Great Job, Justin!

I went to church with the family and Grandma. We met lots of the kid's friends and found their church to be very friendly and welcoming. The music was terrific and the preaching was great. The one thing that really stood out to me is that about 95% of the people there are between the ages of 20 and 30. It is a young church, right in the downtown area, so not many children and not many older people (like me!). The pastor was giving a final sermon on a theme, and was ending with a message about sleepwalking through your life, not taking your faith seriously. About midway through the sermon, Justin got invited up to speak.

The pastor introduced him and told us that Justin had a story to tell. So Justin took the microphone and began to talk about his life, where he went to school, college, etc. He told about losing sight of the goal of being a youth pastor by getting caught up in the fun of college, but never doing the work. He had collected and downloaded so much music that it froze his computer. Everyone laughed. Fast forward to April of this year when he went to bed one night and woke up the next day in an ambulance. He told the audience that he was diagnosed with incurable brain cancer. We could hear a collective "punch in the gut" sound as the audience took this in.

Then he explained to them that unless the Lord intervenes with healing, he doesn't have lots more years to live. You could hear a pin drop. Then he explained how that knowledge has turned his life around. He is more motivated than ever in his life to be close to the Lord, to make every day count, and to start living to the best of his ability.

As Justin finished speaking, you could sense in the room a quietness. They really took a hard look at "what if that was me?" Then pastor finished up with a message of importance: be ready! Don't take your life or your faith for granted.

After church, lots of young people wanted to stay to talk with Justin. We were there about an hour after church was over. He spoke with so many, and they were all interested in his story.

Great job, Justin! You may never know how many lives you touched until we are in heaven.

Back to Work

Spring break was spent working at the camp. Justin was in charge of seeing that those at the work-a-thon got their work orders and knew how to do the jobs. He was also in charge of the tools and equipment, so it all got back to the shop. There were college kids from Minnesota and junior highers from Iowa, too. Each had their own set of jobs to do. Justin's boss told him that he was doing exactly what they envisioned when they put together his job. He was pleased.

After dinner and a movie with a friend, Justin will head to church tomorrow to give his testimony. He feels better about it, now that he has it written down.

Thanks again for your prayers!

Testimony Time

Justin was asked to give his testimony at church this Saturday night. He has been speaking in front of people for years and has never been too nervous. Well, another surprising change in him: he is scared! I think he will feel much better once he writes down what he wants to say. Pray for him, that he has peace this week, and that he speaks from his heart to the young people that attend his church. It is a church right in the downtown area that attracts very young adults in an urban setting. It is not much like a traditional church, except the Bible is preached without apology.

A Great Day!

I have a new picture in my mind of Justin tonight. And it is a goody.

Four months ago, if Justin decided to go to the store with me, he would always warn me to stay close in case he had a seizure. Wherever I walked in the store, he went with me. I felt bad for him. It must be hard to have known how easy life was in the past, and have it change so dramatically that you cannot even walk somewhere by yourself now.

So here we are, a month past the radiation treatments, and today Justin went with me to HyVee. He was all over the store, getting things he wanted or needed without a thought of whether I was around or not. He pushed the cart out for me and we loaded the groceries in the back of the truck.

So here is my new mind's picture: Justin grabbed the cart, went running for the "cart corral", put one foot on the bottom bar of the cart and rode the cart like a scooter, smiling all the way! He jogged back grinning from ear to ear. Oh, what a huge blessing! God has done so much for Justin over the last 3 months! I will never forget the joy we are feeling today!

Working At Camp Again

Justin began working at the camp. The pay is low...nothing...but the rewards are high. He is doing some consulting, but there is a bigger job to do now. He is walking through the buildings, making up work orders for everything that needs done. He will turn those in, then the staff will decide which things are in the budget and which ones are not. Justin will help the team in any way he can.

We visited the Social Security office. Long story short, we will not hear anything for at least three months. If Justin does not qualify for disability, they want us to appeal. We can do 2 appeals, the last one is with a judge. That takes a while...the state is so far behind that Utah is taking some of our cases. They are backed up a year or more. So it looks as if we either get a little help before fall, or we fight to maybe get nothing in two years. Let's just say we are not holding our breath. Although we are not interested in food stamps or other help, if he gets on disability, he will automatically be on Medicaid and will be able to seek medical help almost anywhere. No more Broadlawns. We will continue at Iowa City because he is getting great care there. Medicaid is better insurance than he has now.

Being An Uncle

Justin was not doing very well when his nephew Jaxon was born. They really didn't have too much time together. I think the underlying fear was that Justin would have a seizure while holding the baby and that could be bad, especially because Justin is a big guy. So he kept his distance. Jaxon would stare at him with those sweet little eyes, but didn't smile much, and didn't seem to know how to react when Justin talked to him.

Now, it is the opposite. The two of them are best buds. Often I see Jaxon sitting on Uncle Justin's lap, chillin'. They play monster, "pat the bald head", and the ever popular, "you are my trampoline". What a blessing to watch these two! We are blessed they have each other.

Motivation--Where Did That Come From?!

Every day Justin seems to come up with more and more motivation. He is currently writing a book-working on Chapter 2, memorizing the book of James, reviewing his Greek course and trying to catch up, walking every day, and looking for an awesome job. He did NONE of this in the past. I don't know where it came from, but I like it!

Resume Time

Justin saw an ad for his dream job and is working on updating his resume...

The first three years of college, Justin was in a prison ministry. Several young men went into the nearby prison every Monday night to spend time with the inmates, share their faith, and build trusting relationships. He loved it and looked forward each week. I remember him telling me one time that there were guys in the prison younger than himself. He felt really bad for them.

It was on the national news one night...several inmates escaped by dropping mattresses out of the 5th story window onto the razor wire fence. One of the inmates fell wrong and was injured pretty badly. The prison took this very seriously and closed the prison to outsiders. No more prison visits for anyone. That ended the ministry for good.

There is a position open near here for a chaplain. Justin is not positive that he has the exact qualifications that they are looking for, but he will send his resume anyway. They may have something else if this isn't the right thing.

Justin loves prison ministry about as well as camp ministry, so we will pray he gets a job in one of these two areas. Thanks!

A New Postition

Justin did a great job on his walk-through at the camp. Within 3 hours of him returning home, they called to ask if he would like to work at the camp as a regular volunteer. There are no paid positions at the camp yet, but they have much to do to prepare for Josh McDowell, who will be speaking in the auditorium later this month. Justin is pleased and ready to get back into a job, even if it is unpaid at this point.

The camp is only about 2 miles from my workplace, so transportation should not be too much of an issue.

Exciting Day

Justin is going to do some work tomorrow for a church here in town. They have purchased a camp and are not really sure what they have and don't have. They have asked Justin to go on a walk-through with the pastor to see the camp and then let them know what he thinks. He has worked at many camps and will be able to tell them the good and the bad. But mostly he will be able to encourage them to do the things that will draw people there. Justin worked at a camp in Pennsylvania that used the camp facilities year round. During the fall, winter and spring they brought in groups from schools, senior citizen groups and others for retreats to learn about nature. It keeps the camp in business year round. That is how it should be. Pray for him, that this may lead him to some sort of job.

Moving Forward

Several people from both hospitals have encouraged me to have Justin apply for Disability. I looked into it last year and it said you must have been sick for one year to get benefits. Well, it has been over 10 months already, so the time is now.

I have this sinking feeling that we will spend many hours on this project (you have to jump through a hundred hoops) only to find out he does not qualify for some reason. I will have to take some time off work to visit the local social security office, and take dozens of informational papers, like who his doctors are, the dates of his treatments, future appointments, his patient ID numbers, medications and their prescribers, and even a copy of his birth certificate. It will take me hours to get all of this information together. I will try to keep a positive attitude about it, but I just have a feeling it is a lot for nothing. But, you can't know until you try, so we will try.

I called the Social Security office and they gave us an appointment for 1:00pm this Wednesday. I was actually surprised that we got in that fast. And yet that is not too much time to have all this information put together.

This is the tiring part of illness.

A New Man

Justin has been gaining energy and motivation by the day. I am surprised every day to see what he has accomplished. Today he showed my his bedroom, all neat, organized and cared for. This is a tremendous change. Cleaning his room has never been one of the top 100 priorities in his life! It was a blessing to see that he really cares about his things and wants them to look nice.

Every day, the guys have been walking the trails in our neighborhood. I'm not sure how many miles they walk, but that isn't really a concern right now. Just the fact that he is out walking is a good thing. He seems to like the walks.

Chapter one of his book is written, and he is working on chapter 2. I love hearing how the character is moving along in the story.

The only bad thing going on right now is boredom. Even with walks, writing, cleaning, tv and family, he is still looking for a lot more to do. Pacing isn't fun.