These are my Trailblazers. Not the Portland basketball Trailblazers. These Trailblazers have led the way for me by living brilliant lives to the end - the very end. It has been my privilege to walk beside each one for a little bit along their way.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Hebrews 12:1
Patti
I was in the final stages of healing from breast cancer surgery when my friend Patti called one dark and wet January evening with the devastating news that she had just been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. We had just spent the weekend as roommates over at the coast at the annual retreat for the women of our church. She was in pain and couldn’t sleep. I kept her entertained with stories – they amounted to a stand-up comic routine, but I can’t remember any of them now for the life of me - about having cancer and going through diagnostic procedures and surgery. I especially shared how I often would feel unusually peaceful and confident, attributing these feelings to the prayers of God’s people.
The year that followed was not easy for Patti and her family. Treatments were a struggle. She had to let go of her job at which she excelled and was making an impact. Her boys were teenagers. Her husband, some months later was diagnosed with cancer as well and he struggled with recovery from surgery while she struggled with chemotherapy side effects and fading energy.
During that year it was my privilege to organize “Patti’s List” and send out regular updates by e-mail. Exactly the thing I am now doing with this blog. People prayed and Patti battled, until, not quite a year after she was diagnosed, at home, surrounded by family and a few friends, Patti moved on to heaven, where Jesus would welcome her into the place He had prepared for her, just as He has promised for all who believe on His Name.
Patti was forty-six years old when her life here ended. Her family and friends still grieve, and, to a certain extent always will. But to have been so close to her for that year is an experience I will treasure forever. I can only thank God repeatedly for putting me near her, for allowing me to serve her and see first hand how He showered Patti with mercy and grace throughout her time of suffering.
And you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:11
Amy
Amy and I went back pretty far. We studied Kung Fu together. We were seekers together and accepted the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ within months of one another. Amy was always a healthy, high energy, athletic woman who took very good care of her self. At forty-eight she was fully engaged in raising four children, home schooling them, and maintaining a small zoo of animals and a large garden.
So how could it be that this vital woman should be hit with thyroid cancer?
But that’s what happened. While I was busy wondering how I could get cancer twice when I was doing everything pretty much ‘right’, Amy, who was doing it all much ‘righter’ than I was, was being hit earlier in her life, and harder – to the point of death. Again, just as with Patti, only her body was to die. Amy is also in the place Jesus has prepared for her. That faith, and that hope, carried Amy and her husband and her four children (aged 12 to 18) through a long valley – an abyss even – and has given them the strength to continue.
Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
They will run and not grow weary,
They will walk and not be faint.
Isaiah 40:31
Preston
Amazing youth pastor. Amazing Bible scholar. Brilliant mind. Insane sense of humor. Young husband and father. Wise beyond his years. Destined, it seemed, for a life of major impact for our Lord.
I would not have known him but for the fact that he and his wife lived in the area encompassed by our church ‘Care Group’ loosely made up of people living near to one another.
Preston was twenty-four, married to the amazing Tara, father of dear Jacob and little Micah, only in his eighth week of gestation when . . .
The family was driving north on I-5 in central Washington when they came upon an accident. Someone had hit an elk. They stopped, and as Tara tells it, Preston promptly got out, desiring to lend aid where he could. He was calling 911 from his mobile when he was hit by another vehicle – the driver tried to avoid the wreck, but did not see Preston . . . Just like that, in Tara’s arms, he was taken up, in a wave of peace, yet leaving behind earthly devastation.
Tara’s was the first blog I ever read. She’s a gifted writer and I have put a link to her blog on this one. Just click on the "taranator" link. She has openly and beautifully shared, in profound depth and detail, her journey since that night in September 2008. I cannot recommend this journal too highly. You will weep. You will laugh. You will be challenged in your belief, and you will learn through Tara how God brings freshening and hope out of ruin.
Preston stood with Paul, who, in his letter to the Philippians (Chapter 1, verse 21) said, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Even now, Preston's life continues to impact people in ways none of us could have imagined.
These are my trailblazers. In truth we need but one, Jesus Christ. God has given me these three - just to be sure I get it? I don’t know about that, but I do know I am grateful for having known these remarkable people in life and in death, and for a loving God who generously gives us more than we need!
