Priorities
I recently attended a book signing for Jim Chastain’s new book, I Survived Cancer, But Never Won the Tour de France. You can get his book at amazon.com, by the way. I also encourage you to check out Jim’s website at www.jimchastain.com. I knew much of Jim’s story, as he and his wife shared some of the details of their horrific battle with me over the last few years. In the book, however, Jim goes deeper than what we are normally comfortable with in face to face conversations. He speaks of his struggle with faith, depression, and hope.
I have never had cancer and don’t want it. When I was working as a hospital chaplain I talked with several cancer patients, but had no way of understanding. All I could really do was listen. So it seemed strange to me how much I resonated with Jim’s struggle. In his chapter entitled “The Cancer Card” Jim writes about the gift of repriortizing that cancer gave him–how every day became precious and those things that seemed so important before, lost their luster. No longer was he afraid or shy about saying “no”. Instead he made a conscious choice to live each day more fully focusing on what was chiefly important.
I experienced something similar after losing my job last year, though I’m certain the intensity of my experience is but a shadow of Jim’s. Being fired, however, had a way of forcing me to rethink my life, what was important to me, and what I wanted to spend my time doing. I came to realize that much of what I had done in recent years had been tied to my fear of losing financial security and the respect of others. I attended meetings I thought were a waste of time. I cajoled people into doing things I thought ridiculous myself. I had become cynical about the busyness of church, but pretended I was all for it. After losing my job in a rather humiliating way, I no longer cared what people thought. I no longer felt the need to maintain an image. Instead, I was freed to begin thinking for the first time about what was important to me, what I wanted to do with my life. Neither cancer or unemployment are things to wish on oneself, but sometimes the crises of our lives force us to look up to discover what’s important and what’s not.
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