"The Unexpected Gift: I Will Life Up Mine Eyes Unto The Hills...

Greetings from Grand Teton National Park in Davey Jackson's Hole, Wyoming. Donna and I are on my next-to-last Fall lecture trip to Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming and back to Southwest Oregon Community College. The route allows us the privilege to visit one of the world's most amazing places. We served 18 months here in the early '80's with A Christian Ministry In The National Parks and every trip seems like the first time we saw the Tetons, the Valley, and the majesty of God's creation. Breathtaking!

The trip began with a stay in Boise with Ken and Nancy Elwer at their daughter Katie's home. Ken and Nancy are moving from Philomath near us to Eagle, Idaho to be near Katie and Ken's brother Steve and his family. We visited the future homesite and had breakfast before we left with John McGuire who is working in Student Affairs at Boise State. John in an OSU Grad. We then detoured to Hagerman, Idaho to see Rudy Shokal, a family friend, on his 20 acres in the beautiful valley where the Malad River runs into the Snake River. So beautiful!

When we crested the Teton Pass into Jackson Hole at 10,000 feet with the mountains hovering another 3,700 feet plus over our heads, Donna said, "Where did the last thirty years go?" We were so full of hope, and other things as well! We came here because I wanted to see if I could stand in front of people and talk about God with any integrity and grace. Standing at 6,000 feet at the base of 13,700 foot mountains provides some mighty fine inspiration. One sermon I actually pointed at the Grand Teton being bathed in a golden ray of sunlight, paused, and said "Amen." That was the entire sermon! Our congregations included Wyoming cowboys, seasonal employees, the Secretary of The Interior, and locals who came because they could not believe anyone would let me be a minister.
I used to tell them that God chooses ministers because He wants to watch them extra close. The locals called me "Sky Pilot."

We stopped at David Carpenter's home on the Teton Village Road before tackling the unpaved Moose Road to Jenny Lake to have a beverage of choice. David was part of the Christian Ministry support team when we served here and we have remained friends for 30 years. His brother Craig came by to say hello and was usually part of our extensive hiking adventures here. The Carpenter family was very good to us while we in the Tetons. David lives at the end of the Teewinot Road and his family room windows frame the Grand Teton Range. It doesn't get much better. He is retired now from teaching.

We are staying at the Jenny Lake Lodge in a cabin looking directly up at the Grand. After breakfast this morning, I asked David to take Donna hiking because as you all know, you want to keep her burning energy or she will self generate projects for herself and us. The bolted at 9 a.m. straight up into the mountains where they will inevitably see moose, migrating elk, and perhaps a bear or two. Do not feel sorry for me...I couldn't keep up with them when I was young and totally healthy so I am at the lodge reading, typing, and looking at the snow capped mountains that are preparing themselves for Winter, which at 28 degrees here last night, is just around Fall's corner.

We will journey tomorrow through Yellowstone National Park dodging the 10,000 migrating elk that winter in the valley as we did last night driving in. Amazing animals who winter and begin the courting rituals for the Spring with their nightly bugeling. My lecture is Monday night in Powell, then Tuesday we begin the journey for home with a stop at our family Jack and Donna Taylor's home in Coeur D'Alene. Donna looks more like my Mom Bettye every year.

My friend David Patterson, former Assistant Gymnastics Coach at The University of Alabama sent me a beautiful quote I wanted to share with you today. David is a cancer survivor who is a great person, coach, husband, and father. David and I have shared some times and said some things to each other that men just don't share enough. Cancer it seems pulls back the veils on our eyes and hearts and opens deep channels of communication. The quote David shared is from Ruth McGinnis, a Nashville recording artist and author who when she wrote this had recently been diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

"One of the most powerful insights I've had as a result of this unexpected detour in my well-planned life is truly understanding the the value of my work-the books I've written, my instrumental recordings, the speaking and performing I've done for countless years-has nothing to do with commercial success. I always thought that to be 'successful,' I would have to register in the marketplace with some measurable impact, like making the New York Times best sellers list. As a result, even though I've enjoyed a rewarding career as a creative person, I've always felt that somehow I'd never quite arrived-that my life was incomplete. Having cancer has forever changed this. The cards, letters, gifts, phone calls, and emails I've received from people I know-and many I've never met-have revealed to me that the reach of my work and the value of my simply being here is greater than I ever could have imaged. I am convinced this is true for each one of us. That we all tend to be hard on ourselves and measure our achievements against harsh standards. We fail to appreciate our own contributions, and we forget to acknowledge the gifts, beauty and efforts of others. I will never think of success, fulfillment and contentment the way I used to. Cancer has swept the veil away from my eyes-has given me a new way of looking at life and rethinking everything. It is an unexpected gift."

David Patterson continued, "I want you to use that vivid imagination of yours, and just for a moment, imagine all the people you have helped over the years gathered in one place. The school auditorium in the movie Mr. Holland's Opus wouldn't come close to holding the people you have affected. Maybe, and I mean this sincerely, only maybe could Alabama's Bryant Denny Stadium's capacity of 101,821 come close to holding all the people whose lives are better today because of Will Keim. Thank you, and know that I love you."

Can you imagine what this means to me? Today, sitting in the place where I first stood and spoke openly about God, and Christ, and love, and forgiveness...pondering a hopeful yet unsure future, my heart soars with joy because my life seems to have mattered. I have unpaid taxes and bills, I am not on the New York Times best selling list, yet cancer has swept the veil away from my eyes-has given me, as Ruth McGinnis eloquently wrote-"a new way of looking at life and rethinking everything.
It is an unexpected gift." Tracy Maxwell knows this. David Patterson knows this. I have been taught this. It is possible that our experience might teach those of you that are cancer free this lesson without having to get the disease?

You matter. Your life matters. Each day presents opportunities to appreciate your own contributions and to acknowledge the gifts, beauty and efforts of others. To say I love you. To say I forgive you. To start anew. To be the person you have always to be. I know I was just cruising along taking it all for granted. Now each breath, each meal, each sunrise seems to be the most amazing experience ever. And I want that for all of you without the cancer. I want you to be the friend to someone that David Patterson has been to me. All of you for that matter have given me gifts I never earned. That is the amazing thing about Grace. Now I can see it clearly. Will you join me?

In my cabin at Jenny Lake today, The Grand Teton standing guard over me, the air crisp and clean, I open the Gideon's Bible in my room to the 121st Psalm:

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is thy keeper; the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

Each minute I have been and will be given...each of you...each life experience...each child Donna and I have been blessed with...the writings of others...my own thoughts...each act of kindness received and given...the mountains, lakes, streams, and trees...my Addie and Harvey...our home...our troubles, trials, and travails, and yes...even cancer...have been 'unexpected gifts,'  Please, and I say this from the deepest depths of my soul, lift up your eyes and see your blessings and gifts today, tomorrow, and each day after that. Step out of the mundane daily grind and into the extraordinary human being that You are. You can, without cancer I believe, remove the veils from your eyes and see the unique and precious journey upon which you are embarked. You do not walk alone!

This is my hope for you and me today.

Blessings and love,

Will