The day is over. The sun has set. Beautiful dusk has moved in. And this day is nearly gone just like every year on this date… June 28. A day that is challenging on so many levels. A day to remember. The day, my father was called home.
As the sun sets, I look out my living room window to where the cemetery is, and recall all those that gathered when we buried him. What a beautiful and special time that was!
It’s peaceful. The birds are singing. The quietness is beyond still, almost palpable, and the memories rush in.
Seventeen long years since my Father was called from his home here on earth, to his home in heaven.
I miss him as much today, as the day he breathed his last. I have not forgotten him, I do not love him less, the sadness has not gone away. But, I just keep it tucked in my heart and locked to hold all the love and the memories until this day…this is the day that key is unlocked.
I share every year on this day…not because I must, but because I will. I will share the memories of this man who I was blessed to have as my Papa.
Many did not know him, many who respond do so out of compassion, care, friendship and respect.
But I ask that you take my heart for this day of honoring and remembering him, and use it as a day to bless and serve others as he did.
A life of service, obedience and giving up time with his family to teach others about the calling to pick up their cross and follow Him.
A life of friendships dedicated to live to the fullest, believing in encouraging and challenging those to walk and live according to God’s purpose.
A life changed when he held his first daughter, walked her down the aisle to give her to another man to now watch over her and care for her. A life filled with joy when he met his granddaughter. A life shattered with grief when I battled cancer.
A life taken sooner than any of us believed would happen, destroyed by illness. A life of believing that to die for Him was to gain eternal glory.
I need to share more and be better about updating the website. Life gets busy and this becomes a very last priority in the day today work and ministry and caring for family members along with all the tasks that my husband has on the property to maintain it.
So I won’t go into many details now. I want to use this space to remember my father.
I’ll end with this quote from my Dad…
“If heaven is only a category and not a passionate conviction, then we have no message for the world.” Art Katz
Today’s weather matches how I feel ….it’s cloudy, it’s grey, it’s raining and…it’s June 28th.
Sixteen years ago today, Dad took his last breath on earth and, in the next moment he was healthy and whole in heaven.
It’s a hard day. It always has been and always will be. There is no way around it. Yes, we honor and remember him, the impact he had around the world, his life, his legacy. But we still miss him.
I mourn. I mourn the loss of my Dad, of Keith’s father-in-law, of Sarah’s Pappy. I mourn the times he has missed with us, the memories that could not be made, the faces he will never get to see.
It’s hard to weigh the current with the past. I would not for a moment wish he was here, if it meant his illness and suffering were to be prolonged.
But what have we ALL lost without hearing the messages that he had to carry? Will we ever truly know? We need to take up the burden of the cross that he gave his life to do. We need to continue running the race that he could not finish; though in his heart, he willed himself to keep going.
I remember one of the last hospitalizations before his passing. I came to see him and, though he was sick and weak, he had a map out in front of him with a route highlighted in yellow and red circles around certain cities.
What was he doing? He was planning a cross-country ministry trip from his hospital bed. He was basing his route on where the hospitals were in case he had a flare up!
Needless to say, I was upset at the thought of this! His heart function at that time? A mere 5%…and he wanted to travel? Across the country! I told him he would come back in a casket.
Who does that? My dad. That’s who. I never saw a man more dedicated and committed to the calling on his life. He was visibly disappointed when I sat with him and asked if he realized, what a risk he was considering in planning this trip.
He folded up his map, closed his eyes, and I know…felt defeated. He knew deep down that this trip could not happen. He had never thought about the risk, only the potential opportunity for ministry and the doors that could open! That was Dad, to the core.
I literally let my frustration loose on the person who was going to travel with him. What was he thinking? I told him that if he took this trip with my father, and my dad died on this trip, I was personally going to hold him responsible for his death. I was that upset.
Yes, he acknowledged he understood the risk, but he also knew that you did not argue with Dad when his heart was set on ministry! And he was right, Dad would have done anything to go.
Dad never wanted to stop ministering, it was his life…his passion…his calling. But, Dad was obedient and even unto death, was willing to do as His Father bid.
I never wanted him to go, but I had to LET him go, as the Father bid. No one was ready for the loss, but we accepted what was to come and also knew with his death, would come his victorious healing. What more could we possibly ask for?
I will not mourn that time, even though I mourn his loss. I will remember ALL his days. I will honor his memory and press on as he would want of me and, as we all should be doing.
My precious Papa…I would still love one more story, one more salami omelette, one more “slosh”.
Merry Christmas from all of us here on the farm. May you find peace, joy and comfort in this time of year as many celebrations were had over most of your tables and in your home to remember the birth of our Lord and Savior.
May there be an abundance of peace, joy and blessings in your home.
Please watch for our End of Year update where we will share ministry news, prayers requests, updates on books and life in general here on the farm.
We have had a back order on three titles. Thankfully, one of the books arrived last night.
If you order a book and it is on back order, you will receive an email from me. We try very hard to keep up with supply and demand, but as we all know, everyone is struggling right now with shortages, including those that provide paper for printing.
Factor in human decision making on WHEN to order, and that creates an issue. Our deepest apologies to those who are waiting.
We want you to receive quality items and are making our best effort at getting books to you.
Also, we had experienced some difficulty with getting books to New Zealand, but found that UPS is able to get our orders in, where USPS has not been able to do so.
Thank your for your orders and your patience during these days.
Today is a day of the year I tend to dread the most. There are others, but June 28th is significantly hard. Today is 15 years since Dad was called to heaven.
It comes like a terrible storm that builds up in the sky. The clouds gather and darkness follows as lightning flashes, thunder rolls then the rain and hail fall.
But then the winds come, possibly with is a tornado… ready to drop and devastate with little or no warning, leaving carnage and loss it’s path, those who are left stand in sadness and dismay.
That’s how today feels every year. I do not celebrate today that my Dad is in heaven, though I do feel immense relief that his body is no longer suffering from the disease that robbed his life.
I do not celebrate, as I grieve deep in my heart, often in silence but with a deepness that no one can really know or understand. I think of him daily. Today I hold him even closer in my heart and the memories I have of my dad, my papa, my abba be like a healing oil with each tear shed.
He died with praise in his heart and in his body, his hands literally lifted to the heavens in worship moments before he past. The storm came, destroyed my heart, and left the dark and intense silence that always follows.
He died serving Jesus, and in doing so, serving you. To see many come to know and understand the Lord more was his passion! He dedicated his life to teaching, preaching and sharing. Even in his death, his voice still can be heard.
“So he went and did according to the word of the Lord”…that is what Dad wanted engraved on his headstone. That was his life. That, was his calling. Many have experienced what it was like to hear from my Dad. He was a treasured vessel filled with the moist amazing and fragrant oil, poured out on others. For me, I will do my part to keep his legacy alive.
We need to follow that path that was started and in his memory and to honor him, rise and press on with the work He has set before us, no matter what storms may come.
So where are we at after 15 years, a full update is being written and we look forward to sharing with you in the near future.
In His grace,
Sissie
The following is shared from a post made by June Volk.
Today we celebrate the life of Arthur Katz who departed from the earth 15 years ago today.
Shelly and I miss him every day and look forward to seeing him again.
IN MEMORIAM “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom And knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, And His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His counsellor? Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things: To Whom be Glory Forever.” Amen Romans 11:33-36
Arthur Katz passed on into Glory on June 28, 2007 and the earth lost a great prophetic voice and a father in the faith to countless numbers of Jewish believers.
A privilege the Lord afforded to Shelly and Scott was to be fathered by Arthur into the kingdom of God, and in the foundations of the faith. Arthur was a man jealous for authenticity, truth in the inward parts, and was passionate to see the purposes of God fulfilled in the lives of those who called upon the Name of the Lord.
I have personally experienced Arthur weeping in deep travail over the condition of his own life, as well as the condition of the people of Israel, and the condition of the Church.
The last years of Arthur’s life he suffered in his physical body. Several months before his departure, Inger took some time apart to be refreshed and strengthened in the Lord while Shelly and I tended to him. Arthur amazed us with his stamina displayed in his diligence to the Word, prayer, meeting with the community of believers living on the property of Ben Israel, as well as his communication by phone with saints from all over the world.
Shelly was scheduled to speak to students attending a discipleship school in Canada one of the Saturday mornings we were caring for him. Arthur was well enough to join with us for the meeting, and we realized that neither Shelly nor I should speak to the students.
The car ride to Canada was long and grueling, but Arthur did well. When we arrived the students graciously welcomed us. The presence of the Lord filled the house, and there was a deep sense of expectancy before the formal meeting began.
Arthur shared his deepest love and burden, the mystery of Jesus, Israel and the Church. He spoke about the weakness of the Church today because of its failure to reach out to the Jews all over the world, taking heed to the Apostle Paul’s writings to bring the Gospel to the Jew first and also to the Greek. He explained with clarity the tension that keeps a human body healthy and why that tension was missing from the Church today. The conflicts the Church would be forced to face by fulfilling their call to Israel. And to the Jews would conclude in strengthening the body of Christ.
Israel in her hardness against Jesus being the Messiah and Lord—of not being confronted by the Church today—the Church would remain in her weakened condition. The call of the Lord, according to the Scriptures to the Church, is being circumvented. The power and authority of Roman 9-11, as well as the writings of the prophets, was expounded by Arthur. There was a hope deep within his heart for the students to ‘catch’ this vision. It caused a stirring within Shelly and within me to see the Biblical Roots of the faith restored to the Church once again.! The passion of Arthur’s heart was for the apostolic vision of the first century Church to be restored in the lives of God’s people. His message to the Church was for it to be utterly different—utterly the Lord’s —to cry out to know Him—to know His heart—His mind—His desires—to seek after His purposes—not our own. This was the purpose for which Arthur lived.
We will miss him; the Church will miss the voice in the wilderness that Arthur represented. He was wholeheartedly dedicated to see the purposes of God fulfilled in his own life, and in the lives of the saints. His passion for the Church and for the people Israel still cries out in both his vocal messages and in his books as well as in the lives of the ones who knew him and loved him.
The message Arthur spoke in Canada was his last public speaking.
A MAN AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART
“SO HE WENT AND DID ACCORDING TO THE WORD OF THE LORD” I Kings 17:5
An excerpt from The God Who Saves by Fire, a Jewish Saga written by June Volk.
A little cleaning up…My sweet helper…Olivia…sitting with Great-Pappy.♥️Tante needed a hug…In loving memory…
