This Christmas season brought many blessings! One I for sure enjoyed was the gift of reading some really good books! “This is My Story, This is My Song, My Life and Testimony,” written by my 95 year old Uncle Bob DeBoer really touched my heart.

I loved the family history and pictures, and was so encouraged by his faith, a deep faith that weathered some of life’s most horrific storms. One of my very fist memories as a child was going to a funeral service on Christmas Eve for my aunt Marilyn who passed away from cancer. That Christmas grief and pain was forever etched in my mind as many tears were shed for my aunt, only 39 years years old and who left behind four children.

By God’s grace after a few years God brought a blessing to Bob in the form of a wonderful wife named Oveta.  She jumped right in to her instant family. Those were not the easiest days as you can imagine but together the made it work. The storms were far from over as all four of Bob’s children would pass away along with a grandson. He watched his two older children die from long agonizing battles with cancer, along with his grandson. The two younger adult children tragically lost their lives in accidents.

Yet in the midst of all that loss and suffering his faith never wavered. He continued to live out the words from the old hymn – “This is my story this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long.”  Instead of going inward and living with anger or bitterness at God he persevered and served God as a leader in his church and for 30 years walked alongside a Cambodian refuge church in Colorado.

I would often tell Patty when I think of my Uncle Bob the word “Rock” comes to mind. He was a rock in the midst of life’s storms because he lived on THE Rock  just like the story Jesus shares at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. One builder constructs his house on the stable rock and the other on the shifting sand.

In South Africa we have seen over and over again people quickly building literal homes on the sand or even in the midst of a dry river bed. But when the winter rains come their “shacks” are washed away, along with all their earthly possessions. It is harder to build on the bed rock, takes more time and energy, but in the long run it will stand in the midst of the battering storms.

How do you build spiritually on THE Rock? One of the main points that comes out in Uncle Bob’s book is the word “Trust!” In fact he would repeatedly tell his family,  “remember to Trust, Trust, Trust!” Trust is not easy especially in our quick fix world where we want it all now and we opt for the sand.  Trust demands we hold on to the promises of Jesus and stand on those life saving promises even when storms continue to pound us.  We must continue to dig deep into His Word and follow these truths even through the valley of the shadow of death may be ever near.

I praise God for Bob and Oveta DeBoer whose life sings a song of praise to THE Rock Jesus Christ. He is the one who they have built their life upon.  Stormy days will come but it is good to be reminded to live on THE Rock, and to “Trust, Trust, Trust!”

“Everyone who hears My teaching and applies it to his life can be compared to a wise man who built his house on an unshakable foundation. When the rains fell and the flood came, with fierce winds beating upon his house, it stood firm because of its strong foundation.” Matt. 7:24,25.

The book can be found on Amazon