Ed Dobson - What He Has to Say About His Life-Threatening Illness Will Shake You to Your Core

Ed Dobson | ALS 

Ed Dobson preaching | 2011

Pastor Ed Dobson Is Facing A Life-Threatening Illness.

But What He Has To Say About It Will Shake Your Core

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/05/ed-dobson-inspiring-words_n_4537527.html

Ed Dobson is the Pastor emeritus, Calvary Church, Grand Rapids, MI

January 5, 2014 (updated January 23, 2014)

If Ed Dobson had given up on his life 13 years ago, he'd have missed walking his daughter down the aisle. He wouldn't have met his grandchildren. His story would have gone untold.

But he didn't give up. Instead, he's chosen to share his story to inspire others.

The 64-year-old pastor from Grand Rapids, Mich., was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or "Lou Gehrig's disease") more than a decade ago. He was given 2-5 years to live, according to the video above. Coming to terms with the diagnosis was hard -- but eventually, one fact dawned on him:

It ain't over, 'til it's over.

"I realize there is profound truth in that," Dobson says in this 10-minute clip from 2011. It's the first in a film series called "Ed's Story" that Dobson is still working on while continuing to battle ALS. The 2-year-old video continues to be shared widely online -- because everyone can use a reminder that life is worth fighting for.

If you don't have 10 minutes to spare, at least do this: Skip to the 7:55 mark. You'll be inspired. We promise.

"I didn't expect another Christmas, and now I've had 10," Dobson says towards the end of the video. "And the more I have the more I want. I have my life to share, my own story to share. One day it will be over, but it's not about how long I have left, it's about how I spend the time I do have."

Ed's Story: It Ain't Over

[vimeo - http://vimeo.com/20249114]

In It Ain't Over, the first film in the Ed's Story series, Ed Dobson reminds us that life isn't over yet and that we don't have to feel overwhelmed by the struggles we're facing today. Difficult news can sometimes make us feel like our lives are over. Ed shows us that we don't know the future, and that things may turn out quite differently from what we expect. edsstory.com

*Flannel has two more films yet to produce in the Ed's Story Series. Please help us finish! flannel.org/support/donate All donations are tax deductible.

continue to past articles

listed in date order from last to first - 

Ed Dobson - What He Has to Say About His Life-Threatening Illness Will Shake You to Your Core

Ed Dobson's Story of ALS - Preaching With My Son in His First Pulpit At Mars Hill Church

Book Review: Ed Dobson, "Seeing Through the Fog"

Ed Dobson 2012 CNN Interview, "Rethinking What It Means to be Christian"

Ed Dobson's Story - A Film Series About Hope (re: Suffering, Illness and Healing)

Ed Dobson - Faithfully Facing Mortality

Ed Dobson - What Do You Do When You Know You Are Dying?

Ed Dobson - Faithfully Facing Mortality

Ed Dobson | ALS 

Ed Dobson preaching | 2011

'Oh, That I Had The Wings Of Dove! Faithfully Facing Mortality

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ed-dobson/do-not-worry-consider-the-birds_b_1093271.html

by Ed Dobson, Pastor emeritus, Calvary Church, Grand Rapids, MI

November 14, 2011 (updated January 14, 2012)

I was diagnosed with ALS in November, shortly before Thanksgiving. About a week later I was sitting on the porch of my house watching the first snowfall of the season. As I sat there I was beginning to sink into that darkness. I was thinking that this would be my last winter. I was thinking that this would be my last Christmas. I was hoping to make it to spring! As I sat there depressed, I noticed a bird on the bush outside the window. As I sat there watching, it flew away, and I thought, "I wish I could be that bird." And I thought that the birds have no cares, no issues and no ALS. Then immediately I was drawn to the words of the writer of the Hebrew Scriptures:

"My heart is in anguish within me:

the terrors of death assail me.

Fear and trembling have beset me

Horror has overwhelmed me.

I said, "oh, that I had the wings of dove!

I would fly away and be at rest --

I would flee far away

And stay in the desert."

-- Psalms 55:4-7

This is exactly how I feel. I love the language -- anguish, terrors, fear, trembling and horror. I'm not afraid of being dead. It's getting dead that bothers me. For me, "getting dead" involves choices about wheelchairs, communication assistance, feeding tubes and breathing assistance. It's not pleasant when I think of the future. Of course, I try to ignore it but the underlying reality is always there. I think it bothered the writer of this prayer as well. In the face of death and dying, I would like to be a bird. I would like to get away from this situation. I would like to feel like I am free. This passage expresses my deepest feelings.

I am a follower of Jesus. And I am fully aware of what Jesus says about worry. ("Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself," Matt. 5:34). Do you know how many people have come up to me and quoted this verse? Their attitude is that since Jesus said this, I should obey it. However, they have little to worry about. I am facing death and a life hereafter and I have a whole lot to worry about.

This quotation comes from an extended passage in which Jesus deals with the subject of worry. In the middle of this section on worry, Jesus refers to the birds. "Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow or reap or store in barns yet your heavenly father feeds them." So every time I see a bird, I am reminded that God takes care of them and if he takes care of them, he will take care of me. As I sit here writing, I am looking out the window and I see a bird. God takes care of that bird and ultimately the same God will take care of me. Of course, I'm not sure how God takes care of a bird. Neither am I sure of how God will take care of me. But since he takes care of the birds, I know he'll take care of me.

So every time I see a bird I have two options. First, I can want to be like the bird and fly away to be at rest. It's the longing to be set free from ALS. It's the longing to be set free from the terrors of death. Second, I can realize that God takes care of the birds and ultimately he will take care of me. Sometimes I go for option one. I long to live and be free. Other times I go for option two. I know God takes care of the birds and I know he will take care of me. My life is lived between these two options. On the one hand is the fear of death. And on the other hand the reality that God will see me through.

Everybody has something to worry about. It may not be ALS. So whatever you worry about, whenever you see a bird, remember that God will take care of you.

continue to past articles

listed in date order from last to first - 

Ed Dobson - What He Has to Say About His Life-Threatening Illness Will Shake You to Your Core

Ed Dobson's Story of ALS - Preaching With My Son in His First Pulpit At Mars Hill Church

Book Review: Ed Dobson, "Seeing Through the Fog"

Ed Dobson 2012 CNN Interview, "Rethinking What It Means to be Christian"

Ed Dobson's Story - A Film Series About Hope (re: Suffering, Illness and Healing)

Ed Dobson - Faithfully Facing Mortality

Ed Dobson - What Do You Do When You Know You Are Dying?

Ed Dobson - What Do You Do When You Know You Are Dying?

Ed Dobson | ALS 

Ed Dobson preaching | 2011

Sinking Into Darkness: What Do You Do When You Know You Are Dying?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ed-dobson/sinking-into-darkness_b_992653.html

by Ed Dobson, Pastor emeritus, Calvary Church, Grand Rapids, MI

October 5, 2011 (updated December 5, 2011)

It all began with twitching in my muscles. My wife insisted that I go see a doctor, but being a typical male, I ignored her. At the same time, I was having difficulty opening jars and cans when I was backpacking. I had just turned 50 years old, so I thought that this is what happens when you get old. Then one day, as I was writing out my sermon notes, it was as if my brain and my hand were not cooperating. So the next morning I was in church getting ready to preach. During the song right before I was scheduled to preach, I leaned over to a doctor who is a neurologist and told him about the twitching and the weakness. As I look back at that moment it's really ridiculous -- as if a doctor is going to diagnose me during the service right before I preach. He told me that I needed to go see him, like tomorrow.

Ed Dobson | Ministry to the Sick & Dying

So I went to see him. He spent about 15 minutes examining me and then asked me to come into his office. He told me there were several possibilities. First, my twitches could be benign fasciculations. He told me that everyone's muscles twitch and that maybe mine twitch more than the average (I was hoping that I was just a big twitcher rather than a little twitcher). Second, it's possible that I might have ALS. Once he mentioned ALS, my heart immediately sank. A few weeks later it was confirmed that I had ALS.

There is no way to describe the hopeless feeling of knowing that you only have a few years to live, and most of that time will be in the disabled condition. How does it feel?

• It feels like you are sinking into the darkness.
• It feels like you have left the warmth and sunshine and descended into a tomb.
• It feels like you are in slow motion while the rest of the world speeds past.
• It feels like you have a ringside seat to your own demise.
• It feels overwhelming!

I have been a pastor all my life and have helped many people deal with difficult circumstances. But there is a huge difference between helping someone and dealing with it yourself. I thought that if I knew I was dying, I would really read the Bible. I found the opposite to be true. I can hardly pick up the Bible and read it at all.

I thought that if I knew I was dying, I would really pray. I found the opposite to be true. I can hardly pray at all.

I thought that if I knew I was dying, I would begin to think a lot about heaven. I found the opposite to be true. I found myself more and more attached to the people around me.

In the midst of my struggles, I began writing a book entitled "Prayers and Promises When Facing a Life-Threatening Illness." During my youngest son's second tour of Iraq, compliments of the Army, I sent him a copy of the book. The book contains a morning prayer and an evening promise. Throughout the book I tell stories of my own journey. My son told me that the stories would make wonderful short films.

Ed Dobson brushing his teeth | 2011

Lorna Dobson helping to dress her husband | 2011

Now I have really never been into films. I seldom watch a film and I sure never anticipated in being in a film. When my son returned, we began working on the idea of a series of short, 10-minute films. That idea is now a reality, seven short films in a series called Ed's Story. During the first year we worked on the films, we tried to identify the ideas that would give a sense of hope to people who have had the air knocked out of them. Early in my journey with this disease, I discovered that I did not want to read a lengthy book on suffering. I could only take information in short, concise and focused segments. These short films are designed to do just that. It only takes 10 minutes to watch one.

It is difficult for me to watch the films. When I watch a film I relive the situation over and over and over again. I've discovered that my emotions are just beneath the surface. When I watch the films, those emotions come rushing to the surface. So why did I do the films if it is difficult to watch them? I wanted to do something to give a sense of hope to people no matter what their circumstances. We are all human beings and part of our challenge is to face struggles and respond to them in a healthy way. I'm not sure I have always responded to my struggles in a healthy way, but at least I'm trying.

continue to past articles

listed in date order from last to first - 

Ed Dobson - What He Has to Say About His Life-Threatening Illness Will Shake You to Your Core

Ed Dobson's Story of ALS - Preaching With My Son in His First Pulpit At Mars Hill Church

Book Review: Ed Dobson, "Seeing Through the Fog"

Ed Dobson 2012 CNN Interview, "Rethinking What It Means to be Christian"

Ed Dobson's Story - A Film Series About Hope (re: Suffering, Illness and Healing)

Ed Dobson - Faithfully Facing Mortality

Ed Dobson - What Do You Do When You Know You Are Dying?

Book Review: Ed Dobson, "Seeing Through the Fog"

 http://www.christianitytoday.com/

Death Is For Real

Amid a flurry of bestsellers promising firsthand proof of Heaven's existence,
Ed Dobson takes a brutally honest look at the pain of terminal illness and the
 difficulties of dying well.

Review by Rob Moll
[posted 10/31/2012 8:56 AM ]

Seeing Through the Fog:

Hope When Your World Falls Apart

our rating - 

Author - Ed Dobson
Publisher - David C. Cook

Price - $12.99

I recently was reading the story of a former evangelical Christian, profiled by Tony Kriz in his new book,Neighbors and Wise Men.After growing up in a small, insular expression of the faith, he discovered a wider world outside it. In particular, this passionate believer discovered an environmental movement that spoke to his soul while his church home ridiculed the environmentalists. So, he switched his allegiances: "The Christian church has no coherent answer for earth care. And for that reason I now know I could never be a Christian."

Initially, this remark angered me. The evangelical movement has more than a few dissenters from the typical attitude toward environmentalism. They could have saved this man's faith. But as I gained some sympathy, I realized that the man's apostasy illustrates our need for faithful dissenters, insiders who stay true to the movement while critiquing its failures. These dissenters add diversity and show us new ways to be faithful followers of Christ.

It wasn't too long ago—when political evangelicalism was loud, and its hypocrisy easy to see—that I, immature and ignorant, wanted to lodge my own critiques against the church.

A faithful dissenter

Thankfully I discovered Ed Dobson, the faithful dissenter who voiced my own critiques while remaining inside the evangelical fold. Dobson was formerly a board member of the Moral Majority, a spokesperson for Jerry Falwell, and a vice president at Liberty University. Dobson had since become a successful pastor, leading a megachurch in Grand Rapids, and he remained a powerful voice in the pulpit and in his books. He was named "Pastor of the Year" by Moody Bible Institute. Dobson was an evangelical of evangelicals. He was a religious righter of the Religious Right.

And he gave me an answer to the problem of the church entwined with politics. In Blinded by Might, coauthored with fellow Moral Majority member Cal Thomas, they blame the Religious Right for that entwinement: "We have confused political power with God's power." Dobson and Thomas argue that the church has been compromised and distracted from its central mission. In 2008, Dobson voted for Barak Obama, telling ABC news that Obama "more than any other candidate represented the teachings of Jesus."

Dobson was a dissenter even during his days as a student at Bob Jones University. He turned away from, but never fully rejected, those who once nurtured him. Dobson speaks fondly of his days in fundamentalism and doesn't deride those he left behind. As Dobson has matured beyond the fundamentalist and Religious Right communities, he has simply pursued greater faithfulness and obedience to God for himself, his congregation, and the church at large.

Another kind of leadership

Now, Dobson is embracing a new role. After several years living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease, Dobson is breaking the mold of the public figure diagnosed with a terminal illness. Such personalities typically retreat into private, preventing the public from seeing them in a weakened state. Or, these figures blandly assert that the disease will have no effect on their responsibilities.

As his body dies, muscle by muscle, Dobson is speaking at conferences, writing books, and is starring in a series of videos about his ALS, called "Ed's Story." Having left politics and now the pulpit, Dobson has embraced a new ministry. He is now teaching Christians to die well. Because learning to die well requires us to discover the meaning of a good life, Dobson's final journey instructs us all.

The church has always given an ear to its members who were near death. Today, travelogues written by children who visit heaven are our bestsellers. But earlier evangelicals read stories of transformation at the end of life and the narratives of faithful dying. Such stories filled religious periodicals. They weren't offered as eyewitness proof of Sunday school pictures of heaven. Obituaries never told about "battles" with illness but of abiding faith, deepened relationships, and glorious entries into heaven through the sad reality of death.

By taking his dying public, Dobson stands in this tradition. His latest book, Seeing Through the Fog: Hope When Your World Falls Apart (David C. Cook), offers the lessons Dobson has learned while dealing with a disease that kills slowly and painfully. In one of the Ed's Story videos, he says, "Every person knows that they are going to die. The difference is I feel it with every twitch of my muscles. I feel it in the very depths of my being."

Dobson writes about his fog of despair after his diagnosis, the difficulty of leaving his position as pastor, the challenge of prayer, and the constant worry when living with terminal illness. He writes about learning to give thanks—not for his disease, but for the many things ALS had yet to take away and for which he still could be thankful . Dobson writes about heaven and his powerful desire not to be there yet. He writes about his prayers for healing and the horrible things people say about faith and miracles.

To Die Well

The Christian tradition of dying well often has taught believers to hope for a slow death. It allows time for the preparation that a good death requires. Seeing Through the Fog, and particularly the Ed's Story videos, offers more than lessons in hope. It teaches the old practices of ars moriendi—the art of dying.

One Ed's Story video tells hows Dobson made a list of people from whom to ask forgiveness. Kathy had been a staff counselor at Dobson's church who was let go. The process had hurt Kathy, and she laid part of the blame at Dobson's feet. He knew she deserved an apology, and Dobson went to her, kneeled at her feet, and said he was sorry. "I found out much later that this was an event that marked her for the rest of her life," he said. "I didn't do it to mark her for the rest of her life; I did it because it was the right thing to do. I did it so that I could live my life without regret."

Dobson had intended to call Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, but he received a call from the radio host first. It is a generous anecdote that reveals a softer side of James Dobson. He had called to say he had been praying for Ed. When Ed asked for forgiveness, James asked the same from Ed. "Those few moments on the phone were incredibly liberating for me," Dobson writes.

Any serious illness will require a person to give up aspects of his life that were once considered essential. For the terminally ill, this giving up is a permanent and painful choice. Dobson shows his readers how he confronted the need to give up his lifelong role as a speaker. Whether speaking on television or preaching in the pulpit, Dobson's voice has been his life. But ALS destroys the muscles that control speech as well.

During one service after his diagnosis, Dobson spoke on giving. The offering plates had just been passed, and Dobson asked for one. He said we shouldn't just put a few of our possessions in the plate, but rather ourselves. Dobson delivered the rest of his sermon while standing in an offering plate.

In the hallway after the service, Dobson asked himself, "What am I holding back from the offering plate? ... I realized that my speaking and preaching should be in the offering plate." Dobson prayed, "I am now surrendering my speaking and preaching to You. I'm putting it in the offering plate. If the day comes when I can no longer speak or preach, I want You to know that it's okay with me."

An answer to death

I've had the opportunity to speak to a number of people who have been personally diagnosed with a terminal illness, or have known a family member who was similarly diagnosed. They're often surprised that dying today is only rarely a quick process. Most people die slowly over months and years. This is an experience that shakes their faith.

For anyone who needs to hear Christianity's coherent answer to the problem of facing one's death, or who needs a dissenter from popular narratives of near death experiences, Seeing Through the Fog is an excellent place to start. It is by no means the sum of the breadth of Christian teaching on dying well, but many readers may need to go no further than this book. The Ed's Story videos, which have received a good deal of media coverage, offer much of the same advice in a powerful, personal, and deeply touching way. I was disappointed that Seeing Through the Fog didn't evoke as powerful a response in me that the videos do.

Dobson's advice is soaked in Scripture, befitting a pastor who teaches from the Word. His generous spirit hasn't produced an upbeat book. He is brutally honest about the process of learning to die. His writing is at times stilted, suggesting the fact that he can no longer type but talks his writing using voice recognition software. Yet he writes with hope and joy of a deeper walk with Jesus.

Today, Christian's don't talk about death, but about near-death experiences seen to offer a kind of magical proof of the good life to come. For those Christians who, seeing today's bestsellers, wonder if Christianity has a coherent answer to suffering and death, Ed Dobson offers one. A faithful dissenter, Dobson offers real hope, meaning in the midst of suffering, the expectation of Jesus in the life to come, and ongoing transformation that brings us closer to him today.


Rob Moll is a CT editor at large and author of The Art of Dying: Living Fully into the Life to Come (InterVarsity Press).

Editor's note: Some readers of an earlier version of this article thought it stated TonyKriz holds a negative view of evangelicals' commitment to environmental stewardship. We have edited the article to make clearer that the quote at the beginning of the review was given to Kriz by an interview subject.

continue to past articles

listed in date order from last to first - 

Ed Dobson - What He Has to Say About His Life-Threatening Illness Will Shake You to Your Core

Ed Dobson's Story of ALS - Preaching With My Son in His First Pulpit At Mars Hill Church

Book Review: Ed Dobson, "Seeing Through the Fog"

Ed Dobson 2012 CNN Interview, "Rethinking What It Means to be Christian"

Ed Dobson's Story - A Film Series About Hope (re: Suffering, Illness and Healing)

Ed Dobson - Faithfully Facing Mortality

Ed Dobson - What Do You Do When You Know You Are Dying?

In the Aftermath: Thoughts and Prayers for Sandy Hook Elementary School Tragedy & the People of Newtown

Weekly Meanderings: For Newtown

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2012/12/22/weekly-meanderings-339/

 

by Scot McKnight

Dec 22, 2012 @ 0:12

 

 

A story from Elie Wiesel

Once, when speaking to his master, Rebbe Menahem Mendel Schneersohn of Lubavitch, the rebbe inquired why Wiesel was so angry at God.

 

“Because I loved Him too much,” I replied.

 

“And now?” he asked.

 

“Now too. And because I love Him, I am angry at Him.”

 

The Rebbe disagreed: “To love God is to accept that you do not understand Him.”

 

I asked whether one could love God without having faith. He told me faith had to precede all the rest.

 

“Rebbe,” I asked, “how can you believe in God after Auschwitz?”

 

He looked at me in silence for a long moment, his hands resting on the table. Then he replied, in a soft, barely audible voice, “How can you not believe in God after Auschwitz?” (E. Wiesel, All Rivers Run to the Sea , 402-403).

 

 

 

 

Jim Martin
For many years, I have had a front row seat to witness the work and vocation of many schoolteachers. My grandmother, Iris Martin, taught 5th grade for many years in Oklahoma and Arkansas. My mother-in-law, Maye Coil, taught elementary school for a long time. My wife has taught elementary school children for almost 25 years. There are a number of other family members who have served as schoolteachers.

 

I am not surprised at the heroic actions of these teachers and other school personnel in Connecticut. Besides a child’s family, I don’t know anyone with any greater determination to protect, teach, and bless a child than his or her teacher.

 

The teachers in my family loved their children. It was obvious by the way they talked about their students. It was obvious in what they did to help and even intervene on behalf of their students.

 

Again and again, I have seen teachers give their time and energy to this calling. Teachers work many, many hours beyond those in the classroom. So many of them spend their own money purchasing materials for their room and their students. Teachers work with parents and their children. They do way more than what might actually happen during the classroom hours. Not only do they teach children but they also intervene in troubled situations. Teachers are the ones who encourage parents to take a child for an eye exam because she can’t see the whiteboard. Some children come to school and find that their teacher is the only person in their lives they can count on for a word of encouragement. Most teachers I’ve known deeply care for the welfare of their children, their education, and their overall well-being.

 

So is it surprising when a horrific day reveals that teachers have acted heroically?

 

No.

 

 

 

 

Lutheran Church Charities
LCC sent a team of seven golden retriever comfort dogs and their handlers to the town where 27 people were killed in the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.

 

The pastor of Newtown’s Christ the King Lutheran Church — which is holding many of the funerals — asked the group to help out, and the crew arrived Saturday evening.

 

The dogs and their handlers spent Sunday meeting with people affected by the shootings and were present for the vigil at Newtown High School Sunday evening. On Monday they will be at some of the other Newtown schools talking to children.

 

The dogs are used to help provide a comforting bridge to help people open up about a tragedy. The individuals can pet the dogs while they talk or pray with the handler.

 

 

 

 

Father Rob
“In last Sunday’s sermon, I tried to begin an answer to the question that was raised in the Gospel we read (Luke 3:7-18). It was the question of “What should we then do?” The people who asked this question then suffered great grief and sorrow because they lived in such a broken and violent world. So do we. They wanted to know how they could make their world better. So do we. What should we then do?

 

Of course time did not permit a full discussion of the answer to that question before us, and I am not smart enough to know the full answer in the first place. But I wanted to suggest that the place for me to begin is with me, and what things I can do differently to create a better world. And the place for you to begin is with you, and what specific things you can do differently to create a better world.”

 

 

 

 

Ed Dobson's Story of ALS - Preaching With My Son in His First Pulpit At Mars Hill Church

Ed Dobson preaching at Mars Hill, Grand Rapids, MI | 2011

Pastor Ed Dobson says survival with ALS is mixed blessing;

he's sustained by faith and hope

http://mobile.mlive.com/advgrapids/db_/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=gCegZoKy&full=true#display

Charley Honey | The Grand Rapids Press

Email: honeycharlesm@gmail.com; blog: soulmailing.com

Posted: 12/11/2012 4:38 PM

Ed Dobson is on the podium, preaching the gospel as only he can.

Dressed in a gray cardigan and loafers, he’s preaching to Mars Hill Bible Church on the first Sunday of Advent. His son, Kent, Mars Hill’s pastor, listens as his father speaks of the comfort that Scripture, his wife and family give him in times of despair.

Kent Dobson preaching with his father Ed

“I find my greatest hope comes from the people around me,” says Dobson, who’s surrounded by thousands right now.

Then he takes a seat in an easy chair at the corner of the stage. He tells Kent, “I’m going to sit down and go to sleep. So if you want me to say something, wake me up.”

Without missing a beat, Kent replies, “Well, I went to sleep in many of your sermons.”

The Mars Hills crowd roars with laughter. This Abbott-and-Costello bit comes amid a father-son preaching lesson at the church where Kent this fall was named pastor. They make a great tag team, Kent preaching with the biblical insight and restless energy his dad displayed in his 18 years at Calvary Church, Ed interjecting plain-spoken wisdom.

But the comic moment doesn’t disguise the hard reality that everyone in the room realizes: Ed Dobson has ALS, and one day it will take his life.

It has been a dozen years since Dobson was diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, which generally claims people within two to five years. Why Dobson has survived so much longer is as much a mystery as why he got it in the first place.

But his survival is a mixed blessing. As he tells the Mars Hill crowd, his arms don’t work well. His wife, Lorna, helps feed and dress him. His breath is shorter and he speaks more slowly than he used to.

That may be so, but what I hear from Dobson this morning reflects the strength and unwavering faith he’s exemplified from the day I met him nearly 20 years ago. Picking up on Kent’s Advent theme of hopeful expectation, Ed admits that silently waiting on God is a struggle for him.

Ed Dobson with son Kent

“I spent most of my life working hard at helping people rearrange the furniture in their lives,” says Dobson, who retired from Calvary in 2005. “But now, I have no agenda. I am weak. And waiting on the Lord is a challenge. [It's] a lot easier to say ‘get ready’ than it is to wait on the Lord.

“But this one thing I know: God has brought me this far,” he says, his voice quavering slightly. “The God who brought me this far will deal with today and tomorrow. So I can rest in his coming into my life to rearrange my furniture.”

He sits back in his easy chair, and the congregation sings “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus.”

A few days later, he’s sitting on the couch of his and Lorna’s Kentwood condominium. Out the window they admire three deer grazing around the ravine of Plaster Creek. Their airy two-level is filled with photos of their grandchildren, framed biblical quotes and the aroma of Lorna’s baking shortbread.

Always wiry, Ed’s frame has been thinned by ALS. He was a star soccer player growing up in Northern Ireland. A coach at Liberty University, where Dobson was an administrator, once told him he could have turned pro.

As a man of deep faith, Ed Dobson believes God could heal him of ALS. So, I ask, why do you think God hasn’t done that?

“There is no good answer, so I’ve never asked it,” he replies. Adds Lorna, “If you’re always obsessed about having to have answers, you can’t really live.”

But Dobson grapples with the question in his new book, “Seeing Through the Fog: Hope When Your World Falls Apart” (David C. Cook). In its 145 pages, which he dictated by voice to his computer, he recounts his journey with ALS from the moment he first felt a twitching in his eyelid on his 50th birthday. Nearly a year later, just before Thanksgiving 2000, a University of Michigan doctor told him he had probable ALS.

As Lorna drove him back to Grand Rapids, he writes, “I felt like my life was over. I felt like I had been buried alive.”

With such unstinting detail, Dobson traces the painful path he’s walked since, as well as scenes from his life before ALS. Through it all, with Lorna ever at his side, he’s held fast to faith and “a hope that comes with strength: the strength to keep living life, despite its challenges, and to continually give thanks for the blessings we have, even in the darkest of times.”

It’s easy to lose hope when he thinks about his future, Dobson says. So he thinks about today, counsels other ALS patients and watches “The Three Stooges” to make sure he laughs. When he gets down, he repeats God’s assurance from Hebrews: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Most of all, he gives thanks for the many blessings he still has -- especially Lorna, their children Kent, Daniel and Heather, and their six grandchildren. Soon they all will gather for the holidays.

After he was diagnosed 12 years ago, Dobson thought that Christmas would be his last. This year, he looks forward to another one – and hopes for many more.

continue to past articles

listed in date order from last to first - 

Ed Dobson - What He Has to Say About His Life-Threatening Illness Will Shake You to Your Core

Ed Dobson's Story of ALS - Preaching With My Son in His First Pulpit At Mars Hill Church

Book Review: Ed Dobson, "Seeing Through the Fog"

Ed Dobson 2012 CNN Interview, "Rethinking What It Means to be Christian"

Ed Dobson's Story - A Film Series About Hope (re: Suffering, Illness and Healing)

Ed Dobson - Faithfully Facing Mortality

Ed Dobson - What Do You Do When You Know You Are Dying?

Nneka - Do you love me now

Nneka - Do you love me now

(live session @ streets of Paris)

Lyrics

http://www.lyricsmania.com/

I heard my name, did you call me ?
Did you speak truth, when you dug wounds,
When you spilled blood, did you say love ?,
When you promised the most high,
You will not betray

Do you love me now (x4)

Yes, it's heavy on my heart to communicate,
Absentminded on the earth devoted to sin,
Not knowing i'm dead,
Your phrases are highly majestic,
I am amazed by your great linguistics,
Yet your words are placed together,
To sell dubious manifestoes,
The end is devastating, barrage of lies,
Your words are sweet enticing but false grandeur,
Still I go, I go to the foutain where waters flow,
Where the truth uprises there I will grow now

Do you love me (x4)
I will grow

I know I have never been found,
It is dark for we are all blind,
In solitude we know God
In public we do not act God,
Is it destiny is it mean to be,

Do you love me now,
Now that everything has been said and done,
Do you love me, now that I function in your madness,
Do you love me now, for your love is so cold,
Oh sodom and gomorrah caution !!
Do you love me, now that I am no longer me

(Merci à Kiki pour cettes paroles)

Send "Do You Love Me Now" to your Cell

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nneka_(singer)

Nneka Lucia Egbuna (born 24 December 1980) is a Nigerian-German hip hop/soul singer and songwriter. She sings in both Igbo and English.

Biography

Nneka is the daughter of an Anambra state Nigerian father, and German mother^[1]. She was born and raised in Warri, in the Delta region of Nigeria, and went to the primary school of the Delta Steel Company, then the secondary school at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. Nneka relished the experience of singing from an early age in her school and in the church choir. After relocating to Hamburg, Germany, at the age of 18, she pursued a career in singing alongside a degree in Anthropology.^[2] She now divides her time between Nigeria and Hamburg.^[3]

Music career

Since 2003 Nneka has been working closely with the hip hop beatmaker DJ Farhot, a producer living in Hamburg. As a young singer she first gained public attention in 2004 while performing as an opening act for dancehall reggae star Sean Paul at Hamburg Stadtpark. After much acclaim, Nneka was given a green light to record her first album.

After releasing her debut EP 'The Uncomfortable Truth' with the music label Yo Mama's Recording Company, she performed on her first tour with Patrice Bart-Williams in April 2005, playing shows in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

She finished recording her first album in the autumn of 2005. Entitled 'Victim of Truth', it was released not only in Germany but also in England, France, Netherlands, Nigeria and Japan. Garnering rave reviews from the media, the UK's Sunday Times later declared it “the year’s most criminally overlooked album”, comparing it favourably to 'The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill'.^[4]

Following the release of the album, Nneka enjoyed a sustained and successful period of touring, performing at festivals such as Chiemsee Reggae Summer, Haarlem (BevrijdingsPop), Den Haag (Park Pop) and Saint-Brieuc (Art Rock Festival) as well as in respected venues like La Maroquinerie and New Morning in Paris, Tivoli in Utrecht, Paradiso in Amsterdam and Cargo and ULU in London. She has also supported artists such as Femi Kuti, Bilal, Seeed, and Gnarls Barkley.

In February 2008 she released her second album, 'No Longer at Ease'. The title of the album is taken from a novel of the same name by Chinua Achebe and reflects the lyrical content of the record. Most of the songs are political, talking about the plight of the Niger Delta and the corruption in Nneka’s homeland. “No Longer at Ease” combines the political and the personal in “a winning mix of soul, hip-hop an reggae”.^[5] The lead single from it, 'Heartbeat', became her first song to break into the German Top 50.^[6] In September 2009, the song entered the UK Singles Chart at number twenty.^[7]

The following months saw tours in France, Italy and Portugal, while she also supported Lenny Kravitz on his French tour in April 2009.

Nneka has been nominated in three categories for the 2009 Channel O Music Video Awards,^[8] and won an award for Best African Act at the 2009 MOBO Awards.

In late 2009, she was chosen as of one Beyond Race Magazine's "50 Emerging Artists," resulting in a spot in the publication's #11 issue (with Bodega Girls and J. Cole on the cover), as well as an exclusive Q&A for the magazine's site.^[9]

In November 2009, Nneka staged her first concert tour of the United States where she performed shows in New York City, Vienna (Washington DC), Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Furthermore she was a special guest on The Roots Jam session. Her first US release Concrete Jungle was set for 2 February 2010.

Her track 'Kangpe' is also featured as a soundtrack on the EA Sports FIFA 2010 video game.

In January 2010, Nneka appeared in Late Show with David Letterman in New York before getting her US tour underway.

In June 2010, she won the reggae category of the Museke Online Africa Music Award 2010 with her hit song, Africans.

She agreed to go on tour with Nas and Damian Marley to help them promote their 'distant relatives' album. She has done a remix of her highly rated track, 'heartbeat' with Nas which is expected to be made public soon.

She has also agreed to participate in this year's Lilith Fair Concert (2010) where the likes of Tegan & Sara, Sarah McLachlan, Kelly Clarkson, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Corinne Bailey Rae, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna and others will be performing. She will be performing in Washington, Raleigh and Charlotte (United States). She recorded a song for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa called "Viva Africa". It is a tribute to the premier mundial on African soil.

She won the award for best indigenous artist in Nigeria at the Nigerian Entertainment Awards 2010 which was held in New York, U.S.A.

Musical style

Even though Nneka sings more than raps, she names hip hop as her primary musical root and most important source of inspiration, while citing artists such as Fela Kuti and Bob Marley as well as contemporary rappers Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and Lauryn Hill as key influences in her own pursuit of musical recognition.^[2]

Her lyrics reflect much of her history and life in Nigeria as well as her time spent in Western Europe. Her songs stress the issues of capitalism, poverty and war and are often loaded with moral and biblical messages and references, with some music commentators comparing her to Erykah Badu, Neneh Cherry^[10] and Floetry.^[11]

Discography

Albums

• 2005: Victim of Truth
• 2008: No Longer at Ease Germany #31, France #34, Switzerland #42, Austria #49^[12]
• 2012: Soul Is Heavy France #38, Switzerland #30, Austria #46^[13]

Singles

• 2005: The Uncomfortable Truth
• 2006: Beautiful
• 2006: God of Mercy
• 2007: Africans
• 2008: Heartbeat #9 Portugal, #20 UK, #34 Austria, #49 Germany^[14]
• 2008: Walking
• 2009: Kangpe

Compilations

• 2009: To and Fro (3 CD-Box-Set)
• 2009: J.Period & Nneka The Madness (Onye-Ala) Free Download
• 2010: Concrete Jungle

EPs

• 2005: The Uncomfortable Truth

Soundtracks

• 2011: "Beat The World"