A goodbye, and Re-post: Testimonies of the Not-Yet-Healed,

Ben didn't often use this blog to re-post other entries, but this one is exactly right.  It describes the power and beauty of stories like Ben's and so many of you, and how sickness is not spiritual failure, and how all our stories can point to God.  Please read and be encouraged!

Testimonies of the Not-Yet-Healed

A friend of Ben's passed away last week.  They meet while working at Taproot Theatre; she was both a grant writer and actress and had already had a surgery to remove some tumors.
Before Ben got involved with the other DSRCT patients in Houston, she was one of the few people he could call who really understood what he was going through.  She was charming, introspective, funny - a great storyteller and listener.

Later, when we were visiting Seattle and she was going through cancer treatments again, I finally got to have a meal with her.  She knew that she wouldn't have a long life, but lived what she could to the fullest.  I'm surprisingly upset by her death, considering that I didn't know her that well.  Maybe because I know how much people like she and Ben have to give to the world?  And how hard she had to fight?

Last night, I saw her mother's description of her last week.  She died with a graceful spirit, surrounded by her husband, parents and other family.  Goodbye for now, give Ben a hug for me.

Goodness, now I'm crying at Panera.  Time to get back to work.