9/22/08- In Loving Memory

Today was a big day for a family in our student ministry...Josh, Justin, and Lori W. today marks the oneyear anniversary of the death of their wonderful father and husband. Here is a post that Justin put on his MySpace...

"One year ago today, Dad died from a heart attack at age 40. A lot had happened just prior to his death, and a lot has happened since. We had just moved to Pontiac in May, and shortly after, Dad had been thinking that he made a mistake in coming here. His job was being affected by the move, and we were far from our old friends and the all the people someone comes to know over 9 years of living in the same place. On September 22, 2007, Dad got up early and took my brother with him to visit our Uncle; later, they came back home and he planned on taking us all out to eat at Pizza Hut. Unfortunately, Dad's plans were cut short by chest pain, and at around 6:00 p.m. he went outside to get some air; he sat down against our shed and never got up again, dying on the land he'd just bought and expected to spend many more years living on. I called 911 and the ambulance came awhile later—it seemed like way too long—and they took Dad to the hospital, but it was already too late.



I'd like to name some things that I've learned from Dad in the 17 years that I lived with him; Dad was not perfect, as no one is, but he's taught me many lessons that I will try my best to live by as I grow into a man. Dad was not a patient guy, by any means at all, but he knew what had to be done and he always did his best to make sure that they got finished responsibly. If you didn't put all of your effort into it, he'd notice and he'd make you do it right. He griped about the pettiness at work, but he made sure his jobs were done thoroughly, and sometimes he went an extra mile to do his jobs better than they were expected to be done. He had a very funny, off-color sense of humor that we all enjoyed—you never knew what he was going to do, especially in public. Dad didn't care what other people thought of him, and that made for some interesting outings. And, of course, he always did his best to put food on the table and raise up a good family, and to raise us in a Godly household.



I've gotten used to having him away, but it's still really weird, and we all really miss him. Whenever I watch old videotapes with him in them, it makes me realize just how short his life was. I get to see him grow up just like he watched me do; there's video of him from the early 90s, where he and my cousins Ron and Ryan are acting like lunatics because Mom's not home and they have the entire house to themselves—I'm even in that video, at about 3 years old. There's another video of him from 1999 where he's still a cop working in Emden, talking about all the small-town corruption that's affecting his view of law enforcement and that eventually led to his early retirement from a job that was cutting too many corners. And there's yet another video of him that was taken shortly before his death where we are visiting with our cousin Ron and his new family; he was in the video from the early 90s, and now he's a grown man himself, and Dad is the uncle of his baby boys.



There aren't going to be any more videos of Dad, no more pictures and no more memories. The times that could've been went straight with him into the ground; I can only hope that someday I'll have lived my life in a way that he'd have approved of, and that the big decisions I'll one day be looking back on would have made him proud. Until I'm with him again, the most important thing I can do is make the most of my time on Earth, because my life could end just as suddenly and unexpectedly as his did, and when that happens I better have a past worth remembering for my friends and family.



Rest in peace, Dad"

I just want to ask you to take the time to pray for this family. God has really blessed us by bringing them into our church family and they need love and support.
~Lola~