Chapter Two: A new Addition to the Family

                                                                          

        In 1975 we decided to move to Saskatoon, I hated to leave Meadow Lake because of the country but I still had a excitement about moving to the city. I was 12 years old and the Lord blessed our family with a little girl, her name was Candice and she changed our lives forever. She was born about the same time that we were moving so not only were we going to be in a new place but have a new sister as well. It was July and we were all excited about the new addition. But all the excitement would soon fade though.

                        In October Candice had to go in to get her vaccines. Many years down the road we would find out that it was the vaccines that destroyed Candice’s life and ours. Candice left the house happy, alert and returned very ill. We were told that this was to be expected after the vaccines and that we should give her aspirin and she would be better in the morning. Candice cried in pain, the crying lasted day and night. The doctors told us to just continue the aspirin. This continued until she went limp.

                        Candice had gone into a coma, at the time we were told that Candice contracted an extremely rare disease called Reyes syndrome at 5 months of age, she would go through more suffering than most of us will ever feel in a lifetime. At the time we believed what we were told, we knew nothing of the toxic chemicals in the vaccines until many years later.

                        Two months before Christmas in 1975 Candice was in a coma and was not expected to come out of it. The family didn’t know what had hit us, things like this happened to other people but you never expect it to happen to you. For 6 weeks the family would run back and forth to the hospital.  My dad was trying to work a new job that had him out of town a lot, my mom trying to deal with 2 kids at home and a baby that is dying. Mom was at the hospital and trying to look after a 12 year old and a 10 year old. After a couple weeks the strain took its toll on me and my sister, school wasn’t going well for me and the fun in life seemed gone. As kids at the time we weren’t allowed in the room to see Candice so we would sit in the waiting room for hours. This went on for day after day, then week after week, each day expecting the worst and each day ended with us not quite relieved but not destroyed either.

                        After 6 weeks of being told that she would not make it, and that it was just a matter of time that she would die, Candice came out of the coma. But she was not the same girl that had gone into the hospital. The baby that would giggle uncontrollably when I would play peek-aboo with her, the sweet innocent baby that would look at you so trustingly when you held her was never to be seen again. The disease had damaged all of her major organs and had hit the brain the hardest. Because the disease was very rare and only given a name a few years earlier, the doctors in western Canada had never seen it before, so as a result it took them several days to diagnose it.

                 The information came too late the damage had already been done, Reyes syndrome can move very quickly and it did with Candice. From the time she had the vaccines to the time she was in a coma was less than 24hrs. By the time the patient is in a coma, the disease has done most of the damage. Part of the disease is swelling of the brain, Candice’s brain had swollen while she was in the coma, and the pressure needed to be released. The doctors had to shave her head and cut a hole in the brain cavity to release the pressure, but it wasn’t soon enough. Candice was never to have motor control over her body again and required 24hr care for the rest of her life. Every member of the family would take part in caring for Candice for the next 24 years.

                        As in many tight knit families, the whole family came together for the care of Candice. Wendy, we would discover many years later, took assisting the family in the care of Candice as abusive and would eventually destroy the family over her feelings. Through lies and the telling of events that never happened she would seek sympathy for herself while slandering and openly attacking the rest of the family. But this would not happen for many years yet, for now me and Wendy would take turns holding Candice for short periods of time. Sometimes babysitting while mom and dad went to get groceries, it was during one of these times that I remember words I had said. Words that will haunt me for the rest of my life. I recalled holding a very different Candice before the vaccines, before the medications, before the pain and saying “I wish she could stay like this for ever.”

                       The saying be careful what you wish for took on new meaning for me. I remember crying over these words and feeling a great amount of guilt. To this day I am careful of what I wish for.

                        Candice had to be given an assortment of powerful medications to keep her seizures under control. Seizures that developed as a result of the “disease” (vaccines) would follow Candice for the rest of her life. Then the medication would have adverse affects on her and would have to be countermanded with other very powerful medications. We would spend the next 24 years fighting to keep her alive every day. Each day happy she was alive and each day knowing that it could be her last. There was never any time that Candice wasn’t near death and we knew it.

              My family rededicated their lives to the Lord and I accepted Jesus as my saviour at that time. Candice was less than a year old at that time, but the miracles that we had seen through Candice affected us all. While she was in a coma the doctors would call my parents into the hospital in the middle of the night, they didn't think that Candice would make it through the night so mom and dad were called in to sit with her. I was 12 years old then and the oldest, so my dad would come to my room and wake me up to tell me they were going to the hospital. He never said it, but I knew that Candice would not make it through the night. While Wendy would be sleeping in her bed not knowing what was happening I would wait for them to come home but always ended up falling asleep. Each morning my parents would come home and Candice would live another day. This hospital visit would be repeated many times over the course of Candice's life. She would be in and out of the hospital several times a year and each time the doctors would say she would not make it.

             Candice came home after 7 weeks of being in the hospital, and she was in a great amount of pain and would scream in pain constantly. It wasn’t the cry of a baby but the scream of what I would describe as an animal, one of incredible pain. She had no relief and neither did we, mom walked with her and rocked her without stopping. Other than 10 or 15 minutes at a time she didn't stop screaming, the “disease” (vaccines) had taken a tremendous toll on her and the result was a pain that is beyond our understanding. Too see something so little in so much pain is more that anyone can imagine, and for it never to stop and knowing that there is nothing you can do, day after day.

            After a several of days of this Candice stopped crying, mom thought that she would take the opportunity to lie down, even if it was just for 15 minutes. After half and hour mom jumped up because she had not heard Candice, the first thought that she had was that Candice was dead, she ran to the old fashioned stroller that Candice was lying in, but she was alright. Being relieved mom went back to lie down. This happened a couple of times over the next 2 hours, each time that mom checked on her she thought that she saw the stroller gently rocking. But putting it off to exhaustion she would go upstairs and lay back down, after the third time my mom called my dad over and asked him if he noticed anything about the stroller. He saw the same thing, the stroller was rocking very gently and the windup toy hanging on the side of the stroller was swinging gently back and forth. By this time I came over to see what was happening and saw the stroller rocking up and down and the toy swaying with the motion. We called the elders of the church to come over to see this, it was witnessed my several people other than the family. The Lord is merciful and brought relief to our family, it lasted for only a few hours and would be remembered for the rest of our lives.

            (Psa 91:11)  For he shall give his angels charge over thee,

                       to keep thee in all thy ways.

               (Psa 91:12)  They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest

                       thou dash thy foot against a stone.

    We were very open to tell others about this miracle that we had witnessed, but the church that we were attending at that time didn't think that miracles happened anymore. At least not miracles like this. People are so afraid to believe in miracles and healing, that they think that God meant these things for the biblical days. Maybe miracles don't happen because we don't believe anymore. Why should God give us wonders and signs when we make excuses for everything that happens? When Jesus preached in his hometown nobody would believe him, so he did very few miracles there.

                 (Mar 6:4)  But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without

                           honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin,

                           and in his own house.

                 (Mar 6:5)  And he could there do no mighty work, save that he

                           laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.

                (Mar 6:6)  And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he

                         went round about the villages, teaching.

      The same holds true for today, if you doubt the Lord and his works then you will not be allowed to see them. You will never see God's wonders if you don't believe; he still works in the world today but only those with faith are able to witness his miracles. We first have to be open to believe, if we believe in Christ then we must know that he is capable of great things. Believing that God heals only through doctors isn't good enough. Yes God does use doctors to heal and work with people, but the Holy Spirit also touches and it is done instantly. We need to believe that he will touch us if we ask and we will be healed. Believing only in the concept of healing and miracles isn’t good enough. Why do we find it so hard to believe? How many of you believe in hell? Many people no longer think of hell as a real place. We don’t want to believe in hell because then we might have to follow a more dedicated life to Christ. It’s not nice to think that there will be consequences to our actions even after death.  I have seen demons and battled them in a very real fight, and through it I found that without Christ in our lives we are completely helpless, helpless in the world and helpless when Satan attacks. Through Christ we are free and will win this battle that is waging on this earth. There are only two forces in this universe good and evil. If you turn your back on good then evil has its way with you. Satan and his demons walk this earth and even though you do not see them they influence and affect our lives every day. Since evil is very real on this earth then miracles must be just as real.

          What has happened in the world that we will not believe a miracle when we see one? The world has got us so twisted around that we can't see God, even when he’s in front of us. We have been redirected to look everywhere for answers except at the Lord. We look at money and think that it will solve all of our problems. What a laugh that is, the very thing that separates us from Christ we believe to be our only salvation. Satan has done a good job in misdirecting us, We have put so much importance in money and pride that to rely on God, as he wants us to, is to almost be considered weak or even off balance. When someone asks us how we are doing, automatically we talk of our work. I think that our values have gone very astray, that our jobs are our identity. Are we hiding behind our job and that is the only way that we can feel fulfilled in life? Then we are certainly not in tune with our Lord. We need to identify with God and our families. When someone asks "how are you" you should be thinking of what the Lord has done for you this week or even what you accomplished with your family, and the outings that you have gone on together. These are things to be fulfilled about. When we get to heaven we will not think "maybe I should of put another hour in at work that day". We won’t remember the extra money that we earned. Those material items will no longer exist. We won’t take with us what we have earned on earth but what have we earned in the eternal kingdom that we are going to? What we will remember is the times when we stayed away from our family when we should have been with them.

       Work is very important and we all need to work hard at whatever the Lord leads us to do, but we should not be identifying with our work only. The world has forced us to twist our priorities into our work taking first, second, and third place in our lives, and sometime after that we might find time for God and if the day isn't over for our family. People lose their job and kill themselves for it, where have our values gone? God has asked for that first position in our lives not work not the problems that we have but the Lord. We need to put God number one in our lives and everything else will fall into place. When we focus on God everything else falls away and we find peace that no job or object can give us. The Lord has promised that if we place him number one in our lives then he will look after us. We should practice in changing our way of thinking and see the blessings that the Lord will pour out to you. If we all could focus on the Lord then miracles would be present in our everyday lives and the glory of the Lord would shine about us. The Lord tells us to work and provide for your family, and that is very important, but he never meant for it to take his place. Your security is not what job you have, but the trust in the Lord that he will make whatever job you have prosperous. God has promised us that if we have faith we will prosper no matter what job you work at. So be at peace in your work and put God first.

                 We also turn to other sources to receive fulfilment, we try to acquire more and more possessions. Thinking that maybe if we have more toys then we will find fulfilment in our life.

                What all this really accomplishes is to further separate us from Christ and what he wants for us. The very thing that the world teaches us that is important is what takes us further from the Lord.  We are taught from the beginning to value a system very different than what we are taught in the bible. If it doesn’t further Christ’s work on this earth then what use is it?

              Just as my family and many others are deceive by the vaccines that we receive so are we deceived about the priorities in live.

Chapter One

      I spent my younger years growing up in a small community in northern Saskatchewan, I was a city boy and I discovered a beauty in the northern part of the province that I could never get enough of. God has created such magnificent and beautiful places on this earth, and his glory is in everything all around us, and I have never grown tired of seeing it.

       I think heaven will be a lot like some of the places on earth, after all he created this earth and he created heaven, it stands to reason that places on earth would be represented in heaven.  I think we will see a lot of what was created on earth in heaven. There will also be wonders that we can not even dream of, some of it will be familiar to us but muck h of it will be beyond belief. I found that I was never at a loss to find something to do, nor did I ever grow tired of wondering through the trees and looking at God’s wonder. No matter what time of year it was I would be outside involved in my latest project. I found something beautiful about each season, and enjoyed exploring the country at every time of the year. In spring when the air is warming up and everything seems to be waking up, the smell of the damp trees that are coming back to life, and the warmth of the sun is a wonderful time in nature. Then there is summer when everything is alive, the wind in the trees and the sounds of the various animals moving about reminds me of all God has created. Then there is fall when an almost unimaginable collection of colors come together and paint a picture that no man could of ever thought of, the warmth of the fading sun and the lack of insects always made fall a special time of the year for me. Then we have winter, many complain about winter but if we look close this too is a great part of this earth. I often go for hikes when it’s –40c out or even colder and the world is a very different place then. It almost seems like you are no longer on this earth and have been moved elsewhere. Everything is so different like no other time of the year. There is something of God in every time of the year all we have to do is look for it.

     In the spring of 1970 on Easter break we moved to Meadow Lake from Regina I was six years old at the time and in grade one. My grandparents had a restaurant/service station a mile north of town surrounded by a river and trees. My grandparent’s house was also on the same property, it was about 20 feet out the back door of the restaurant and I spent many days in and around the house while my mom worked in the restaurant. The property was situated on 5 acres with a river that wrapped around two sides of the property. They maintained a park which was right on the river bank, where there were swings and a teeter totter for the kids. The adults could have a game of horseshoes and I remember watching my dad and grandpa play sometimes after work in the long summer evenings, or on the weekends.  I spent many hours on the swings facing the river and seeing how high I could get, but I never was able to get over the trees.

          My mom helped out in the restaurant on a daily basis’s, so that meant that I spent a great deal of time there, and enjoyed many of my meals consisting of cheeseburgers and fries, which I never seemed to tire of and is still one of my favorite meals. You would of thought that after all the cheeseburgers and fries with gravy that I have had I would be sick of the them, but it hasn’t happened yet.

       My uncle Les, who was in high school at the time, would pick me up from school at noon and bring me to the restaurant to eat and then back to school. Les was only 10 years older than me, and to some extent we grew up together. Even now the relationship is not one so much a nephew\uncle type as more a friendship.  One time he picked me up from school in a volkswagon that he was driving and decided to go home on the river it was winter and the river was frozen quite solid. At least I hoped it was at the time, never did tell anyone about that.

     Les always picked up wild animals and would bring them home and I would help look after them. At one point the dog, cat and rabbit were so friendly with each other that on a summer afternoon they would curl up together under a truck and sleep together. The rabbit was allowed to run around free most of the time and would even come when I called it by name, but this only lasted till one of the local dogs got hungry. I got there one morning to find fur all over the yard and no rabbit. My uncle also had a baby skunk for a while, and I would take it outside with me, a kind of pet that not many could say they’ve had. Not one that I would recommend to everyone, but one that I won't forget. Around the back of the house in the river was a swimming hole and small change house where all the local kids would come and spend the hot days of summer. I spent many hours playing, fishing, swimming or trying to trap some small animal that would be dumb enough to get caught in the obvious snare that I had set up. None ever were dumb enough, I think the animals at that time had a higher degree of intelligence or I didn't know much about trapping, I'm sure it must have been the former reason though.

      When my grandfather wasn't chasing me out of the garage, where I got in the way more that once, I was hiking through the trees. I could spend hours walking through the bush and never get tired of it. I could be found there spring, summer, fall, and even in winter. God seemed so much closer to me when I was in nature, it wouldn't matter what problem I had, all I had to do was spend a couple of hours with God in the woods and my problem just wasn't that important anymore. When allowed to God can make the biggest problem wash away and seem insignificant. This carried with me the rest of my life, the Lord was a friend to me and I would talk to him as if he were with me. Even at the age of 8 I thought a lot about God and spent a large amount of time talking to him. I knew God existed and never thought of doubting it. I had a personal relationship with the Jesus and knew him as a friend.

       My faith in God came at a young age, at the age of 3 when we lived in Saskatoon; my grandma lived 4 blocks away. I decided that I would run away and go see her, so I picked up my bible and started walking without telling my mom. I had to cross a very busy intersection that was on the way, and being only 3 years old I didn't know much about waiting for the traffic lights to change. I just crossed, I don't know how I made it across, but I know that God played a large part in it, carrying Gods word protected me like a shield and still protects me now. Knowing Gods word is even better that a suit of armor, armor wears out, but God's word is the same today and tomorrow. God tells us to put on the armor of Christ and we are promised to be protected, although it didn't provide much help with the punishment later, but I was certain to never run away again. We need to know God's word to be protected in all ways. When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness Jesus quoted scriptures to Satan and he was defeated. Knowing God's word can break the power that Satan likes to think he has over you.

      I was considered very different because of my faith. I didn't curse, or fight, or do any of the other things that a normal child does when growing up. I was by no means perfect, but God and his teachings always played a big part in any decisions that I would make. As a result it kept me from getting into some of the trouble kids do, whenever a friend would cook up an idea I would be the one that would remind everyone of the trouble we could get into. I guess I was the wet blanket of the crowd, but I was never able to act without thinking it through. I didn't hide my relationship with Christ and spoke openly about Jesus; this caused me a lot of problems with the other kids. I was viewed as weak and in Meadow Lake if you weren't getting into trouble you were weak, this of course cut down on the number of friends that I had while I was growing up. It also meant taunting and some of the other things that goes along with being different. But even this was not without rewards, more than once one of the guys that when in front of everyone else would have to be cool, and pick on me would come to me when he thought that no one was looking, and asked about Jesus and why I was different. They noticed something that they would never admit to anyone else, but it was something that they wanted. I was more than happy to share with them, and looking back I wonder today if those seeds sowed at that time are baring any fruit today. We won't always see people saved through our serving Christ but seeds planted are an important step to them making a decision to follow Christ in the future.

       I would pray to the Lord often and talk to him, as I would walk through the trees. I always knew that God heard me when I prayed even though I couldn’t see him I knew he was listening. There was never any doubt in my mind that God listened and answered prays. One incident comes to mind, when I was 11. I was walking to school in the morning and I really didn't want to go, that wasn't so unusual I never wanted to go to school, but this day I really didn't want to go. I was tired of not having many friends and it was weighing heavy on me this particular day. So I called on God, I knew that we had library first thing that morning so I asked God to have this group of boys to ask me over to their table and sit with them. And that I would be treated as a friend, This had never happened before but I had faith. I walked into the Library and events played out exactly as I asked of God, they asked me over to sit with them and not only that they used the exact wording that I had asked God to have them say.  They treated me as a friend for that day anyway, but it showed me that our Lord listens. God proved to me that he listens to our prayers and that he is faithful. That event went a long ways to building my faith.

       It amazed me that he would listen to our prays, even the prayer of a young boy, not someone powerful or important, not a leader or a evangelist on TV, but a eleven year old boy. I have never forgotten that day, and there have been many other times that God held true to his word and answered my prays, but I still think of that day often, especially when I think he's not listening to me now. The Lord showed me how glorious and loving he is. And I praise the Lord.

     

        Mat 19:13  Then were there brought unto him

                little children that he should put his hands

               on them, and pray: and the  disciples

               rebuked them.

        Mat 19:14  But Jesus said, Suffer little children,

                 and forbid them not, to come unto me:

                 for of such is the kingdom of heaven.