Pink Warrior

July 18th, 2010 (Walks to resume tomorrow)

Radiation therapy completed on Friday. I thought about the long journey of the past year, since my diagnosis and understood the test behind the journey. I wanted to share a few of my thoughts on being tested.

Character is both developed and revealed by tests; and all of life is a test. There is no real failure. You are presented with the same test again and again until you learn the lesson intended. Have you ever run from one situation (a bad boss, bad relationship, a vice, an addiction, a wrong mindset) only to find it waiting at your next destination? Sure the names are changed, the face is different, but man, it's the same thing all over again. Deja Vu. Why? Because a behavior change is required, a new way of thinking or a character flaw that needs fixing. Not someone else's.....yours. Everywhere you go....there you are.

We are constantly being tested through:

• Major changes

• Delayed promises

• Impossible challenges

• Unanswered prayers

• Undeserved criticism

• Senseless tragedies

• Catastrophic illness

God tests our:

• Faith through problems

• Hope by how we handle our possessions

• Love through relationships with other people

• Stewardship by how we handle money

When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. ~ Buddhist Proverb