Jiri lives in Prague Czechoslovakia. I met him as an assistant table leader at Emmaus Walk 184 where we sat at the table of James. I had not heard from him in a year or so, so I was very pleased to see his comment from my journal entry #23. This is a really tough letter because of what he is going through right now. But in the letter is hope and the new beginning of an Emmaus Walk in his home country- the first one ever.

So I would ask prayers for Jiri and his family and for the Emmaus Walk occurring May 24-27.
“Durk,

thank you so much for the letter. I reply only now as I am currently hard pressed for time, and not just time …

All that started when my Mom was rushed to hospital with stroke last year, December 18. The doctors gave no chance as the haemorrage was massive, nearly one third of her right hemisphere was affected, with the lesion going as deep as the brain stem. They were probably right. But strangely enough, somebody decided, in two days, to open her anyway and remove the clot. The result was she started breathing herself but, expectedly, not much more. Now, over three months following the stroke, she is in a condition diagnosed as a locked-in syndrome: the brain stem locks all the supratentorial (i.e. higher cerebral) functions from expressing themselves through the body. Her condition then looks pretty much like a coma, and in all practical respects it is. Her pseudo-comatose condition allows her only blinking, limited side to side eye movements, a tension in her right hand and occasional movements of leg digits.
My Dad went to hospital a month ago in an urgent need to have a multiple by-pass. However, he could not find motivation enough to overcome postoperative complications and died last week. He had an excellent care as Czech kardiosurgery ranks among world top class and, actually, he was recovering. The root problem seemed the lack of will to go on. Tomorrow I am going to have his funeral. I did not tell my Mom yet what happened to Daddy. Still, strangely enough, she seems to be losing motivation to try to show her achievements. She could move even her knees and almost move her right thumb and the little finger separately when she was at her peak. The last few days, however, she seems to show (almost) nothing and keeps just looking away. Given her age, she’s battling against time. Permanent lying can devastate much younger bodies and her neurological progress seems too slow or perhaps none at all.

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I have been doing a lot of reading the last few years. William Barclay’s Commentaries of the New Testament, C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity and now his sermons compiled under the title The Weight of Glory, John Eldredge’s Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul and many more.

But I note The Weight of Glory and Wild at Heart in particular which will lead me through the rest of this writing.

I picked up The Weight of Glory at the last Walk to Emmaus where I was blessed to coach. Close beside it on the table was Wild at Heart which I had already read. These are two very different books but they collided in my head today and caused this writing.

I began reading the Lewis sermon upon returning from the Walk. As usual Lewis took a little time to warm up to his task, but when he got going what I read had to be one of the most beautiful statements about God ever produced outside of the Bible.

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As many of you know we are preparing to move to Colorado. Part of that process is to get rid of some of the stuff we have been carrying around and to rid ourselves of it prior to the move.

Last Sunday, a week ago, I was doing so when I came across a bag we had that included all of the name badges from the first Disciple Bible class we taught 3 ½ years ago. I thought about throwing away the badges when out popped Peggy’s badge. It gave me pause.

You see Peggy has been very ill for a number of months. I couldn’t bring myself to throw away her badge, and felt that finding it was a request for a prayer. And so I did begin to hold Peggy in my prayers.

Peggy died several days later.

Her funeral was on Friday.

When I learned of her passing, I retrieved her name badge. Suzy then found a Disciple “button” that is given away when someone passes the course. I stuck the button into the name badge and took the badge along with the button to the funeral.

Peggy’s illness collected her to Heaven very rapidly, yet she was able to clearly and succinctly setup much of the funeral service prior to her call.

In our sanctuary I distinctly felt the Presence of the Holy Spirit in the church along with the mourners. Peggy was all about life and the pictures that were shared of her life showed that. That is the picture I will always have of her as being full of life.

One of the songs that she chose was the Hymn of Promise, and while I had listened to it any number of times before this day, these words came to life:

“There’s a song in every silence”, and

“In our end there is a beginning.”

At the end of the service was a receiving line of the family, all coming from some distance to be in Dallas to celebrate Peggy’s life, and I was able to pass the badge on to them.

I am taking the rest of the badges with me to Colorado and to wherever else I may go, so that I can hold these friends in my heart forever. It is a small thing, but a necessary thing to do.

People wonder why I am moving to Colorado. This picture was taken by our friends the Rolater’s about 1/4 of a mile from our new house. Come visit us!

Rocky Mountain Climbing #22: I’ve Seen a Glimpse of Heaven

I served at an Emmaus Walk last weekend. A talk delivered by reverend Mel Caraway discussed his conversion that led to his commitment to the clergy. He said he was watching the movie: The Field of Dreams. In the movie the Kevin Costner character gets to play catch with his father who had died early in his adulthood. Mel said this was to him a “view of Heaven”.

I agree.

I love that movie. Even though my Dad was alive when the movie first came out, seeing the scene immediately catapulted me back to the simple days of playing catch with my Dad. Dad was a good all around athlete and played basketball, baseball, golf and was a legendary pool shooter (if you call pool a sport… which he did). I inherited my love of sports and basic abilities playing these sports from him. I never acquired any ability pool sharking though.

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