A diagnosis of cancer frees the author to answer God's call into kingdom work even while he confronts his mortality and the pain and anxiety that come with a terminal disease. The Apostle Paul sums up the author's experience of God's truth by writing, "This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed" (Romans 13:11 NLT).