They say it takes a full year to recover physically from the effects of cancer. I can believe it. But it doesn't happen all at once; sometimes signs of improvement come week by week. An encouraging sign to me is that I need less sleep than I did when I returned to work in September -- which is a very good thing, as Martha Stewart says, because I get up for work at 2:30 a.m.

When I first came back on the air I needed 10 hours of sleep. That meant getting to bed by 4:30 p.m. in the afternoon! Now I can get by with 7 to 8 hours, and that means I can actually "stay up" 'til 7:30 p.m. on some "school nights." That's important when you don't want your family to start referring to you as "that guy who sleeps all the time in our back bedroom."

I had another encouraging sign of improving strength and stamina during my holiday vacation. I was able to help my older son move back to San Diego from Sacramento. I flew up there on Wednesday the 29th, helped James and a couple of guys load a giant U-Haul truck that day and the next, then drove the truck to San Diego, with James and his two Chihuahuas "riding shotgun."

Now, I love to drive. In my youth, it was common for me to drive 10, 12, even 18 hours at a stretch just for the pleasure of it. But the drive from Sacramento to San Diego that night was a real test of my "state of recovery," because of the weather -- and the truck. The truck had 202,000 miles on it, and while it appeared mechanically sound and safe, inside the cab it sounded as if we were riding in the belly of a freight train. Add to that a steady, heavy rain which fell from the time we left Sacramento (around 4:00 p.m.) to the time we hit Los Angeles (around 1:00 a.m. New Years Eve), a radio and windshield wipers which barely worked, an engine which was only capable of doing about 50 mph, so that huge semi-trucks were forced to pass me on the narrow freeway, and an interstate highway which looked more like a country road, and you have some idea what I was facing.

Anyway, after two straight days of loading the truck and nine hours wrestling, er, driving it, I finally gave out and turned the duties over to James. We had stopped for gas in San Clemente. He had been very careful not to hurt my feelings by suggesting I wasn't up to the job, and he let me know he was ready to take over any time, but I wanted to see how far I could push myself. San Clemente was as far as I could push myself. So, James took over for the rest of the way, and we pulled into our driveway around 3:30 a.m. New Years Eve morning. But you know what? I felt great, despite being tired. It was the most I had accomplished physically in 10 months.

There was one "down side" to the trip from Sacramento. I had to miss the Holiday Bowl. I've been telling you about the new friends I've made -- men who got breast cancer as I did, and were helped through their ordeal by following my journal. Well, one of them, Gary, has annual tickets to the Holiday Bowl and invited Jenny and me to join him and his wife Anne. Since we couldn't go, they suggested taking us out to dinner for my birthday the first week of January. So, that's what we did -- to Bandar, of course -- and we had a terrific time. It's interesting the things that bring people together. I never expected to start a friendship through a shared experience with a deadly disease ... but that's what's happened.

I also never expected to be honored with the recognition that has come my way through all of this. The latest is in the current edition of "San Diego Magazine," which calls me one of the 50 San Diegans to watch in 2005. They even took my picture for the article! I can't tell you how much that means to me. I've wanted to be on that list since the magazine first started doing it! I called to thank them and told the lady I spoke with that I didn't feel worthy of being on the list just because I had survived cancer. And she said it wasn't that ... it was the writing and sharing I'd done while undergoing treatment, which the magazine considered a courageous thing to do. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I benefited from it more than anyone else did.

In fact, I've found another free web site, which allows people with serious illnesses to journal and keep in touch with those who care about them. It's called www.caringbridge.com. The one I had mentioned previously is called www.carepages.com. If you have a serious illness, or know someone with a serious illness, please consider creating a personal web page at either site. It does the patient, and his or her loved ones, a world of good.

I'm going in for a major blood test this week. Please pray that all continues to be well with that. Since the holidays, I'm afraid my "blood-chocolate" levels are through the roof! And pray that I'll represent the Lord well at my speaking engagements this month. I especially invite you to come to Skyline on Jan. 29 or 30.

I close this entry by reminding those of us who have gone, or are going, through trials of any kind why these things are allowed to happen to us. According to I Peter 1:7 "These (trials) have come so that your faith ... may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor, when Christ is revealed."

Proving our faith is genuine. Now that's worth going through trials for -- even 11-hour drives in old U-Haul trucks!

Bill