Last Carol Update

Early in the morning of Thursday Feb. 11 Carol quietly left this world to her dwelling place in Heaven. I was sleeping next to her hospital bed and checked her at 1:45 and she was still breathing. I nodded off and woke again at 4:45 and found she was not breathing and cool to the touch. It was the worst moment of my life.

Carol’s last week was one of rapidly declining health. The cancer in her liver robbed her of strength, even the strength to speak. She was in very little pain although we were giving her some very low dose stuff to help with her discomfort. By Wednesday she was almost completely non-responsive. We did manage to get an occasional raised eyebrow out of her and went on with everything assuming that she could hear everything, but could not respond.

Wednesday night we had our Leadership Group from our Church (Barry and Barbara Cowan, Paul and Roberta Pfluger, Rich and Jill Valiant, and Jay and Lynda Weir) and Pastor Rick Franks and his wife Kelly (CC Mountain View) all gather here at the house. Carol was in a hospital bed in the living room and had been for a few days. But feeling the need we all gathered that night and surrounded Carol’s bed. We anointed her with oil (Again!) and we all laid hands on her and prayed for her. (Again!) We sang a couple of songs for her and loved her with words, kisses and touches. Later that night she was with Jesus, hearing His voice, singing His praises and being hugged by her Savior. It was a fine send off, one we will never forget.

The Church here sprang into action with the Leadership Group taking care of many things here for me. Rick and Kelly Franks as well as Pastor Deano Ishiki and his wife Mary (CC San Mateo) have been here for encouragement and prayers also. There will be two memorial services up-coming. One will be in our hometown of Claremont and the other here in Half Moon Bay. I’ll post dates and times when I figure it out. They will be soon, but more likely toward the end of the month. Feel free to email me with questions on that.

Lots of people are asking what I need, and really, at this point, nothing at all. I am well supplied. God is present and powerful, love is thick in the air, peace rules the house and I am content in the hands of my Savior. Carol is in eternity, and so will we all be. Who knows but God alone what will happen to you or me this day? Examine your heart. Do you trust Christ with your life and your death? Carol did. Do you have the assurance that comes from having your eternity secure in His hands and not your own? Please everyone; do not let another day go by without answering these questions in the privacy of your own heart. I know that not everyone who reads this is a Christian. This has nothing to do with joining a religion or movement. This is about standing before God on the day of your death and giving to Him an account of why you did or did not believe in His Son. Be very clear on where you stand and don’t live another moment without experiencing for yourself what it means to have your sins forgiven and to be standing in the salvation that come from Jesus alone.
Carol had no fear for her life beyond this world. But she did fear not seeing you there. I do to.

May God richly bless you all, He has us,
Brian and in spirit if not in body, Carol

Psalm 116:15; “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.”

2Timothy 4:8; “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. “

Romans 8:35-39; “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. “

1Cor.15:51-54; ” Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

Isaiah 43:1-3; “But now thus says the LORD, He who created you…’Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior…'”