A Letter to Cancer by Jeremy Bradley - ( Southeast Journal )

This is an article in our local newspaper "The Southeast Journal". The article is written by Jeremy Bradley. It is a letter written to "cancer", this is a must read for anyone who has lost a loved one to cancer. You can link to the newspaper here - Southeast Journal

I took this picture of the article

Jeremy Bradley writes the following in the article in the Southeast Journal:

To the Point” By Jeremy Bradley World Cancer Day was earlier this week. Here’s my open letter:


Dear cancer, There are a lot of things in life that I don’t like. Rarely would I say I hate them but I truly do hate you. You have physically hurt and devastated so many people’s lives. People who I love dearly and who will never get back what they lost from your disastrous grip. It’s like a chokehold you instil in people’s lives forever. For that, I will never forgive you. You are a murderer. You’re an elusive homicidal maniac that no one can catch. If you were a person you’d be locked up forever. The worst part is everybody knows you but very few have the power to stop you. You are so wellknown that every single person in the world will somehow be connected to you. Whether you will directly affect us or someone we care about, we all have to deal with you sooner or later. Y o u d e s t r o y everything you touch. I’m not a violent person but I wish I could destroy you. People cringe at the thought of you. People get sick because of you. You are singlehandedly responsible for the deaths of my grandfather, my aunt, my uncle, my friends and what’s your response? You just move on to your next victim. Is there ever an apology? Is there ever any remorse? What do we get from you besides heartache and pain? Are you there to comfort us? Do you see us crying at the gravesite of our loved ones? Or are you too busy plotting, scheming and surveying the crowd to see who you’re going to attack next? I’ve written many things in my day but never has this letter meant so much. I am confident in saying that I hate you and I hope to never have to battle you myself. Because if I do, watch out. I’m a fighter. Hatefully yours, JB That’s my point. What’s yours? Tell me at www.speakfreewithjb. com. 

Bucket List...

Only one life, twill soon be past; Only what's done for Christ will last. C.T.Studd
1 Timothy 6:7-9  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

Have you ever made up a bucket list? First let me explain what I mean by the term bucket list - it is a list of things that you would like to do or things you would like to accomplish before your life is done. It can be a written list or just a mental list - just some things in your mind that you know you would like to do. Personally I have never written up a bucket list. I have thought of few things that would be nice to do - that being taking a road trip to Prince Edward Island. The other idea is to visit the land of Israel and walk where Jesus walked and experience the locations at which many of Jesus's miracles etc took place. It is unlikely that I will do either of these in my lifetime though due to family and health circumstances.
But thinking about the concept of a bucket list brings me to ask the question - What really does hold value in your life? or the question could be worded in a different way - If you were told you have only 30 days to live, what would you do? How would you spend your time? Would you go on a trip or have one last drunken party? Buy a new car or go sky diving? Would you care to earn more money or win the lottery yet? OR - Would you spend that time deepening your relationship with the Lord and spending it with your family? Personally I think most of us would want to spend quality time with our family and good friends, and walk closer with the Lord than ever before. We would want to be 100% sure that we have been washed in the blood of the Lamb - the Lord Jesus and we are ready to meet the Lord.
A few years ago a friend of ours was diagnosed with cancer and was told he had only 3 months to live. He spent those last three months wisely preparing to leave this earth. He realized that in the end all that matters is your relationship with the Lord - are you saved? and ready to meet the Lord. And the second thing that has any real worth is your family and relationships with friends and coworkers etc. These things became clear to him as he would meditate on his early morning walks when sleep just was not possible. As his health deteriorated he prepared for his auction sale, met with the lawyer, and catching up one last time with many old friends. What would you or I do??
There is a sense of urgency here! If we are honest enough to admit that we would live differently if we knew our time was short here on earth, then it only makes sense that we make those changes today - even though we don't know how long we have here or when our days will end. Anyone of us could go to bed tonight and wake up on the "other side". We have no guarantee that we will be here tomorrow, next week or next year. Prepare today to meet the Lord. Money cannot save - only Jesus can save!  Come to Jesus Christ for salvation today!  Acts 4:12  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
The Bible says in Hebrews 3: 12-15
¹² Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
¹³ But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
¹⁴ For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
¹⁵ While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

Dad's final message to the family

In this post I want to share about my Dad's final message to the family. It was Christmas 2003. None of us knew that this would be our last Christmas together but it seemed that Dad knew it. We were all gathered together to celebrate Christmas at my parents home. Everyone had been able to make it out to be together for Christmas, that being all  24 of us in total. The dinner meal was finished and we all gathered in the livingroom for an afternoon of visiting and sharing and giving gifts.
Dad's health had been slowly deteriorating since the diagnosis of cancer a year earlier. He had been through surgery for the cancer  and many chemotherapy treatments. Combine that with a  heart attack that  had weakened his heart and having battled diabetes for years, he was not a strong man any more. He was getting weaker and walked with a cane. We all loved him very dearly and we hoped that he would be able to regain his strength and health and perhaps live to see his grandchildren grow up.
As we were all sitting there, suddenly Dad rose to his feet and it was clear it was time for all of us to stop visiting and listen up. It was sort of frightening because with him being so weak, any stress that he placed upon himself could trigger another heart attack. But leaning on his cane, he began to speak from the book of Joshua chapter 24: 14-15 where it says :
¹⁴ Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord.

¹⁵ And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Dad specifically wanted to stress that we as his family were to serve the LORD.  It was his desire that after he would be gone that we should all continue to live for Christ. He was choosing that for all of us though it is a choice we must each make as individuals. In a sense it was a challenge to us but it seemed more like a "gathering in of the flock".  Somewhat like if a hen gathers her chicks together to safety under her wings.
Tears flowed freely as he spoke to us. We all knew how hard it was for him to give that message to us in his condition but we are so thankful that he left us with those words and that memory.
A few weeks later in January, the cancer broke his leg and he was not able to walk anymore. He spent most of the next six months in the hospital in paliative care, where they had to increase the pain medication and his mind was not nearly so clear  anymore.  His love for all the family continued especially making an effort to bless  his grandchildren  who were very precious to him and he would always say goodbye to each one by name when they visited him in the hosptial. He passed away in July of 2004.
 It's been a while Dad, but we'll see you up there in glory when we all get to Heaven. We'll be together again.

Grandpa Herman...a gentleman

As I have said before, sometimes the goal of a post that I write is simply to document a little bit about people in my life. Hopefully it will help someone someday down the road to feel a connection with their ancestors. So today I am thinking about Grandpa Herman. He was the father to my Dad. Grandpa Herman was born in 1902 and married my grandmother when he was 19 years old. One of my sisters were born the same day as was his birthday so it was quite special to her that she shared a birthday with Grandpa. Grandpa Herman passed away in 1974, also after a courageous battle with cancer.
I often think that it is in the moments when we think no one is watching us that we do things that people will remember us for. That is exactly the case with my Grandpa Herman. He was a gentleman and I know it to be true because as a young girl I saw him treat his wife ( my Grandma ) with kindness. Here is what I saw. Grandpa and Grandma only came to visit us in our home very very seldomly, but I will never forget this one particular time. They were getting a bit elderly already, they came with their old pickup truck. So in order to help Grandma get in and out of the truck, Grandpa kept a small step stool in the back of the truck. He would open the door of the truck and carefully placed the step stool at the entrance to the truck and lovingly help Grandma in and out of the truck. We all know how a man will treat his girlfriend or young wife as a queen in the early days but this was not the early days for them but Grandpa took care of her as though it was. When I think about Grandpa Herman, this is the mark he left on my life.
I remember Grandpa Herman as a quiet man with a soft voice. He was of a small build, a slender face and always wore denim overalls. I do not remember ever seeing him dressed up in a suit ( though pictures do show him dressed in a suit.) In the earlier years he drove a very old model truck but later in life he drove a beige colored Ford 196? shortbox pickup truck. I remember that truck pretty well since my Dad bought that particular truck at Grandpa's auction and so we used it around the farm at home. I would use it while fixing fences and the dog was always glad to catch a ride with me. Lots of memories with Grandpa's truck.
We would visit Grandpa and Grandma regularly for family get-togethers but then I would spend my time with my cousins there. Things were different though when it was just our family there to visit. Grandpa Herman never travelled much ( other than some time spent in Mexico and then the journey to Paraguay that the Mennonites made) but I'm thinking perhaps he would have liked to see the world. He would get out his special viewmaster and reels to go with it and allow me and my sisters to see his pictures. That made me feel special also. The viewmaster was one of his treasures.
Times were tough for Grandpa Herman trying to raise a family in the 1930's. There was a terrible drought here in Canada in the 1930's known as the "dirty thirties" when it became very hard to make a living. My Dad sometimes spoke of  how it was so dry that  the dust would blow around and form drifts sort of like in a snowstorm. I also know that tragedy hit Grandpa and Grandma's home when their son Herman died when he was just 17 years old.  My Dad had a picture of this brother Herman. I can only  imagine the pain of losing your precious child at the age of 17 and how hard it would be to move forward from such a heartbreaking event.  But Grandpa Herman was a person of faith, living his life for the Lord Jesus. So knowing that,  I know that God will have provided the strength needed for them to smile again. After all Jesus did come to heal the brokenhearted as it says in Luke 4:18 - ¹⁸ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

I have good memories of Grandpa Herman and precious indeed.

Daddy - the old time preacher man

In this post I would like to share a bit more about my Dad. He was born in 1925 in Mexico but came to Canada with his parents as a very young baby. He spent most of his growing up years in the Kleefeld area of Manitoba. My Dad and his family were also among the group of Mennonites that moved to Paraguay in the late 1940's where they hoped to find a peaceful life.  I mentioned this move to Paraguay in an ealier post about my Mom. My Dad was among an early group of men that flew to Paraguay to prepare the way for the others that would come by ship later. He quite liked the adventure of going to Paraguay and had many fond memories of the time he spent out there and he even learned to speak a bit of Spanish.  After coming back to Canada, he worked for an English farmer (in the Carman area) which he also enjoyed very much. He married my mother in 1951.
My parents started farming in a very small way and gradually built the farm to a more moderate size. They started with just few acres of land and milked a few cows, sold the cream etc.  The Lord was faithful and provided all that was necessary to raise the six girls that were born to them.
My Dad always knew that the Lord had placed a calling on his life to be a preacher of the gospel. The actual call came in January of 1976 at the small country church that we attended. He was ordained as a preacher of the gospel in April of 1976 and began preaching immediately thereafter. He continued to farm on the side with the time that was available to him. The church did not provide a salary to the preachers so continuing to farm  was the right thing to do. The church denomination was involved with was is known as circuit preaching. There were churches of our denomination scattered throughout southern Manitoba and so my Dad was put on a schedule that would take him to each of these churches by rotation and thereby preaching in a different location every Sunday morning. He would spend many hours during the week preparing the sermon he would preach on Sunday. The drive to the church for any given Sunday morning ( other than our own local home church) would take about an hour or longer depending where the location of the church was that he was scheduled at that particular morning. This meant an early start to the morning chores. The cows  needed to be milked and fed before getting ready for church. It was very plain to see that Dad loved preaching. He preached his last sermon in January of 2002 at a little church at the village called Stuartburn.  At this time we already knew that Dad was not well, but we did not know that it was cancer. My husband and I took our family to hear Dad and Grandpa preach his last sermon. Our children were ages 9 and 9 and 5 and 3 when they heard Grandpa preach the last time. I don't remember much about the sermon but I know he talked some about the terrorist attacks that had happened in New York on September 11, 2001 which was just a few months earlier and that laid heavy on his heart.
I hope to post more in the next little while about my Dad, and his final message to the family. 

My Mom - Woman of Faith!

Recently in the news Ann Romney ( the wife of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney) was  criticized for having made the choice to be a stay- at - home mom to raise their family. She was criticized to have never worked a day in her life. Wow! I am glad that many many people came to her defense including Michelle Obama and the President himself. Raising children is not an easy task - it takes very much love, and patience, and the giving up of one's own desires for the good of the family.
So with that I want to turn my thoughts over to my own Mom who did this very thing - she has been a stay at home Mom and together with my Dad lovingly raised me and my 5 sisters.
Jeremiah 29:11 -

 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

The LORD has plans for each of us and now that my Mom is in her eighties we can look back and get a picture of some of what that was.
Before my Mom and Dad met, my Mom's parents decided to move from Manitoba to Paraguay along with many other Mennonite families. The Mennonites were seeking to find a place of peace where they would be able to raise their families.So in preparation for the journey to Paraguay( thinking never to return to Canada) my Mom, a young lady,  had to get rid of her possessions which included her "hope chest". A "hope chest" was dishes and things girls would start to collect as young teenagers which they would then hope to use once they would marry the man of their dreams. She recalls the agony of leaving it behind. Then my Mom, her parents and siblings along with a couple of thousand other Mennonites  boarded the ship to sail to Paraguay.  Sailing there took approximately a month and as she recalls she was sick most of the time sailing. As it turned out though, life was not as promising in Paraguay as they all had hoped and they headed back to Canada within six months and back in Canada my Mom met my Dad. God had it all planned.

                                        This is a picture of my parents as a very young couple.                                  

My Mom was a very hard working person not only keeping the house, cooking with a wood stove in the early days, doing laundry with the old washing machine and no dryer, she was always helping Dad on the farm however she could. She was always by his side in a supporting role whether it was with farmwork - fixing the combine, running the baler, milking cows, but even more importantly she supported Dad in his work as a preacher. Always with him at his side whenever or however she was needed. As I think about my Mom, I remember the loving care she gave to me as a little girl. She would come to help me say my prayers each night. I would kneel in bed to pray and she would kneel  beside the bed as I prayed. Then she would tuck me in so I would get a good sleep.  If at any time in the night I woke up, and couldn't sleep, I would call " MOM" and she would be right there. She would read a Bible story to me regardless of what time in the night it was, then she would tuck me in again and she would say -" I'll stay right here with you until you fall asleep" and she did too. It didn't matter if it took half an hour or an hour for her little girl to fall asleep, she stayed there by my bed to bring security and comfort.  She was selfless and loving through and through. This also showed up in her giving spirit to the neighbors. She is a truly generous and caring person.
My Mom's faith has grown strong over the years. She has been a great example to us to see her reading her Bible and other Scriptural literature. Being sure of  one's salvation and that we be ready to meet the LORD at any time is something that she stresses consistantly. Since Dad's passing, she has blossomed in showing her love for the LORD even more.
When my Dad became ill with cancer, she again stood strong with him going to appointment after appointment  with him and caring for him. The last six months of Dad's battle with cancer were spent in the hospital. Mom would go to the hospital in the morning and stay there with Dad the entire day, come home in the evening and the next day do it all over again. It seemed Dad had peace when he was so sick, just to know she was there with him and know she would be there with him the whole way through.

Heavenly Father, You have given me a wonderful Mother...Thank-you , Amen