Tyler's Obituary

March 18, 2002 – December 21, 2017

It is with deep sadness that we share the passing of our dear son and brother, Tyler Dan Rempel.  He is lovingly remembered and cherished by his parents, Jake and Lisa, sister, Angeline; grandparents; treasured family and friends. Tyler’s arrival into our family was welcomed with great joy and gratitude. Tyler accepted Jesus Christ into his life at an early age and was baptized at the age of 14. He was never afraid to talk about his belief in Jesus Christ. Tyler had a compassionate heart, and he was always very concerned and sensitive to other people’s feelings.  

As a baby, Tyler was content and happy from the start, and his older brother was so proud of him. Tyler could spend hours entertaining himself, but always lit up with joy when his brother would come join him in his games. Tyler learned to read on his own before kindergarten and loved researching and learning about things that he was interested in. He loved technology and built his first computer when he was twelve years old. Tyler was very clever and had a great sense of humour, and in grade 6 was voted the funniest student in his class. Although he often appeared serious, he could have the entire room laughing at his witty remarks.

When he was eight years old, Tyler was in a farming accident. This experience was very important to Tyler and strengthened his faith in God. Although he was accidently run over by a truck, he sustained no major injuries. In the last six months, Tyler had started showing an interest in the family farm and talked about one day farming with his dad. Although Tyler had not previously considered the idea of farming, he recently started to show more interest in the business side of the industry.

In the last year, Tyler began to spend more time with his sister, Angeline, helping her with homework and showing her how to use her new devices. He recently made a comment to a friend saying he wished it was as easy to talk to everyone as it was with his sister. Tyler and Angeline often spent time chatting and teasing each other and had formed a special bond after having lost their brother, Roderick, whom they both loved dearly. Tyler will be greatly missed each and every day, but we are comforted with the knowledge and assurance that he is now reunited with his brother, forever surrounded by the love of his Lord and Saviour. John 14: 1-4

A Celebration of Life service will be held at Springs Church, 595 Lagimodiere Blvd. on Tuesday, January 2, 2018 at 11:00 am. A private family interment will follow. Arrangements entrusted to: Rock Fontaine Funeral Director Honour-Respect-Dignity Winnipeg(204)223-2576 toll free 1-866-499-2601

How I Deal With Fear

How I Deal With Fear

   I was at a conference yesterday and during the question and answer period a dear young lady got up and this was her question.  “I have gone through trauma and have found healing but my question is, how do I deal with the fear that this can happen to my children?”  I wasn’t one of the speakers who answered questions but being the introvert that I am, I still answer even if just in my mind.  That answer has been playing through my mind all day so here it is, even though I don’t know the young lady and she likely will never read this. 

   I never expected to have a child enter heaven at a young age.  I knew that accidents happen but I always thought that my faith was strong enough that it would keep God’s protection around my kids.  I believe that fear is the opposite of faith and I refused to let the fear of loosing a child into my life.  When Roderick was two and my in-laws were visiting us (they live in Bolivia) my father-in-law made the comment that Roderick was so full of energy and so daring he was not going to grow up into adulthood, he was likely to have an accident before that.  I did not like that and in my heart I said, “I’m not receiving that, my children will grow up to be successful adults”.  Even though Roderick was daring and took risks I learned from when he was very young that he knew his limits and how far he could stretch himself.  I wanted him to live life to the fullest and I didn’t want to be the one to always limit him.

   When other moms talked about their fear of something happening to their kids I felt bad for their kids.  I remember when Tyler was a baby and I helped in the nursery there was this one mom who brought her baby to class full of fear of what might happen.  She had all these restrictions concerning her baby.  One day one of the young volunteers dropped this baby.  She had never dropped a baby before, why would this happen to the one baby who’s mother was already so fearful.  After that she only allowed adults to hold her child, in her defence she did eventually come and apologize for that.

   If fear is the opposite of faith and if faith in God’s protection helps keep our kids from harm then wouldn’t fear open the door to harm?  The Bible is very clear that we should not fear.

   Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.  John 14:27

   Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid: do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

   These are just two of many verses that command us not to fear.

   But I did walk into Roderick’s room one morning and found his body lifeless and his Spirit escaped to heaven so I guess my faith wasn’t enough or what would the answer be?  I don’t have all the answers.  One thing I know though the Bible hasn’t changed, God hasn’t changed and God’s Protection is still just as real as it was before Roderick went to heaven.  Our Faith in God must be stronger then our circumstances, we cannot base our faith on circumstances but I can tell you I have a far more real battle against fear now so this brings me to the question this young lady asked.  “How do I deal with the fear that something might happen to my kids”? 

   God’s Word is full of protection promises.  When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.  Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the Lord will be at you side and will keep your foot from being snare.  Probers 3:24-26

   I like this verse because it so applies to me.  My fear is usually at night or when I go to bed because that’s when the accident took place. 

   When I feel fearful I ask God’s protection over my children.  I will pray that God will protect my children every night.  Then I counter the fear by thanking God for His protection until I can overcome the fear.  The Bible says to bring our requests to God with thanksgiving.  It doesn’t seem to me that God will be honoured by me begging for protection over and over, I wouldn’t be if my kids kept asking over an over when I had already promised it to them.  I also think there is power in thanksgiving therefore I choose to counter fearful thoughts with thanksgiving. 

   I have had a few nights where it’s been a real battle and I couldn’t sleep.  Sometimes I have gone to check on the kids in the middle of the night.  My son doesn’t appreciate this much but I think he understands, mostly I have been able to stay in control and overcome fear with the Lord's help.  The Bible says “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  Philippians 4:6

   I have had a few short periods of time where I would wait for Jake to wake up the kids just so I knew they were ok before I checked on them but mostly I look forward to waking them up in the morning.  Every morning the first time I hear or see my kids it’s like relief floods my body “they are ok”.  I will often open the door when I go to wake them up with just a little hesitation but also anticipation.  I could let fear take over every morning but I choose to be grateful instead.  Every morning the first thing I want to do is see my kids but I wait to go until it is time to wake them up at least usually I do.  Sometimes I peak in there rooms when I get up early.  Tyler will often get up on his own and hearing that click of his door opening or closing is a precious sound to me.  In my post on conflicting feelings which I posted not long after Roderick went to heaven I mentioned that I check on the kids at night fearful that something might have happened to them or is it gratitude that we still have them.  Now I choose to be grateful rather then fearful.  When I wake them up in the morning I am grateful that they are ok.  At the moment I feel like this has become a part of my life but I’m ok with it.  There is a new level of gratitude and joy that my children are truly under God’s protection.

   So that is how I overcome fear and have faith in God’s protection.  I ask Him for protection and then believe that I have it and thank Him for it.  Then refuse to allow fear in by meditating rather on His promises.

Dream Again

Dream Again

Just recently we had someone come by to do some work on our house.  He’d done work for us before so we knew the guy.  We asked how things were going and he said it had been slow July and August but now it was just busy, busy.  We were happy for him knowing he was trying to get a business going but he said, “Yea but it’s hard, with two little kids and being so busy”.  It’s true, I get it, getting somewhere financially is hard work and you’ve got to priorities your time.  Kids are much to precious not to have time for them and all your finances won’t make up for it.  Having said that though it takes money to raise kids and give them opportunities.  It’s hard but it’s great.  Working hard is great and having kids is even greater.  So lets focus on the greater rather then the hard.

After the one year Anniversary of Roderick going to heaven I stopped blogging, I hadn’t intended to I just felt like I didn’t need it anymore.  We had overcome all the firsts after his leaving and we seemed to have slipped into this blankness, is that even a word? Or nothingness.  Time seemed to drag for me.  I feel the second year has been much longer then the first.  The summer seemed meaningless except for a couple camping trips, those were great and we enjoyed them but planning them was hard.  No one seemed to know what to do and no one wanted to come up with ideas when we talked about it, it seemed no one really cared.  We talked about going on a trip but no one seemed to care much. 

One day Tyler comes to Jake and me and out of the blue says, “we should get a pool”.  He added that he wanted to start having friends over more often and it would be nice to have a pool.  That same day Angeline comes and says the same thing without knowing that Tyler had brought it up.  Not to long after that Tyler said we should get a tree house built, that should be our project for the summer, so as a family we started dreaming about it.  We discussed whether it would be wise to build a pool unto this yard because it doesn’t raise the value of the property.  We bought an old house six years ago and renovated it but it hadn’t ever really been our intention to make this a long-term home, this was just what we could afford at that time.  So we started looking for a house and enjoyed dreaming as a family again.  We bought a house in September. This will stretch us financially and even though we are big on financial freedom I think it will be good for us to work hard to get ahead financially.  We needed a kick in the butt to say get up, work hard, make it work, start dreaming again, and have a reason to plan.   So if you find it difficult to work hard and get ahead while taking time for your kids. Enjoy it; it really is a blessing even though it is hard. 

We still struggle with dreaming and planning many times but we are excited about moving in February and it is great to dream again. 

I did struggle with the fact that Roderick was not a part of this.  There would be no room in the house that used to be Roderick’s; nothing about the house would remind us of Roderick although we will still have lots of memorabilia to put up for him.  But I had no doubt in my mind that Roderick would have been so excited for this and he would be so mad if his leaving would stop us from moving on in life and dreaming again.  I know we honour him more by moving on and just knowing he is with us all the time wherever we go then being stuck because of his leaving.  After all he has his palace that is by far better then the house we purchased.