well i just filed my taxes (i will be getting a check of 62 dollars soon) and then was checking on here.

ok so courtney j. on her site talked about how tonight the message at youth group seemed how it was just for her and how great that is and asked when that has happened to other people so here is my story about that. and some background first. (i think i remembered everything , it is late so if i didn't i will edit it and tell you what i left out)

it was the summer of 2002 and i was working at camp. it was junior high 1. i was counseling with andy pull in emmaus. i was scheduled to work at the AP (adventure program) over free time on wednesday so i was on my way over when AA (double a (aaron ziebarth)) came up to me at about the rv park. he told me my dad was on the phone in the office for me and that i should go talk to him. he had someone going to replace me at the AP. this confused me. i had never gotten a call at camp much less during the week and i had no clue what would make AA find a replacement for me at the AP. so i went to the office and talked to my dad on the phone. he told me that my grandpa was in the hospital and that the docters said that if i wanted to see him before he died that i should come home now. my brother andy was there to pick me up that day at supper. my grandpa and i were really close, i would spend i week at his house every summer as a young child. i saw him that night and then the next morning i sent this email to everyone at camp.

 Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2002 8:11 AM
OK so here is whats happening as i understand it last Thursday they brought him to Innovis hospital in Fargo for tests on last saturday they were thinking about surgey for gall bladder stones or something like that the surgey happened on Monday but now the doctors think he had a heart attak or something beteen Sat. and Mon. on Monday he was still talking and interacting and things tuesday he was mainly just squeezing hands except for one time when a nurse was in and some one was telling her about our dog he said Einstien (our dogs name) so they brought einstien into the hospital and had him by my grandpas hand. by yesterday when i saw him he was no longer squeezing hands and we have no way of telling if he knows whats going on around him. They are giving him morphine and other things to keep him comfortable but since his kidneys jave failed toxens have been building up in his blood we don't really know how long he has. All your thoughts and Prayers are apreciated.

so that was the situation when i got there. he was laying in bed with tubes and an oxygen mask. i really didn't like being in the room with him just sitting there helpless since it was just waiting until he passed i decided to come back to camo that thursday. that night was CBC JUBILEE (skit night) and my troubles were momentarily forgotten.

the next day (friday) i lead bible study. i was going to lead it thursday but i was gone for bible study time on thursday so firday was my day. the passage for friday was 1 Thes 4:13-18
 ¹³Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. ¹⁴We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. ¹⁵According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸Therefore encourage each other with these words.

i started of bible study by telling my campers why i was gone and used that as an introduction to talking about  this passage. the bible study went very well. at supper i was again told that i had a phone call. it was my dad telling me taht my grandpa had died. i would come home saturday and then the funeral was that sunday. that night at chapel first the songs seemed as if they were planned knowing the news i just heard. we sang IT IS WELL which is a wonderful song and then dave turner told us the story of why that hymn was written how haratio spafford family had all been killed in a ship accident. that was a story i already knew but it was nice to hear. then the speaker spoke the whole night on how great heaven is going to be. it was wondeful and just reaffirmed what i had taught to campers a few hours earlier that day. God is so good in how he provides for all our needs.

i am not saying that it was not sad to see my grandfather go but i know i will see him again in heaven. that time was still hard. it was eased much by the compassion and prayer to the staff at camp. specifically i remeber jason morrison and i crossed pathes behind the lodge. he just stopped and said "i'm praying for you" simple words but somehow i just knew he meant it and it meant so much. and bekka moller (now bekka darling) wrote me a note that just meant alot. it is still in the front of my bible. its on green paper with a flower on top. everytime i see paper with a flower on it i think of that note.

thank you to you two and everyone else who was so supportive then. thank you mainly to God who if it weren't for him that would be a horrible time. knowing that i would never see him again. but through the sacrifice of his son both my grandfather and i will both be able to worship God in heaven for all of eternity.  if you have an questions about that let me know. i would be glad to share with you. 

1 Thes. 4:13 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope

In God's Hands,
thomas kvamme