MONDAY

Today I am making one final entry.  Mary’s earthly story is complete.  Her heavenly one is just beginning

On Saturday, May 29th, our family sought to do two things during Mary’s memorial service.  One was to honor Mary for the incredible woman, wife, mom and friend she was, and the other was to glorify God.  I believe we accomplished both.  Our district superintendent, Dave Klinsing, led our service and after an opening slide show of Mary’s life over the years, Dave encouraged us by leading us through aspects of Psalm 23 with insights so appropriate for the day.  Our worship band led us in singing, Jesus Paid It All, which reminded us again of the grace, joy and hope we have in our Lord Jesus.  We were blessed and honored to have a number of friends attend the service who were willing to share tributes and remembrances of their years with Mary Ann.  The former president of the C&MA, Peter Nanfelt, for whom I had the joy of serving during the three years we were in the Springs, and his wife Jerry, touched my heart with their remembrances.  Three of Mary’s special friends, Liz Rao, who was an angel of blessings throughout Mary’s illness, Deb VanderHeiden, who, since 1975 developed a sister kinship with Mary, and Sarah Liu, our former pastor’s wife, where mutual love, encouragement and a similarly underdeveloped senses of direction, led them to spend significant time together, touched our memories and confirmed our recollections.  A very special lady from our church, Jane Smith, sang one of Mary’s favorite songs from Mercy Me, “I Can Only Imagine”, followed by a tribute from Mary’s brother, Bob, who brought insight and perspective to the core of our pain and loss. Exerpts from Mary’s Bible and Journals were presented by Bryan and Beth, and then a letter written by me to Mary Ann, was read by a dear friend who had lost an 18 year old son to cancer 10 years ago.  He knows my pain and throughout this past year I spent many hours with him talking and crying.  The service ended with the singing of Blessed Be the Name (Mark Redman) and How Great is Our God/How Great Thou Art.  How blessed we were to have the worship band and choir lead us.

After Dave Klinsing’s final words and benediction I had the joy of greeting additional friends how were not able to make the visitation time the night before.  To all of you I want to say thanks for standing with us during this time of loss.  We have been blessed and honored by your kindnesses and generosity, your words of encouragement, and your practical displays of love.  I am deeply humbled.

Sunday morning, I drove with my sister, Nancy, to Minnesota to spend a week with her and my cousins.  I want to get my emotional equilibrium back as much as possible over these next two weeks.  I will leave Sunday for Iowa to visit friends and than to Michigan to see additional friends.  I will finish my time off with two nights at the house, visiting with my son, Bryan and his family, and then taking off for Sarah’s in NC for a long weekend. I will be back in the church office, June 15th, ready to engage a full load of minsitry once again. 

Thank you for sharing this journey with me.  I trust that all who have been following the blog have the assurance that when death comes to them they too will transition from this physical death to the fullest of life in the indescribable joys and beauty of God’s presence.  I John 5:11,12

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