Saturday, March 21, 2009

Lifting up the Mohlers, with HOPE.
Our friends since before we were married.
Had our children around the same time.
Led camps together, singing and teaching.
Sat under Jim's preaching AND Miriam's preaching.
Got our first American Girl in Chicago with them.
Celebrated their 25th with them in 2005.
So glad they moved back to CA last year.
We all got annual Disney passes. They're Disney experts.
So happy our kids connected!
Most importantly, they love Jesus, learn about Jesus, teach about Jesus, serve Jesus, praise Jesus and trust Him with their future.

We are lifting up the Mohlers during this hard storm of their lives. Jim was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, brain cancer, stage 4, on March 11. Almost exactly a month after some symptoms started showing. He already started chemo and will start radiation next week i think. They are amazing to watch through this. If you know them and want to read their story or write a note of hope and encouragement, you can go to caringbridge.org and put in Jim Mohler.

Here's her post in the journal today.

Happy Spring! The season of renewal and hope! Today Jim had several visitors and worked hard on his Physical therapy in the morning. After lunch we drove to LA for his planning session with the radiology department, where he had a mask of his head made. He starts 6 weeks of radiation next week in Ontario.

Tomorrow he heads back to LA for an MRI.

Everyday, in the midst of visits, new routines, upheaval and uncertainty, we cling to hope. One of my favorite lines in one of my favorite movies, Shawshank Redemption, is: "Never Forget. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies".

Emily Dickinson, a favorite poet, wrote:

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,...

Someone once said that a person can live 3 days without water, 3 minutes withour air, but only 3 seconds without hope. (Perhaps 3 hours without a computer/phone - or is that pushing it!?) Biblical hope as opposed to optimism or wishful thinking is an amazing thing because it is certainty, a confident expectation, rooted in promise and a trustworthy God! So, we are full of hope and we are ready to give an account to anyone who asks of the hope that lies within us. We are singing about the best of things: HOPE!

We long to be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer (Rom 12:12). Amen.

1 comment:

Michele said...

thank you for your thoughtful post. by the way, shawshank redemption is one of my favorite movies as well. fantastic.

since i recently gave my blogspot a facelift i decided to go through some of my old posts. i read one from quite a time back in which you mentioned a family farm in north dakota. my family hails from (a farm in) north dakota as well. my paternal grandparents lived in minto. where was your family's farm?

~michele
ponytayl.blogspot.com