Saturday, May 06, 2006

Remembering Mark Palmer
























Mark Palmer passed on Monday 27 March 2006. Charlie Wear gives us a heads up that yesterday - Friday 5 May 2006 - would have been Mark's 32nd birthday and points us to a wonderful post - Happy Birthday, my Love - by his wife Amy who is taking care of Mark's son, Micah, who's 4. Little Micah also lost his mom, Jennifer, to cancer in August 2003.


Mark touched a number of folks in his community, in the emerging church, and beyond, some of whom only got to know him after he began his battle with cancer. Here are some of their thoughts:
  • Kevin Rains

  • Alan Creech

  • Andrew Jones

  • Brother Maynard

  • Charlie Wear

  • Jason Clark

  • Chris Marshall

    Please email me the url if there is someone else's comments I should add to this list.

    Mark wrote this before he passed:

    "I guess what I really want to say is this: be hopeful. Don't stop fighting. On some level this thing is bigger than all of us. It's not about having a wife die of cancer at 26, and then 2 years later getting the same terminal illness. It's not about me and how I fight this disease or how our little family walks through it. The bigger picture is the battle against sickness and death that we all face because we live in a broken world. But it's even more about the Kingdom that has broken in and offers us a chance at relief from that disease. It offers health and victory where before there was none. There is hope in the midst of hopelessness. Death is not where we lose; the onset of hopelessness is the great defeater. So allow hope to rise up within you. And when it seems that hopefulness is the least appropriate response in this situation, let it rise up even more. Whisper your hope when you lie down at night; scream your hope when you wake in the morning. Live your hope as if it is the one and only thing that sustains you in this ravaged world. You will not be disappointed."

    link

Mark's family's insurance did not cover the costs of his illness which were somewhere north of $200,000. Donations can be sent to:

Send donations to the
Mark Palmer Memorial Fund
c/o The Landing Place Community
64 King Ave., Columbus, OH 43201
http://palmerlp.livejournal.com

No comments: