John
It was November of 1989. My brother, sister, and I were in the waiting room at Presbyterian Hospital, awaiting the surgeon’s report on my father. My dad had been complaining for several months that he just wasn’t feeling well. The doctors couldn’t find anything, so they suggested exploratory surgery. When the surgeon came back into the waiting room, he said, “We found that he has pancreatic cancer, and it has spread everywhere. There is nothing we can do.”
Of course, my brother, sister, and I asked the inevitable question that every doctor hates to answer: “How long does my dad have, do you think, Doctor?” He replied, “Well, it’s impossible to know. It could be weeks. It could be a few months. It might even be a year. But attitude is everything.”
That struck me. With all the medical technologies available, the doctor was saying that the greatest variable in my father’s longevity would be something immeasurable but very real: his attitude. I immediately thought of a comment by William James: “Perhaps the greatest discovery of this century is that if you can change your attitude, you can change your life.”
That statement inspired me to preach a series and write a book about the attitudes Christians should strive to adopt instead of those that come naturally. I’m talking about choosing things like: | - Purpose over aimlessness
- Perserverance over defeat
- Faith over worry
| My book, Choose Your Attitudes, Change Your Life, is being sent as a thank-you gift to anyone who donates to Pathway to Victory's ministry work this month.
Each one of us has the opportunity to adjust our attitudes and choose what is noble and good. When we make that decision, the ramifications to our life and the lives of those around us are significant. I want to help you make the right choices. | | | |
