The Struggle Has Ended

Greg Hewlett passed away on January 17th after nearly eight years of battling colon cancer. While we grieve his loss, we are comforted to know that he is with his Lord.

If you would like to leave your thoughts on Greg, please see this thread.

If you would like to make a charitable donation in Greg's honor, please see this thread.

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Al's blog

When I drove back alone Thursday night after hearing the news, I spent a lot of time on the cell phone. I thought my heart had been completely ripped out that afternoon, but apparently there was some remaining because more was ripped out when my friend Bill told me that Al Groves had recently been told that his melanoma had spread to his lungs and that the doctors said it was incurable. Al got his news just two months before I got mine.


Al was a professor of mine at WTS. We have grown to be friends as he suffers from fibromyalgia, which drains him of energy as it does Christine, and he has been a faithful supporter of mine in prayer over my trial with cancer. Now we have more in common than either of us had hoped. I cannot tell you how encouraging it was today to talk with this brother who, due to his own trial, personally understands my situation and speaks with such wisdom to my situation as a friend.
He has a great balance of heart and mind in his service to the church. He has been a pastor as well as teacher and theologian. I had sometimes entertained the idea that I wanted to follow in his footsteps. Now he is applying his theology to suffering with cancer. Following him there wasn't what I had in mind!
Like me, Al has been keeping a blog. (www.algroves.info). I love one of the stories on the blog: Al is surrounded by a wonderful circle of friends and family. So when he was unable to walk due to chemo symptoms, the call went out for wheelchairs. This was the result.

2 comments:

Madeleine said...

Even though we don't understand this and it tests our faith, it's great to know that we can trust God that He will be glorified in this and that you will become conformed more and more into the image of His Son, our Savior. I agree with what so many others have said, that this blog is such a blessing and a testimony to God's grace and the working of His Spirit in the Church. May His name be ever praised. You are loved and prayed for. Blessings, healing, strength and courage be unto you in Christ,
Madeleine

Henry Chu said...

Greg,
The thoughts of Lamentation-3 reverberates in my mind in times like these, especially vs 19-26, that in the darkest of nights, the love and hope in our Heavenly Father pierece through them all, and bring forth courage and peace beyond reason. May He say to the teampest in our heart and soul, "Be still!"
My pastor shared last night, that today he will accompany the parents of the lone drawning victim, of last Sunday's flash flood around Turtle Creek, to view thier daughter for the first time. A beautiful 21 year old student from China, who had just came over to two months ago, to study micro-biology at SMU. We don't know much about her, but an unexpected lead has raised our hope. We learned that, on that day, her companion was a student of the Dallas Theological Seminary. Why would she hang around a seminarian student, Could it mean that she has already been "saved" in this short period of time? For this is a question of eternal ssignificance.
The distraught parents came to town yesterday, from China, but was barred from viewing their daughter until the medical examiner here releas her to the famiy after proper signature. The mother kept on calling her cell phone, and listen to her message, yearns to go wherever her daughter, her only child, has gone. Please keep them in your prayer as well.
Please allow me to insert the text of Lamentation-3, vs 19-26
19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not
consumed,for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."
25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.