what a life

Rarely has someone I've never met or seen moved me to the point of intense self-reflection. Friday morning as I was getting ready for work I heard Diane Sawyer interrupt regular-scheduled programming to report that beloved Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch had gone home.  The 47-year old man lost his battle with terminal pancreatic cancer.  

Pausch has become well-known through one of his last moments with the staff and students at Carnegie Mellon.  He spoke to a 400+ crowd last September at the university and that lecture immediately hit YouTube.  The talk was modeled after an ongoing series of lectures where top academics are asked to think deeply about what matters to them, and then give a hypothetical "final talk".  With more than 10 million YouTube hits since then and numerous speaking engagements and appearances, Pausch was honored in May by Time as one of the World's Top-100 Most Influential People.

Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in August 2006 and after pursuing aggressive surgery and experimental chemotherapy, doctors told him he had 3 to 6 months of good health left back in August 2007.

I took some time this weekend and watched "The Last Lecture" on YouTube.  It was good to finally see for myself what all the talk was about.  He spoke about his "fight" and how he wants to be remembered by his family and friends. I took away several 'nuggets of greatness' from his lecture.

"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand." 

How true is that? For some reason this sentence spoke volumes to me this weekend.  The Lord gives us what we can handle and there's a reason we experience valleys and mountains.  It's about how we tackle those valleys and what it takes to climb those mountains.

"Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls aren't there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show us how badly we want things."

Pausch said he wasn't ever afraid of death.  He had a lot he wanted to accomplish before he said "goodbye" and according to everything I've read about his man, he did much more than any of us will ever do when we're given infinite years to live.

So, if you have the time or interest, I encourage you to check out this phenomenal speech on YouTube....and, remember:

"We have a finite amount of time. Whether short or long, it doesn't matter. Life is to be lived."

-Randy Pausch

Live the life you want to live and be thankful for what you've already experienced.  

Be blessed...