Daily Archives: May 21, 2019

 

 

I was flying home from my trip out ot St. George UT and was listening to music on my iPad. A song came up from Jordan Smith and Michael W.  Smith, “All is well”  Their rendition was especially heart felt.  Many people have emailed, called and stopped by to ask how Sherelene and I are doing and I felt I needed to let you guys know.  Of course this kind of loss will require a long term recovery.  In the first few days I was numb and found it hard to wrap my head around that Wes was gone, from here.  From the moment he passed God has given us incredible strength and peace.  I have genuine joy knowing where he is and what his condition is now.

 

Over the past couple of years I have been spending a great deal of time talking to and encouraging Jim Haverstock after he lost Sue to cancer. I never realized that my attempting to help Jim was preparatiion for what we would face.  In an attempt to better encourage Jim I started to buy and read books about the after life and NDE’s (near death experiences).  As it turns out there are a number of excellent books about documented cases and studies of people that have died and had an experience, only to come back to life and share their stories. If you have a deep fear fo death or know anyone that does I can highly recommend the books, Life After Life (Raymond Moody) and God and the Afterlife, (Dr. Jeffery Long)  Both books are based on an ehaustive studies and examinations of afterlife experiences.  The bottom line is that a large number of common experiences are reported by a majority of people who have experienced this NDE.  Learning about them will bring you great comfort and faith!

 

Let me reach out to you, encourage you and share some important thoughts that are happening at this point, in this siutation.  I am overwhelmed with:

 

Joy:  I know where Wes is now, and I know he is in perfect peace, is not having any more pain and is enveloped in the greatest love one could ever know or experience.  As much as I miss him, and I miss him terribly, I would never want him to leave that world,  for this world.

 

Peace:  I know that God has granted me a peace that goes beyond understanding. I know that God never does anything that is not for our ultimate good.  A dear pastor friend shared with me that, “not all things are good, but God uses all things for our good!”  I know that Wes is at peace and God is giving me peace.

 

Sadness:  I miss Wes so very much.  I find myself thinking I will just go over to his house and see him, but that will have to wait until I too go on to be with the Lord, and am reunited with him and so many others I’ve lost here.

 

Regret:  No one knows when someone they love will go on to Heaven.  I wish I had spent even more time with Wes.  The Tuesday before he died, Sherelene spent the whole day with him and I stayed home to baby sit Chester, oh how I wish I had dropped Chester off at the kennel and gone with her!  I share this to encourage you to take time out of your schedule to spend with those you love, we never know when it is out last day here on this earth.

 

Pride:  I am so very proud of my children; Scott, Wes and Catherine.  They all have become wonderful people, filled with love and devotion for their families.  They have raised great kids and they all have many wonderful friends.  At Wesley’s Celebration of Life a line of his friends and associates filed past us for over 2 and half hours and I got a real picture of how far reaching his love was in this world, it was a great gift, he left us!

 

Commitment:  I now have a great opportunity and mission to help with the raising of his children Abigail and Elijah. One of Wesley’s greatest traits was how deeply he felt for anyone that was having struggles and how much he wanted to  help them.  Rhonda is a fantastic mother and she has the support of her family and Sherelene and I are committed to help support them in every way possible.

 

Let me share something with you that I feel compelled to offer.  It would not be possible for me to even function without the presence of my Lord.  God has given us the strength to get through this loss and He wants to be there for you too.  If you do not have a personal relationship with Him, please conisder how vital it is to know Him and have Him by your side. I know that the moment my heart stops I will be face to face with Jesus and reuntied with family and friends that have gone on.  I want you to have that same assurance!!  Since we will all face loss and all must someday leave these bodies, I pray I see you there on that day!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim