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In April, 1999 Aaron heard these words from a doctor: "This cancer is going to take your life. If there is anything you want to do, do it now. If there is anywhere you want to go, go now. If there is anything you want to change, change it now." No one in the room doubted the truth of what the doctor was saying. Aaron had been battling intense pain for several weeks and had already lost nearly 20 lbs. from his muscular frame because of the cancer. He was 20 years old when he found out that he was going to die.
When Aaron was 9 years old he had a spot of skin cancer removed from his back. The doctors thought they had gotten it all and told his family he was cured. But at that time the doctors did not realize that there was a significant risk that the type of cancer Aaron had could come back, even years later. So a cancer that had started off as one small spot on a little boy's back returned as a multitude of tumors all the way from Aaron's skull to his upper legs, some as big as a grown man's fist. And there was no surgeon who could cut out every spot of cancer the second time, no medicine or radiation which could kill it all, there was just no cure. Aaron died January 11, 2000.
When friends came to visit Aaron when he was sick, some would ask him, "why would God let this happen to you?" They would see all the trophies lined up beside his bed that Aaron had won as "athlete of the year" every year that he was in high school, or the certificates he received for being on the honor roll and playing in the school band. Aaron's answer was found in his last diary entry: "My times are in thy hand" Psalm 31:15. When Aaron was 11 years old, he trusted Jesus Christ as his Savior and yielded his life to Him. And so when Aaron was faced with death, he did not fear because He knew that God would only do what was best for him, and that when he died, he would be in heaven because Jesus Christ had died for his sins.
What would your thoughts be if you were in Aaron's place and heard the doctor say, "This cancer is going to take your life. If there is anything. . .?" Would you be ready to die? What would you change? The Bible says "Prepare to meet thy God" (Amos 4:12). Aaron had prepared when he was 11 when he made Jesus Christ his own personal Savior; are you prepared? If not, when will you prepare? Remember, you may not receive the warning which Aaron did because as a man in the Bible said, "I know not the day of my death" (Genesis 27:2).
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