After a five year battle with seizures, brain surgery and e Sam Smith died in his sleep last night.  For the past three years Sherry has been shuttling back and forth from our family to his bedside to help her mom in the backbreaking work of caring for him at home.  Though Sam’s condition had greatly worsened in the past year and he had become an incredibly difficult patient, Sherry and Audrey ignored appeals to hospitalize him & continued to care for him at home until the very end.  Before his illness Sam had been characterized by his outgoing, mischievous nature and his immense love of people.

Funeral services will be held in Pennsylvania on Thursday.  For the past week, Sam, Sherry, and Audrey had all been suffering from a stomach virus and Sherry is still recovering from surgery a month ago, so please pray for a restoration of health and spirit for both Sherry and Audrey and for wisdom to handle legal matters.

Thanks to all those who have been praying for Sherry about this matter for the past years.  We deeply appreciate it.

i just received this email  on my facebook from a young lady in Jamaica…shelly vernon…..so sweet…thot i would share it with you…

have to bring you back in time and see if I can spark a memory… I was a little girl maybe 6 or 7 years old… I was in both your Kids praise… I had a solo part for In His Time and for I Love you Lord… I was called Shelly Vernon and I had an older brother by the name of Richard (he refused to sing a solo part  :-) ) 

I feel so blessed to be able to finally tell you just how much of an impact God used you to make on my life… I have never forgotten you, your kindness and the love of Jesus you showed to all of us… After you and your family left for the Philippines my parents moved from Mandeville and we stopped going to church… My life changed drastically for the worse because my teenage and college years I avoided church.. I never forget the little lessons you taught in kids church.. I am now 30 years old and I could tell you a few lessons I remember… The Good news is the seeds God used you to plant might have went dormant for a while but they never died… 6 years ago I came back home (like the prodigal son) I am happy to tell you that I am back in church… This is the funny part… I am the Church Secretary, Missions Coordinator and I also volunteer in the Youth Ministry… I have had the deepest desire lately to actually do a Kids Praise with a hope to somehow touch a life like how God used you to touch mine. I Love you! and Thank you for your Obedience to Our Father… Can we keep in touch?

Food for thought. Your comments please…

About Suicide
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that each year approximately one million people die from suicide, which represents a global mortality rate of 16 people per 100,000 or one death every 40 seconds. It is predicted that by 2020 the rate of death will increase to one every 20 seconds.

The WHO further reports that:

In the last 45 years suicide rates have increased by 60% worldwide. Suicide is now among the three leading causes of death among those aged 15-44 (male and female). Suicide attempts are up to 20 times more frequent than completed suicides.

Although suicide rates have traditionally been highest amongst elderly males, rates among young people have been increasing to such an extent that they are now the group at highest risk in a third of all countries.