Hello! My aunt recently wrote our family this amazing e-mail about a young man who wanted only to live for God and spread His gospel. I hope you enjoy it and are encouraged by his child-like faith in his Almighty Creator.
Blessings to you!
Amber
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We know a family, a large blonde Christian Dutch dairy farm family. They have five sons, all grown and in their twenties, and a daughter, in her twenties, just married this year. Everyone in the Treasure Valley, which is all around Boise, loves this family. They are fun, they work hard, they laugh, they play, they live vivaciously, and they had Case.
Case was one of the boys in this family. When he was nine years old he decided to lead a donkey by tying the lead rope around his waist so he could lead the donkey with no hands. The animal spooked, ran, and dragged Case and he hit his head on a cement water canal. He was in a coma for four months in a hospital.
His sister was 12 at the time. She knew all the "Christian stuff" her parents taught her and that the church taught her, but she didn't think much about God. Now she prayed. She prayed feverishly that God would not let come true what the doctors said. They said he wouldn't live, and if he did, they said that with 99% certainty he would be a vegetable mentally.
Well, sister and brothers sat around him in turns for months and they sang hymns and they prayed and cried. One day, as they sang a hymn, he put his hand up high and strong and made the family sign for, "I love you." Sister, Siska, says from that day on she knew God was real and very powerful.So Case came out of the coma, but he was not the same Case. He was like a four year old. He lived and grew but was always different mentally. He was home schooled with his four brothers and one sister, and worked on the dairy farm with his parents and siblings most of his life. He had great long-term memory, almost perfect and almost photogenic, but very little short-term memory. He could learn songs easily and jokes, but some things were hard for him. He wanted to witness to the Mexican men helpers on the farm but he couldn't learn Spanish, so he spoke in a Spanish accent speaking English. Of course that didn't do any good!!! So His big brother Rudy taught him a song that explained the Gospel in Spanish, and Case could learn that, and he sang it to the men. It took him a whole year to learn the song. He was one of those wonderful people with no inhibitions spiritually, so when he met people he instantly was warm and gracious with them and found ingenious ways of starting a spiritual conversation with them and quite soon was asking them why they hadn't asked Christ Jesus to be their Savior too! A couple of months ago, his oldest brother Rudy with whom he worked almost side by side at the dairy all day, noticed Case had his pockets totally stuffed full. Rudy asked what was in there. Well, he had six little bags full of mints from his sister, Siska's wedding reception, because he said he could start conversations with strangers by giving them a mint, then he could tell them about Jesus and he did! He was constantly explaining the glories and sweetness of Christ to people! Of course, most of what I'm telling you about Case I learned from his siblings speaking today.
Well, Saturday we received a call that Case had died in his sleep Friday night. He had seizures on and off most of his life after the incident with the donkey. He had a seizure Friday night and went to bed and never awoke. He was 23 years old. Ah, but he awoke in the presence of Christ for the Scriptures tell us, ".....absent from the body, present with the Lord."
All five of his siblings spoke at his glorious wonderful funeral service today from noon to 2:00. What incredible young people! What a life Case lived for God that it was "easy" for the siblings to proclaim without reservation that Case lived for Christ and for other people, always trying to be nice to others and do little acts of service for others in his simplicity. All the siblings told great little stories about Case that had all 500 of us in fits of laughter and streams of tears. What a well-lived life Case lived in his openness. The oldest sibling is training to be a pastor, and it is obvious that God has given him the ability to speak with grace and hold the listener's attention, and he speaks words of glory to God.
The music that we were privileged to sing with this family was just incredible. This is a family who attends Cloverdale United Reformed Church, and they also had an association with a church too called King's Congregation. So there were about 500 people at the two-hour service and we sang hymns with them, and these people know how to sing parts; it was strong and lovely and gorgeous. The hymns chosen were strong wonderful ones that Case used to sing with the cows in the dairy barn! Also, almost half the attendees were men, tall Dutch men, and these men sing!
Two pastors spoke, one young recently ordained, his prayer was laced with Scriptures, "...I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am there you may be also..... precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints,.....I am the resurrection and the life, He that believes in Me shall live even if he dies" that are so incredibly powerful that speak to this event of death in the life of a believer that you wanted to shout for joy at the end of prayer!!!
