Dear New Life Family,

I believe most of you know that as I was flying to Africa, my brother Jeremy, who is three years older than me, went into the hospital with sepsis, which led to total liver failure. I was able to stop and see him briefly on my way home from Uganda.

Last Sunday morning, as I was sitting at our kitchen table, putting some finishing touches on my sermon, my mother called me and asked me, through tears, to come to St. Louis, as we had some difficult decisions to make. I am grateful to Pastor Jim and our Session, as I was able to quickly step away. By Sunday evening, I was at my brother‘s bedside in St. Louis.

That night, my mother and I met with the attending physician. She was able to lay out exactly where things were and where they suspected things would go. I asked her if the medical team in good conscience could say that they had done all that they could do. Her answer was a simple yes. My mother and I agreed at that point that by Wednesday morning, unless God chose to heal my brother or things started to degenerate even more quickly, that we would put him on comfort care and remove all life sustaining measures. The next two days saw a flurry of family and very close friends making their way to St. Louis to say goodbye to my brother. Wednesday morning around 10a, they removed the feeding tube and stopped the pressors that were keeping his blood pressure up. And within an hour he went to be with the Lord.

I want to offer my heartfelt “thank you” to all who prayed and those who reached out with cards and texts and phone calls. To put it simply it’s been a very hard week for me to even be able to talk about these things outside of immediate family. My heart is broken. I was able to be here with him, but Emily and our kids were at a distance, processing the loss of a brother-in-law and uncle that they dearly loved. We continue to covet your prayers.

I am still in the St. Louis area helping to process, as much as we can at this point, my brother‘s estate, so I will not be in worship with you tomorrow. Yet another Sunday away from the congregation that is you that I dearly love. I am asking the Lord to bless you richly in worship tomorrow. I pray that you do plan to be in attendance, to fellowship with the Saints, to hear the word preached, to sing praises to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who is our only hope in life and death.

With great love and hope for immense blessings,

Pastor Joel

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