I hit a milestone today! My first guest blog on someone else’s blog. This blog is about a theory I came up with based on the phases of life and music. Thanks Sunny for letting me post! Check it out here!
Many of you know that my mother has been fighting Sarcoidosis for the past 6 years. It has been a very difficult journey for her and my family over these years but she has always stayed positive. This strength and unwavering positive attitude has inspired everyone who came into contact with her. No matter what I was going through in my life, I always thought of mom and was inspired to stay positive.
On Friday May 20th around 2:15 her fight with this disease ended and she went home. The following is an email that my dad sent out Saturday morning to our church family and I would like to share it with you.
Calvary Friends,
You have all been such dear friends and continue to show your love of Christ to us as our family faced the trials of Bev’s illness and now her passing to be with our Lord. I wanted to let you know what happened at Bev’s passing yesterday since it was such a comfort to our family and hopefully in some small way will help comfort you who like us loved her dearly. Please feel free to pass this along to anyone that you think would be blessed by what happened.
After a number of conversations with the doctors and receiving the news that her kidney’s were about to shut down and even though some of the doctors wanted to continue treatment hoping to save her liver we as a family decided not to go forward with any additional treatments. After her seizure Tuesday night she never regained consciousness and even in the coma we could see on her face that she was still experiencing pain from the Sarcoids that has been so active this year.
Once the consent to pull life support was signed the nurses moved very quickly to prepare her for removing the ventilator. The family waited outside the room until they were finished then we were allowed in around 2:08pm. I, the kids and her brother and sister were in the room with her. She was breathing on her own, but with very shallow breaths, but showed no pain and looked peaceful. We talked to her and after a few minutes I put my hand on her chest and prayed aloud that if it was God’s will at this time it was OK with the family to take her home to relieve her from further suffering. It was raining outside and her brother Rick said look outside and when we looked up a hole in the clouds was opening up and a ray of sun shown in front of the hospital window into the Grand View parking lot. I looked down at Bev and said God is opening heaven for you. Her head was facing Brian sitting on the other side of the bed and her eyes opened a little and her head moved from one side of the bed to my side facing me and my daughter Jen said Dad mom just passed away. At that moment we looked outside and the hole in the clouds closed up and it started raining again. Only about 10 minutes had passed and I told the family that God had just opened up heaven to take Bev home and now he was crying with us as we mourned her leaving us.
We all felt including Rick and Debbie that God was taking her home and letting us know she was with him. The timing was perfect and it gave us all a peace about making the difficult decision not to continue treatment and to remove her from life support. After 6 years of fighting the good fight we know that Bev is dancing again with Jesus. When we came home our grandsons were there and I told the story to Josh who is 10 years old. I didn’t give any time but just related the events and how grandma was with God now. He asked if it was about 2:00 when grandma passed away because he and his class saw the sun come out and then close up and start raining again and that like us he got to see grandma go to heaven.
Thanks for your love and God Bless you all,
Ken and family
I love you Mom.
Update: This photo was taken May 20th around 2:15 by a church friend. They were waiting for the sky to clear for a wedding they were attending.
I have the habit of reading a Proverb a day (works out nice since there are 31 Proverbs and at most 31 days in a month!). I have found throughout the years that no matter how many times I may read a Proverb, I always discover something new.
As I was reading this month, the thirty Precepts of the Sages stood out to me (Proverbs: 22:17 to 24:22). These precepts are sound pieces of advice no matter how you look at them, after all they are in Proverbs and associated with Sages (wise philosophers known for making sound judgments). When looked at from a business leadership perspective, they can be very helpful and applicable even in today’s fast paced environment. The following is my own translation of the precepts through my career/business eyes.
- Don’t take advantage of people to get yourself ahead, in the end you will lose.
- Negativity is contagious, so stay away from negative people. (Much like Passion is contagious - so be PASSIONATE!)
- Be sure to consider all aspects before making a deal, don’t put yourself into debt because if you fail to pay you will lose it all.
- Maintain integrity and honor deals made even if they have been made in the past.
- Highly skilled people are hard to find and should be held onto if at all possible.
- Always remember who you are talking to no matter where you are.
- Don’t burn yourself out, we all need rest and refreshment at some point.
- Be careful with gifts from people with hidden motives, better to not accept them as it could burn you in the end.
- Don’t argue with people who just like to argue, it’s not worth your time.
- Never cheat or be dishonest with people even if you can, those you trample on will be avenged.
- Be disciplined and learn new things as often as possible.
- When someone makes a mistake or does something wrong, confront them and make them aware.. they will never learn if they do not know.
- When those around you are wise, you will be happy so surround yourself with wise people!
- Don’t envy those who have no integrity despite who they may be, follow your principles and your future will be bright.
- Everything in moderation, those who overindulge will always live in mediocrity.
- Respect those who have mentored and coached you, remember what they taught you and continue to always seek advice from those around you.
- Keep your guard up when it comes to relationships, choose wisely, being in a relationship with the wrong person is fatal.
- Those with a victim mentality will never get ahead unless they stop blaming others and start taking responsibility for their own actions.
- Be on your guard, some people really are evil, stay away from them!
- A successful business is started on wisdom, established through understanding and kept running smoothly through knowledge.
- An understanding of the big picture paired with good advice is critical for success.
- When you are in a serious meeting, make sure those who are in the meeting are the right people.
- If you put plans into place without integrity, it will eventually become public knowledge and no one will be able to trust you again.
- Tough times will show one’s true character.
- No action can be just as bad as negative action, ignorance is no excuse for failing to act when you know you should have.
- The attainment of wisdom needs to be at the top of your list, it is critical to secure your future.
- A winner will continue to bounce back and try again after a failure while a loser falls once and stays down.
- Don’t become arrogant and gloat about a success over an adversary, that may come back to bite you in the end.
- Do not worry about what negative people may be doing or saying, they have no future and will not last.
- Respect God and those in authority over you, be careful what groups you get involved with, make sure they are always on the up and up.
Proverbs rocks!
