Impressed with Tony Snow
... who passed away at age 53 from a bout with cancer.
...he has said some things that I believe, but couldn't put into words like his eloquence. Take note of an excerpt from one of his speeches.


Words of Tony Snow facing cancer, speaking on life and death
In a July 2007 article for Christianity Today, "Cancer’s Unexpected Blessings," he dilated upon what he thought his illness had given him:

"I don’t know why I have cancer, and I don’t much care. It is what it is — a plain and indisputable fact. Yet even while staring into a mirror darkly, great and stunning truths begin to take shape. Our maladies define a central feature of our existence: We are fallen. We are imperfect. Our bodies give out.
But despite this — because of it — God offers the possibility of salvation to choose how to use the interval between now and the moment we meet our Creator face-to-face….
Remember that we were born not into death, but into life — and that the journey continues after we have finished our days on this earth. We accept this on faith, but that faith is nourished by a conviction that stirs even within many nonbelieving hearts — an intuition that the gift of life, once given, cannot be taken away. Those who have been stricken enjoy the special privilege of being able to fight with their might, main, and faith to live — fully, richly, exuberantly — no matter how their days may be numbered….
The moment you enter the Valley of the Shadow of Death, things change. You discover that Christianity is not something doughy, passive, pious, and soft. Faith may be the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. But it also draws you into a world shorn of fearful caution. The life of belief teems with thrills, boldness, danger, shocks, reversals, triumphs, and epiphanies. Think of Paul, traipsing though the known world and contemplating trips to what must have seemed the antipodes (Spain), shaking the dust from his sandals, worrying not about the morrow, but only about the moment.
There’s nothing wilder than a life of humble virtue — for it is through selflessness and service that God wrings from our bodies and spirits the most we ever could give, the most we ever could offer, and the most we ever could do….
Through such trials [as a diagnosis of cancer], God bids us to choose: Do we believe, or do we not? Will we be bold enough to love, daring enough to serve, humble enough to submit, and strong enough to acknowledge our limitations? Can we surrender our concern in things that don’t matter so that we might devote our remaining days to things that do?…"

Wow! I would have to add that talking about the eventuality of passing from this life into another better life, has actually brought my friends to a place where they can talk about what their life is going to be like when I am gone. Yesterday, a bridge-playing friend exhorted me to continue to watch over them as they play. I think she was referring to my habit of reminding players of the rules during our games. I guess she wants an other-earthly referee. I appreciate the fact that I won't be soon forgotten, even though the concept she voiced isn't possible.