Bill Nelson

Bill grew up in Northwest Indiana in a small town just off the southern tip of Lake Michigan. His family was small, and lived a small-town life; simple, hardworking, and church-going––every week––sometimes multiple times a week. Faith and spirituality have always anchored Bill’s life in the Divine.

Bill had a great childhood that grew into a great adulthood. Some would say he was blessed. He often thinks he was just lucky because he did nothing to earn any form of a blessing that became his life. But life didn’t stay that way. It never does, does it? The darkness eventually found him and wreaked havoc in his life in the form of a rare, incurable cancer diagnosis. That didn’t feel like much of a blessing. But Bill has learned that God does things a lot different than he would. And God wastes nothing.

So far, this cancer hasn’t killed him, which means he’s getting bonus years. And he’s not wasting them. Bill is grateful for what he’s discovered about living after feeling like he cheated dying. Don’t take him wrong, cancer sucks. But once he accepted it for what it is in his life, his mind and soul opened to what the journey could teach him. So he became a student of life after cancer. It’s a school he never wanted to attend, but he chose to sit in the front row.

As he pursued better ways to live, Bill had conversations with others about what he was learning. And he began to write. Bill has always been fascinated by the creative process; how there was nothing, then through focused effort, something arises, comes into existence. Friends encouraged him to share his thoughts on a wider scale. That became a book. If you’re inclined to read it, you might find inspiration to reflect on your life, maybe shift some thoughts, make a few new choices, and discover how you can live with more joy, more peace and create a hopeful future, even if it feels like life isn’t going as you planned.

The Simple Facts:

Bill is an attorney, writer, and speaker. He earned a Business Administration degree from Taylor University and a Juris Doctorate from Valparaiso University School of Law. He’s been in private law practice for 30 years and serves as a part-time Public Defender.

Bill lives an active lifestyle that includes fitness and exercise, skiing, bicycling, golf, and travel. And recently, he’s taken up Pickleball, and is still trying to figure out why it’s named after a vegetable. Bill enjoys reading, wine (particularly Napa Valley reds), a game called Kubb, watching baseball and hockey, and slow, easy, weekend mornings, sipping lattes with his wife, Jane.

Bill and Jane have two adult sons, Erik and Adam, and a grand dog named Covi.

The Nitty Gritty:

Bill still wants to…

 Attend the Division I College World Series

 Visit all the National Parks

 Travel to Sweden (the place of his family origin)

 Attend the Winter Olympics

 See the Northern Lights.

His favorite…

 Book: Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller.

 Bands: U2, Coldplay and The Rocketboys.

 Album: Joshua Tree by U2

 TV Series: Breaking Bad

 Podcast: The RobCast by Rob Bell

 Sport: Baseball

 Teams: Chicago Cubs and Chicago Blackhawks

 Movies: Top Gun and About Time

 Quote: “Deeper than our instinct to live, is our longing to be alive.” (Erwin McManus)