I heard an interview with Ben Saunders. He skied to the North Pole. Alone. He is one of three people to do that trip that way. It’s a small group of people who have completed a very difficult task.

Many of us hear stories like that and feel a mix of “That’s crazy” and “I’ve never tried anything that risky” and “What am I doing that is making a difference?” Nancy and I have those conversations all the time while we walk our 2.25 miles a day. (Unless we walk four miles.) We aren’t the kind of people who take big chances, who set out on our entrepreneurial own. We just do what we do.

But I was thinking about Ben and I was thinking about Nancy and I realized that three people have skied to the North Pole, but no one, other than Nancy, has lived her life. No one.

She’s the only one to start out as a dental assistant and then decide that God wanted her to think about world missions and, as a result, to quit her job and go back to school. She moved from a small farm town to downtown Chicago. And then she finished school and went to work at  a college in the communication department, an ad agency/publishing house, and then back to the college in a completely different role.

She met Billy Graham there, and some other significant people, and then she met me. And quit her job, got married, moved to Texas, moved to Indiana, moved again, and moved again. Every time, working hard, getting settled, growing plants and relationships and kids and herself.

No one could have done her life any better this far. And she’s looking ahead in ways that still leave me in awe.

Happy Birthday, Nancy.

Thank you.