Steve’s messages to his friends and family were full of hope, optimism, and gratitude. And he fought cancer with every bit of his incredible strength and determination. Yet, he was also prepared for the possibility of death.
As his battle became increasingly difficult, his mother-in-law, Sharon, was one of the people with whom Steve had very honest conversations about life and death. She recalls:
Steve was very comfortable about his future. He knew where he was going and who was going to meet him. Two Bible verses had special meaning. Ephesians 1:14 and 2 Corinthians 5:1-21 were especially important and verified to Steve what he had known all along.
Below are these special verses from one of Steve’s Bibles – The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language.
Ephesians 1:14
This signet from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.
2 Corinthians 5
1 For instance, we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven – God-made, not handmade 2 – and we’ll never have to relocate our “tents” again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move – and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what’s coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we’re tired of it! We’ve been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! 3 4 5 The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what’s ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we’ll never settle for less. 6 That’s why we live with such good cheer. You won’t see us drooping our heads or dragging our feet! Cramped conditions here don’t get us down. They only remind us of the spacious living conditions ahead. 7 It’s what we trust in but don’t yet see that keeps us going. 8 Do you suppose a few ruts in the road or rocks in the path are going to stop us? When the time comes, we’ll be plenty ready to exchange exile for homecoming. 9 But neither exile nor homecoming is the main thing. Cheerfully pleasing God is the main thing, and that’s what we aim to do, regardless of our conditions. 10 Sooner or later we’ll all have to face God, regardless of our conditions. We will appear before Christ and take what’s coming to us as a result of our actions, either good or bad. 11 That keeps us vigilant, you can be sure. It’s no light thing to know that we’ll all one day stand in that place of Judgment. That’s why we work urgently with everyone we meet to get them ready to face God. God alone knows how well we do this, but I hope you realize how much and deeply we care. 12 We’re not saying this to make ourselves look good to you. We just thought it would make you feel good, proud even, that we’re on your side and not just nice to your face as so many people are. 13 If I acted crazy, I did it for God; if I acted overly serious, I did it for you. 14 Christ’s love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do. 15 He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own. 16 Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. 17 Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! 18 All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. 19 God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. 20 We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you. 21 How? you say. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.
CaringBridge Post
By Julene Andrews — Sep 10, 2014 9:03pm
Hello Team X Factor,
This is a difficult update for us to write. Last Tuesday, it was not possible to get treatment due to some elevated blood counts. A scan was performed on Wednesday to see what was going on. Scan results were not what we wanted. The cancer has progressed, treatments are not working. Doctor feels that further treatment is likely to do more harm than good. They highly encouraged us to start Hospice care. Our first Hospice appointment was this afternoon and we were very impressed with the service. The people we met were great and they will provide for all of our needs at home. The goal with Hospice is not to treat but rather to comfort.
Treatment the past few months has been pretty rough, with lots of side effects. Steve was going in to work for a few hours as often as he could a few weeks ago until it became too much. He has grown increasingly fatigued. But he is already feeling much better and is gaining strength and weight after coming off of chemo. We are seeking second opinions from the Seattle and Houston doctors that we have worked with in the past. And if a treatment becomes available down the road, we will pursue it.
We had a fabulous few days on the Southern California beaches with Michael and Karlie a couple of weeks ago. The beach has always been Steve’s happy place! And to top that off we hit a Dodgers game! And then we had a fantastic Labor Day weekend of R&R in Stanley with good friends.
We are staying positive and making the most of each and every day. We find comfort and peace in the fact that while many people face adversity day in and day out, we have had 52 perfect and very blessed years. And we think we have done a pretty dang good job of living life to the fullest!
We know that you all will want to respond with offers of help and good wishes, but really nothing is best. We are overwhelmed at this time and just need some quiet family time to digest this all. Please know that we are doing just fine.
Thank you all for the incredible support over the past couple of years. The X Factor has been an amazing phenomenon and has provided us with endless hope and strength. We appreciate you all so very much. God bless you!
With much love and gratitude, from our hearts to yours,
Steve and Julene
