The body and the spirit for many of us begin their final struggle, for those who've made it that far, in the eighth inning. By the ninth inning the struggle is already likely won or lost. Going into battle, a good stance to take, is to accept one's loss of the body and its' life as a foregone event. What is fooling us is time. We have plenty of time, time in the present tells us convincingly. But there is no singular time, time only exists as a comparative event. Our only goal after making a decision should be to build our faith. There are many stages and strengths of faith, from the little to great faith. One does not know how much we have until the blow falls. As my uncle said in the hospital corridor, I knew it was coming but not this soon. He was eighty.