR STORY?
We sat alone, in a board room set for 40 people, but nothing else mattered as the vast space was dramatically narrowed to an intense focus on the gentleman sitting so casually before me. A consummate character, full of life and a determination from his early teens to enjoy each day to its absolute maximum, he’d risen rapidly through the fast paced world of corporate finance in the heart of London’s financial district. While in his early 30’s with bonuses to die for, he had the Messaratis, Ferraris and power bikes as toys, hitting the F1 circuits in the company of models and beauty queens, champagne, caviar and Cuban cigars in tow, regularly cruising the hi-brow party scenes on yachts along the Mediterranean coast line. The man sitted before me was no longer this character but nothing prepared me for the tale he now told.
In his 48th year on earth, fit as a fiddle and actively playing rugby he just happened to be on a visit to see his children in the US when a new MRI machine was being installed. A casual conversation and a decision to scan a troublesome back led to a life altering discovery when two weeks later, the results showed he had leukemia. The journey of his battle with cancer from the day he discovered it to this afternoons meeting sucked the air out of the room and left me breathless. No one looking at him would know what he had endured for having fought death, he beat the cancer, regained all lost weight and though was on chemotherapy for the rest of his life, looked healthier than the next man on the street. But something was different about him and as I listened on, I saw a man who now knew why he was born.
Our God is all knowing and all His ways are just and true. So often when things happen to us that we can’t explain, we are overcome with emotions ranging from anger to bewilderment. Waking up to the news that you are terminally ill elicits various reactions in people but the fundamental question all mankind asks is ‘why’? Why me? Why now? The rest of your life is determined by how you answer that question. For this old secondary schoolmate of mine, the answer led him to become a counsellor to hundreds of people battling cancer, to becoming an inspiration to families whose loved ones had been diagnosed as such. He discovered a gift to write a blog that speaks to sufferers and laymen alike and saw in the lives of those he impacted the joy that is ignited when he is able to help them overcome anger, depression, hopelessness and move to an understanding that their story has a message as well and their life, regardless of how short it might seem, is an inspiration for someone else to face their own battle and find peace doing so. His story humbled me. Would yours do the same? May God help us find meaning to our lives today.