SIGN IN A MALL: I want to ice fish . . . as soon as I’m done beating cancer.

The phrase accompanies a picture of an elderly man, wearing a fur cap, holding up a fish. The purpose of the ad is to promote a local cancer center at the hospital.

I look at it and wonder if the old man is still alive. Did he beat the cancer? Or was he just a model, posing for the photo shoot, having nothing more than a few arthritic aches and pains? Patient or model, from age alone, are in the twilight years of their lives, disease being the main indicator of how many days they have left.

Cancer is from a Latin word for “crab.” The Greek physicians likened the crab’s appearance to a tumor with swollen veins. The astrological sign Cancer seems to also take its cue from the crab, meaning hard or tough, like the crab’s shell, indicating a personality that was determined or resolute.

We usually see cancer as all bad news, a destroying of life. And life is what we’re here for. Unlike other diseases that can strike quickly and hasten death, cancer can develop unseen for long periods, then proceed to kill with great suffering beforehand.

I don’t totally grasp why God allows diseases. Perhaps to see how we will deal with them. But why innocent children? Maybe to see how we will accept, or handle, their suffering and possible death. Still, it seems cruel. So we’re faced many times over with the age-old question: Does he exist? If he does, then why allow disease, hatred and all other forms of evil that we encounter or observe?

For myself, I can only respond with the realization that I must trust him. Millions of souls enter and leave this world every year. My life is important to me, but I’m just a drop in a very large ocean. How can one life have any significance? That’s where trust and hope come in.

I will hope in a creator, because I believe (another good word) that I see his work around me. I seem to hear his voice within me. I don’t have to sort out the difficulties of this world. I only have to trust. Just as a child must trust, and the parent seeks wisdom in order to provide nurturing — the great earthly pattern of a heavenly design.

The Apostle Paul writes, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” (I Corinthians 15:19). We weren’t created just to limp through life, or to hang on for the next one. We are to live it, day by day, moment by moment. This is God’s glory. Do your work, raise your family, take a hike, love your neighbor, ice fish …

Eternity is where life goes on when this fragile shell wears out. God has set his Spirit in the hearts of men. Listen and live.