Thoughts While Reading

While I was on vacation recently I had the opportunity to do some reading. (The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis, Heaven by Joni Earickson and some novels, and I didn’t finish them all.) It being a beautiful week, we also enjoyed the weather and the lakes.( Hiking, biking and swimming)




It was a enormous joy to see and spend time with my family, both my brothers and sisters and Joanne’s, also Mom and Dad Pennings. I have read Randy Alcorn’s book Heaven, and a good part of Joni Earickson’s book and this got me thinking. I am sure many of us have wondered whether we will recognize our loved ones in heaven. I do not know the answer to this question without a doubt, but I like to imagine that when we arrive there, we will have the joy of dear loved ones already there greeting us, as happened at Port Burwell Provincial Park, or, like at Pinery Provincial Park, to be there and repeatedly have the joy of finding that another of your children or brothers and sisters has arrived. (For the most beautiful description of this that I have ever seen, read The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis and Revelation 21 :1-7).





Those of you who have a relationship with Jesus as Saviour will be able to empathize with this. For those of you who read this blog and know nothing of this, I would ask you to think about what will happen at the end of your life. All of us will some day have to face our maker. Many people believe that to get into heaven all you have to do is die.

The Bible tells us, however, that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), and this not just physical death but separation from God for eternity in hell. Because all have sinned, unless God’s anger is appeased, our default destination is Hell, not Heaven. This is hard to understand for us because we tend to judge our actions and morality by society’s standards and the way others act. If there is a God who created everything, however, He has the right to set the standards and He has done so in His book, the Bible.

God in love has provided a way to escape this punishment, however. The same verse that tells us of the punishment ends with “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”. 1John 4:10 says: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

A secular jailer in Phillipi who met the early apostles in the early days of the church was convicted of his sin and asked: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved? They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.”

Jesus Himself said "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” ( Mt 11:28). 2Peter 3 : 9 says: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

All who recognize that they deserve God’s punishment, turn from sin and follow God to the best of their ability and trust that Jesus took their punishment will be forgiven and one day share eternal joy in heaven.







I plead with all who read this blog to read the article found here. (you may have to copy and paste the link into your browser.)

http://www.epm.org/resources/2010/Mar/18/how-can-we-know-well-go-heaven

Once again, thank you all for your support and prayers.

Annual Vacation

Last week we were able to have our annual vacation, in spite of two medical appointments at the Victoria Hospital Cancer Clinic, one a planning session for radiation and the other for a MRI scan. The MRI was at 6:30 a.m. which meant getting up at 4:15 a.m. in order to get there on time; this was also the day we had to pack up and move from Port Burwell to the Pinery. We camped for a few days at Port Burwell Provincial Park with Joanne's family and at the Pinery Provincial Park with my family. As a family we have always had our vacation at provincial parks and I am thankful that I was well enough that our family could still get together for this annual tradition.

My radiation and chemotherapy was to start tomorrow, Friday Aug. 20th but that has been changed back to Monday, Aug. 23rd at 9 a.m. We appreciate your continued prayers.

Eating ice cream with the Pennings family in Port Burwell.

Spending time relaxing and reading.

Joanne and I went swimming almost every day before breakfast.

Ryan, Michael, David and I spent time climbing the dunes.

Enjoying the togetherness of a campfire with the Vandenbrinks. Emily Cressman, Michelle Schuit and Stephanie De Jong sang and played the guitar.

Of course no trip would be complete without repairing bicycles.

We saw some marvelous sunsets. And the weather was HOT!

Happy 25th Wedding Anniversary Bill and Evelyn Menkveld!

Tuesday was a Full Day

It has been a few days since Tuesday but that was the day that my brother-in-law, Rick Fintelman; my brother, Steve Vandenbrink and my nephew, Kevin Menkveld were over to finish up the barn foundation. It has taken a few more days to complete the finishing touches. Not a small job! Ryan, my son was also there to help between his milking jobs. Once again, we are very grateful to all who helped on this project and all the help received in many different ways.

That afternoon we spent over 4 hours at the cancer clinic. We were able to see both radiation and chemo doctors. Many of our questions were answered that day. There really wasn't any change made to the original diagnosis with the pathology report. It is an aggressive type of cancer which we hope and pray the therapy program will successfully treat. It will take the next week for the doctors to organize the start of the treatments. The first 6 wks will be intense as there will be 5 days a week of radiation and 7 days of chemo. Four weeks of rest will follow and then one week on and 3 weeks off for a total of 6 months.
We are hoping that I can tolerate the treatments well. I am not allowed to drive and may not be working much for some time. This will be a big change for our family and will take some adjustment. But God has been good to us in the past and I'm sure He will continue to stay close beside us through the days ahead.
We will not lose hope. Our God is all powerful and in total control. We will continue to trust Him no matter what the future holds.

We plan to take our family camping trip at the end of the week which we had booked since March. We will be camping at Port Burwell with the Pennings family one long weekend and at the Pinery with the Vandenbrinks the following long weekend. We're hoping the nice weather holds out.
Gary and Joanne

Another Week Gone By

Tanner Petterson and  his best bud, Ryan

Yes, another week is gone. The days have been filling up nicely. Gary is feeling quite well and has been keeping busy around the farm as well as helping his kids with their projects.
I'm trying to make sure he doesn't forget to rest!! It seems like I'm more tired then he is!
I believe that keeping busy is helping to make the uncertainty and waiting time less on our minds.
Gary's staples were taken out on Tuesday. The wound has healed up nicely and his hair is growing back. This past Wednesday our friends Greg and Laurie Kenyon came to visit and on Thursday night our neighbours, Chuck and Diane Armstrong, took Gary and I out for dinner. Then Friday,Kimberley Petersen, our good friend from Brockville came for supper and spend some time with us. On Saturday we had lunch with Gary's mom which helped to break up her day.

To everyone, thanks for your continual words of encouragement, concern and prayer. God is faithful and He continues to give us strength and patience in this waiting period. Thanks too for the continued emails, phone calls, cards, visits, offers of help,blog comments, goodies and meals!!
Joanne