Some are given a pass

There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven-- 2A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted. 3A time to kill and a time to heal; A time to tear down and a time to build up. (Ecclesiastes)

When given a cancer diagnosis, why are some people spared and others die? For that matter, any sickness.Here  http://onedayatatime-ginger.blogspot.com/2008/07/handling-what-we-are-given.html I wrote about getting my cancer diagnosis and the morning of the surgery *knowing* I would be fine.  My dad is in the middle of immunotherapy for cancer in a lymph node.  We are optimistic, but of course, we won't know the outcome until after his treatments and he has another pet scan.  

A childhood friend I'm friends with on FB reported a few months ago that her father-in-love has cancer.  I have been praying for him.  Sadly, yesterday she reported there is nothing more that can be done, and hospice has been called in.  

Two years ago my mother was sent home under hospice to die from congestive heart failure.  To shorten the story, by December of 2015 she had decided to get up from that hospital bed, and with the help of two physical therapists, she is now walking with a walker and getting her hair done each Friday.  My parents go where they want around town, as long as someone drives them.

Two weeks ago a friend was hospitalized with pneumonia and pleurisy.  He nearly died, but God spared him, and he is now home with a long road of recovery. 

Why?  Why did I and my mother get a pass, and seemingly my father and my friend, but my other friend's father-in-law didn't?  We have lived  in a fallen world since the event in the garden.  Yes, God is the great healer and could heal anyone at any time, but His ways are not our ways.  There are some things we will never understand on this earth.  Could it be as simple as "It's not our time"?  Yes, it could.  The moral is take every day as though it were your last and appreciate it for what it is.  None of us know how much time we have; Dad is 89, mother is 84, I was 44 when diagnosed, my friend is 59, and my friend's father-in-law is around 70.  Some of us get a pass, but others don't.  

There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest.