I’ll never forget the time a friend phoned me after he had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. He was so pumped about all the things that were becoming clear to him, and he wanted help in writing a book that he could share with others.

My friend could hardly contain his excitement. He was so stoked that it was hard for him to slow down and be specific. That night on the phone, I struggled to get a good read on all he wanted to express. But since his passing, I’ve come to understand a couple of things that became very clear to him.

First, he seemed to understand as never before what James meant when he said that our “life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone” (James 4:14). While this metaphor applies to a person who lives to be a hundred years old, it is most poignantly understood when someone’s life is cut short by a disease or an accident.

Grasping this first point seemed to reinforce a second point—that the goods of life we accumulate are overrated. Or as Jesus put it, “What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?” (Mark 8:36).

My friend accumulated a lot of cool stuff while working as a fishing and hunting guide in Alaska. But he was the first to say that, while useful, his possessions weren’t all that important. What mattered most was having a relationship with Jesus and sharing His love with others.

Looking back, it wasn’t that my friend came to see things he didn’t already know. He was never one to be consumed with earthly possessions. But facing death sharpened his focus on what is most important.