When it's blue, it's blue...

This was what Jacksonville Beach looked like on Tuesday when we went there for a lunch with
a gang from the Proton Center. Like all the rest,
it was a very warm day. But the breeze at the
sea made it at least a bit more tolerable. The lunch was at one of the oldest hotels in Florida, which happens to be at JAX beach, the Casa
Marina. Actually JAX Beach was Hollywood before Hollywood existed, and the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, Mary Pickford, Katherine Hepburne, etc. all stayed at this quaint hotel. In more recent days, folks like Bill Cosby have enjoyed it. It's actually quite a "normal" place, but with such a fabulous place on the beach and great history, it's a fun place to visit.

Tomorrow after my treatment at 8am, Betty and I plan to drive up to Savannah, Georgia for the day. Everybody tells us it is a treat to see another old city. That's where Paula Dean holds forth in her restaurant, but I doubt we'd be able to get in there. You usually have to stand in line for 2 hrs waiting, and often don't make it then. We'll see. Then Saturday we plan to do a Segway tour of a beautiful area on Amelia Island (yes, that's right, Betty and I driving those unusual stand-up scooters!). That should be a blast.

The treatments continue to chug along. 30 down, and 11 to go. After tomorrow, it will be just 10 more treatments, two short weeks. Amazing! I know when I leave here the cancer won't be completely eradicated. But it will be sterilized such that it will slowly die, no longer being able to replicate.

There are a number of things we have learned about approaching life after cancer, central to which is good nutrition. We may not be able to control our genetics or environment, but we can control what we put in our mouths. And as we all boost our immune systems, we raise the ability of our bodies to withstand the attacks of any of these critters designed to destroy our lives. It just reminds me one more time of how the thief delights in destruction, the exact opposite of Jesus, who has come to give us life, and that more abundantly. Having been placed in an amazingly supportive, constructive, and encouraging environment for the last couple of months, it's something I want to see extended in every area of my life and the lives of those in our church as well. We need to be sold out to those things that bring forth life.

It's tough to see some of our new friends already leaving to go home. We will miss them. Last night we had dinner with our friends Ernest and Gloria from SoCal, fellow Calvary Chapelites. We have spent a bunch of time with them and enjoy them very much. They left for home this morning, as did another couple we have been getting to know. Then again, that's what you want: people getting healed and able to get back into life, albeit with a whole different perspective.

Like our friend Rose said to us, after cancer, life simply looks different. Things change. You realize that the "biggies" in life aren't so very big at all. And many of the little things you took for granted become much more important.

Today it's 97, with a heat index of 110. Hot enough for you? It was 98 yesterday. We're told this is classic Florida summer. Fabulous!

May you have a warm and wonderful day in the Lord!

Bill