Death waits for nobody

Death is a mighty leveler. He spares none and he waits for none. He will not wait until you are ready. Doors, bars, and locks will not keep him out. A person boasts that their home is their castle, but with all their boasting, they cannot exclude death. An Austrian nobleman would not allow death and the smallpox to be named in his presence. But, named or not named, it matters little, in God's appointed hour death will come.

J.C. Ryle

But the word of God will stand forever.

Today’s blog entry is a little different than usual, most often it is centered around me, although I try to focus on the Grace of Christ rather than myself. I thank the Lord with all my heart that I am doing and feeling very well.

Having said that, I want to take you to a blog of a brother in the Lord who is suffering greatly from ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease.

Jack Westerink and I live some 4000 KM apart, Jack in Ontario and I in British Columbia. We have a lot in common as we are the same age, we were diagnosed around the same time last year with diseases that humanly speaking will take our lives, Jack with ALS and myself with cancer. We are both married the same amount of years, we both served as elders in our own churches and we both laid down this task around the same time due to our illness.

I follow Jack’s blog on a regular basis and have noticed that Jack is suffering much lately. Jack is a man who speaks much of God’s Grace in his life. I hope his blog will encourage you as much as it does me. I am saddened by the fact that humanly speaking Jack will soon be leaving his family but gladdened by the fact that his future is secure with Christ.

The reason for my posting is to ask you to pray for Jack and his wife Lena, that Jack will receive the grace to submit to God’s will and for Lena, that God will give her the strength to go through this deep trial while caring for Jack.

Please leave Jack an encouraging message on his blog and remember Jack and Lena in your prayers. You can visit Jack’s blog here
May God be with you and bless you.

John

My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign;
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree;
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

In mansions of glory and endless delight,
I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

William R. Featherston.

Find out the state of your soul

You cannot live forever. You must one day die. You cannot avoid the judgment after death. You must stand before the bar of Christ. The summons of the Archangel cannot be disobeyed. The last great assembly must be attended. The state of your own soul must one day undergo a thorough investigation. It will be found out one day what you are in God's sight. Your spiritual condition will at length be brought to light before the whole world. Oh, find out what it is now! While you have time, while you have health, find out the state of your soul.

J.C. Ryle

What are you counting ?

It was a good and blessed week to be away from daily commitments and to enjoy nature and warm temperatures in a different part of the world. It was a blessed time of quietness, relaxing, long walks and bike rides but also a time of reflecting on life.

March 11 is coming up fast when I will see the Oncologist again and will have to make a decision to go back on Chemo treatments or not. The time away gave me much time to think about the things that lie ahead, temporal and eternal. How many days or weeks or months will there be left on earth? Will there even be a tomorrow? Lately I have prayed much for complete healing; I prayed for more time with my loved ones and that God would help me to make the right decisions.

During the flight home I was reading a book that was given to me by friends called “Be still my soul” by Nancy Guthrie. One of the chapters mentions Psalm 90:12” So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom”. I had read this Psalm many times before, yet this time it made a deeper impression on me than ever before. We often plan and look ahead without even considering if we will even see the next day. I prayed much for healing in the past, yet it is becoming more and more real to me that the end of life is coming closer each day. I believe it to be a wise not only to count our blessings, but also our days.

Each day we see many people living like there is “no tomorrow.” Seemingly happy without being concerned of the endless eternity that awaits each of us. How are you doing? Are you concerned and do you have the assurance that Christ died for your sins? If you do not have Christ as your Saviour then there is the opportunity today, as it is written in John 3:10 that whoever believes in Him (Jesus) may have eternal life. Yes, that means today!

As for myself, I am doing well, I am getting stronger. I eat and sleep well. The Lord is blessing us with countless blessings and we thank Him for this daily. This week I received many cards in the mail with wonderful messages in them. Thank you so much for that and thank you for your prayers.

Also this week another cancer patient that I knew (Stiena) passed away at the age of 58, the Lord took her Home after a 5 year battle with cancer. Psalm 138:5 And they shall sing of the ways of the LORD, for great is the glory of the LORD.
Are you ready to sing?

John

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven

These words are in Ecclesiastes 3:1. As mentioned in my last post I am taking a break for 4-6 weeks from Chemo treatments. It feels good, we are at peace with the decision, this gives time for my body to heal. I am feeling better every day. Henrietta and I are again going for long walks, bicycle rides and doing every day duties.

We have also decided today to take a week of vacation to the sunny and warm Mayan Riviera starting tomorrow February 9. I believe it will do us both a lot of good to relax and get away from doctors and treatments and enjoy a different pace of life. It will be good for us mentally too, just to be together and leave our daily commitments behind for a week.

Life is good; the Lord is good and is blessing us day by day with amazing blessings. We want to thank our children for their love, care and help in many different ways. You all are a great blessing and inspiration in our lives. Thank you for being there for us. We love you.
We are smiling. Greetings and may God bless you all.

John

Meeting at the crossroads

Much has transpired in the last month, many prayers were made by us and for us by others.

Early last Sunday morning I was at a loss what to do, I could feel inside my body that things were not going well. On January 1, I was forced to quit Chemotherapy treatments due to severe side effects. I had a 19 day break, longer than normal. On January 19, I started a new round of Chemo treatments that were to be easier on the body but still with some side effects, this round was to last 60 days no break. Twelve days into the treatments I again was forced to stop due to worse side effects than before. I truly believe it would have ended my life if I would have kept going. My heart raced, my blood pressure went through the roof and a host of side effects appeared, so I quit because I could not go on, I really felt that these treatments were tearing my body apart.

On this Sunday morning I asked God what he wanted me to do. Show me Lord the way and lead me. As I spent time with God in prayer and as I opened my Bible I read the story in John 21 where Jesus appeared to His disciples. As Jesus stood on the beach He called out to the disciples, "Children, do you have any fish?" No, they did not have any it says, they had fished all night and had not caught even one fish. So Jesus tells them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." "So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish.

It is that very text that made a deep inpression on me and gave me much to think and pray about. It was faith that made the disciples cast the net on the right side; normally they would do that on the left. It was faith that made them try again; normally fishing was done at night, now it was day. Yet they had faith in what Jesus told them, they listened and saw immediate results. No waiting was required. That is how Gods amazing Grace can work if we believe what He tells us.

As I struggled with thoughts of continuing Chemo treatments or not, it was becoming more and more clear to me that God wanted me trust Him even more than I had before.

Today a close friend stopped by to share with me his devotion of this morning from Samuel 4 where the Israelites go to battle against the Philistines. The Israelites lose about 4000 men in this battle. They go home and question why God let the Philistines defeat them. The Israelites think they have the answer for this loss and make plans to have the Ark of the Covenant with them the next time they go to battle. According to plan they proceed into battle again, this time with the Ark, this time their loss is even greater and they are slaughtered and lose 30.000 soldiers and loose the Ark to their enemies. A loss beyond comprehension and they don’t understand why God did not help them. It took some 20 years before they realized that they did not trust God but served idols and the Ark instead of God. The next battle was won because they looked to God and trusted Him and there was peace for many years. Thanks for sharing Pete.

Henrietta shared with me today a text that had been much on her mind from Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Who can argue that beautiful promise? 1 John 5:4 it says in few words “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith.

What I am trying to say with all these things is that I believe with all my heart that God is saying to me, trust me, let me hold your hand and have faith and peace in your heart. It is also becoming very obvious that Chemo treatments at this time are not the answer because I have had to quit early three times now and no positive results are accomplished lately.

With this I am going to make a big step of faith that I have never made before, and that is that I will quit my Chemo treatments for now or at least for a month and cast myself at the mercy of God. Henrietta and I have peace with it because we know that “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God” (Psalm 20:7)

I am only going to continue with a Homeopathic remedy and a product that is called DCA, something I have been doing on my own for about 1 month. DCA is product that does not make me sick. For those interested what DCA is, you can read more about it here.  I totally believe it was God’s intervention that made me come upon this product.

I read an interesting quote recently, “If God is your co-pilot, you better switch seats” It is so true, and we think too often that we have control of everything, while we don’t. If you want to hear a good sermon on anxiety free living and giving your life into Gods hands then I suggest you listen to this sermon from John MacArthur. I could not say it better.

Thank you all for your uplifting emails calls and visits. It is a blessing to know that I am not the only one bringing my needs to Christ.

 May God bless you richly.
John

The Plea of Jesus: Come Unto Me !

The Lord Jesus does not bid the laboring and heavy-laden "go and work." Those words would carry no comfort to heavy consciences - it would be like requiring labor from an exhausted man. No! He bids them "Come!" He does not say, "Pay Me what you owe." That demand would drive a broken heart into despair - it would be like claiming a debt from a ruined bankrupt. No! He says, "Come!" He does not say, "Stand still and wait." That command would only be a mockery - it would be like promising to give medicine at the end of a week to one at the point of death." No - He says, "Come!" Today; at once; without any delay, "Come unto Me!"

J.C. Ryle