Being told I have a terminal illness, I went through and continue to go through a lot of emotions.  The worst time (so far) was when I was first diagnosed.  I have of course, had a good bit of time to process it all.  Other people, not so much....

We are 6 months in, just about, at our new church.  There is a man who came up to me last week with tears in his eyes.  His first thing to say was, "Some things you know, you wish you could just not know."  He explained he had been researching Lou Gherig's disease (ALS) and then said, "it's terminal, you know!"  O.k.  for just a moment, I confess, the comic in me wanted to say, "No!  I never knew that!", but I of course did not.  I realized this man was deeply touched by learning that fact.  He said, "we don't want you to leave us.  We love you."  Wow.  It hit me.  It hit me hard.  To see my illness through someone else, someone who has just known me a few months, took me a back.  You see, I know my illness affects people other than me, but to see someone with tears as if they had been punched in the gut, got to me.  

I went home and prayed- not for me- but for this man and the others like him who are being affected by ALS through me.  May God help us all!