13 Years

“So he rose and did according to the word of the Lord.”

6/28/20-13 years ago…almost at this very moment. Just like that, dad was here and then he was gone. Dad would have turned 91 this year.

How do I even begin to put to words the depth of my dad? Those that knew him, knew him well.

I’ll never forget this day…ever.

I very vividly recall his final moments on this earth. He had slipped into a coma a few days prior. I had been vigilantly at his bedside along with many others. We knew his time was drawing near.

My mother was busy attending to everyone that had come to be with dad. We had moved his hospital bed to the den which gave us more space to care for him, and more room for those gathering to be present. 

I knew that he was transitioning to leave his physical body. His hands has started to grow cold. From my nursing experience, it was clear his body was shutting down.

Uncle Shelly and Aunt June Volk were on their way, but would sadly did not make it in time. Arthur Beebe, Mary Baker Stranathan Beebe, Janie McDonald, John McDonald, the Caron’s, Uncle Paul and Aunt Adrienne Volk…So many precious and dear ones had gathered.

Diana Herrera was sitting at his bedside, prayer warrior…friend…heart of love for Dad, like so many others. I saw dad raised his hands to heaven, as if he were worshipping. I looked up at Dina and saw her eyes and she shook her head no at me.

I screamed for my mother to come as I jumped from where I had been sitting. Within moments he was gone. He had breathed his last…just like that, his struggling was over. He was at rest. He was home.

No more fighting for air to breathe. No more of the 17 different medications he had been on to keep his body functioning. No more suffering. Just gone.

We all gathered around him. I laid on the bed by him and wept like I had never wept before. My papa, my dad, my guardian who wept for me when I faced a health battle.

Dad and I had sat down 10 days prior to this as I knew it was time to have that conversation on his final wishes. Not a task I relished, but one I knew that had to be done.

His words to me were that the Lord would either raise him up and heal him, or take him home. Either way, he would be restored.

So 13 years later…Those words still run through my head. He is restored. Though I wish he were here every day, I would want the same thing for him.

I miss you Papa. I love you now, forever and always.

In loving memory…💕

Knowing God as He is

This has been a challenging month for so many on multiple levels. Drastic changes. Unprecedented changes.

Doubt. Fear. Loneliness. Depression. Anxiety…all things that are prevalent in a society and culture that is without hope in our Father.

But we have something we can offer. We have hope. We have faith. We have His life in us. We have each other. Now, more than ever, we have the opportunity to be still, to hear, to know…

What is it that He would want to say to us? What is it that He is wanting us to do?

On This Day – What Would 91 Years Have Looked Like?

Today…what a day today should have been…a day to celebrate the birth of this amazing man. My Papa. My Dad. My friend. My supporter. My encourager. My praying Father. Husband. Papa. Father-In-Law. Grandpa. Friend.

He would have been 91 today. This June it will be 13 years since he was called home.

The ground is frozen and covered in feet of snow. There is no physical way to get to his his final resting place to leave anything in remembrance of this special day.

But I will always remember him in my heart. This year as much as the first year. Maybe even more so.

27 years ago, Keith and I married on my Dad’s birthday. What a joy is was to stop at our wedding and celebrate with him, his birthday.

20 years ago on nearly this same date, we found out I had breast cancer. Seven years after that, we found out he was sick with a terminal diagnosis. 13 years ago, he left this earth. Little did we know then, that those years would hold SUCH significance.

Now it’s the early morning hours on a bitter cold winter day (-45 with the windchill factor!) and my thoughts go fondly to him with love, my heart still aching with sadness over his loss.

There is so much about him that I wish all of you could have known. There is a book in there somewhere, just waiting to be written.

You that knew him, knew him as a teacher, evangelist, prophet, church lead, author.

I knew him as Dad. My Dad who took care of me, who cared for me, who wept with me when my heart was devastated by the breakup of my first relationship, the proud Papa who rejoiced with me at the marriage to the man who he felt was my perfect match, the heart broken Father who silently wept in the presence of friends when he found out I had cancer, the Pappy who cherished his grandchildren (and especially rejoiced with us at the birth of our only child Sarah), the man who treasured life, who wanted to keep on living but was willing to go in obedience to the will of His maker.

This is the man I wish you all could have known and the one whom I will honor and love.

This is the Daddy who I will celebrate, remember and honor on every February 13th. This is my Papa.

Happy birthday in heaven Daddy!💗

Daddy’s Girl
Still Daddy’s girl-father of the bride
Pops and his girl
One of my favorite photos of my Papa.

Holocaust Remembrance Day

In honor of HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY: The inmates had not understood what was happening during the first 30 minutes or so after we took over Dachau. Now they were beginning to realize that we were the good guys and that they have been liberated. Some of them began yelling and shouting. The cheers of the few soon grew to become a deafening roar throughout the camp. “These are the ones we save,“ I thought as chills ran through my body. They were crowding together, reaching through the fences, laughing, crying, singing, holding their arms high in the air, and embracing each other while looking at us in disbelief, almost unable to grasp that their day of liberation – their exodus – was at hand. Just then, as if on some celestial clue, the sun broke through the clouds, sending shafts of light and color over the entire camp. Darkness of been defeated by light. And the prisoners, squinting into that brilliance, reached out to us and wept tears of joy. Their agony was over. But for us, the liberators, our journey into the deepest part of hell was just beginning. ~ Excerpt from “Where the Birds Never Sing”

Please SHARE and remember to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem”

Credit to www.TogetherForIsrael.org, founded by Scott Volk.

Book Translations, DVDs, and VHS Tapes

We’re publishing this article in hopes of recovering some old content that has been lost. Prior to the distribution of DVDs on the website, the video recordings were distributed via VHS tapes. After the fire there was an unprecedented amount of damage and the ministry had to recover everything from copies that individuals had previously owned or purchased. At that time, people sent in their DVDs which were copied and made available again on the website. There are however, 6 known DVDs that we believe have never been recovered. These exist as DVDs and even possibly as VHS tapes. Because we don’t have copies of these, we have no idea what they are titled as. We do know that they are numbered as follows:

DVD-10
DVD-25
DVD-30
DVD-39
DVD-40
DVD-41

If you happen to have any of these DVDs, please get in touch with us as we would love to make this content available to everyone again.

We are also hoping to recover any foreign translations that have been completed over the years so that they can be added to the site where visitors in other countries can easily find distributors for these translations in their native language. If you have translated a book into a foreign language, please contact Sissie via the “Contact” section of the site so we can link your translation here.