Archives for January 2, 2014

Shortly after I read the tragic blog of a man who committed suicide recently, one of my parishioners told me how her mother died at the age of fifty-one. On the last day of her life, with the family gathered around her bed, she closed her eyes for what they thought would be the last time, but before she passed on, she suddenly opened her eyes, lifted up one hand, and spoke with conviction, “Last evening the Lord reassured me, ‘I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me’” (Isa. 49:16).

She then paused and said, “I long to go now to be with my Savior.”

One of the relatives responded, “But you are so young yet—only fifty-one. Wouldn’t you want to be restored to stay with your children? They are so young yet.”

“I have committed my young children into the Lord’s hand,” she said. “He will take of them.”

After that, she slipped away into the presence of her King.

The contrast between these deaths could hardly be more stark. Charles Spurgeon was certainly right when he said that the best way to live is to be always ready to die so that when the day of our death comes we have nothing left to do but die.

I wish you and your loved one in this new year this kind of dying life in Christ, so that we may find our daily life in Christ for our justification and our daily dying in Him for our sanctification. Have a blessed New Year—in Christ Jesus, by God’s stupendous grace!

Here is another update on my niece, Trichelle, as she goes through chemotherapy.

Hello,

Tuesday (Dec. 31) we received the second treatment of Herceptin and the fourth treatment of Paclitaxel. We have eight more weeks of Paclitaxel and eleven months of Herceptin planned.

It was the best chemo treatment yet as it was the first time we didn’t need a doctor’s visit for an unusual reaction while receiving chemo. We’re thankful for the prayers of many about this.

The side effects of this chemo are not as bothersome as they were with the first four rounds of chemo. So that has been a big blessing as well.

Also, Trichelle’s blood work was the highest it was yet—1.7. So that was another answer to prayer.

We are thankful for all the support and the days when we get meals.

That night we enjoyed a good dinner prepared by Dave’s former Gr. 1 teacher who just so happens to be our son Breyden’s current Gr. 1 teacher! The meal was delicious!

Thanks for the cards. Many of you have pointed us to the text Isaiah 41:10. Just today we received another card in the mail with, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you” (Isa. 41:10).

Love Dave & Trichelle

I’m just back from taking my youngest daughter, sweet and beautiful Lydia, out to breakfast on her eighteenth birthday. It was a great time, but I feel a lot older today—can scarcely believe that my youngest is now an adult! Where has all the time gone? How critical it is to redeem the time, to live every minute to the full, to live wholly for Christ each hour of each day! Help me to do that, dear Lord, looking to Jesus.