LISA: Tyler was born
on March 18 2002, in the town of Arborg, Manitoba. He was our second born son and we were
thrilled with his arrival. He was a very
content and happy baby. Roderick, his
older brother by two years was also very exited to have a new brother as he
would now have someone to play with on the family farm. God had blessed us with two healthy beautiful
boys. Eighteen months later his younger sister
joined the family. Tyler was a generous
person, the last Monday that Tyler was with us he mentioned that the French class
wanted to buy a gift for their teacher, even though French hadn’t always been
his favorite subject he really liked his teacher and he along with his classmates
wanted to all chip in money to buy her a gift.
He had already given $5 of his own money but he said if there were some
students that were not able to contribute, he wanted to make up the difference.
When he came home, he asked for money but then added he should not even have
asked because he would just give his own money.
Tyler had a very compassionate heart and was very sensitive to the
feelings of others. He was a very deep
thinker and often worried about situations far beyond his maturity. At the age of six Tyler would worry about not
being able to be a good father when he grew up.
We would have long conversations about it and addressed his fear by
teaching him about what God’s Word says.
As Tyler got older, he continued to think so deeply worrying and fearing
that he would never be able to get a career that he enjoyed after college
because no one would hire someone like him.
He could not seem to understand how gifted and talented he was. His teachers have always told us that he was
a very smart student and his grades reflected that. Tyler enjoyed reading about things he was
interested in and was a very good writer, he was also able to think critically about
things before he formed an opinion.
During our conversations Tyler would often surprise us with how much
information he knew about a large variety of topics. Tyler also had a great
sense of humor and often made witty remarks which had everyone laughing. Although he had so many wonderful gifts and
was a blessing to us Tyler struggled with low self esteem. Tyler did not seem to see himself as others
saw him. It brings me so much joy to
know that he is now able to see himself for who he truly is an amazing funny
and so very talented young man.
JAKE: Tyler was not
afraid to share his belief in Jesus Christ.
There was an event that happened early in his life that helped strengthen
his faith in God and it was something that Tyler still talked about. I know that Tyler would like us to share it
with you today. In 2010 we moved to the
city from our farm in Riverton, but we were back on the farm to do some work
just before school started. I had gone
to the barn which was on my brother in law’s yard and my brother in law had
gone to unload a load of square bales in the bale shelter. Our three kids and his oldest son had gone
with him to play on the bales. My
brother in law had unloaded part of the trailer and needed it backed up to unload
the rest. The youngest three kids were
out of the way on the pile of bales in the shelter, so he told Roderick to back
up the trailer. The trailer was hooked
to a small pickup truck. Tyler had
decided to jump onto the trailer and just as he landed the trailer jerked and
he fell between the trailer and the truck on his stomach with his face down. The truck tires drove right over him and the
tracks were clearly visible on his back.
The tire drove unto his back underneath his shoulder blade on one side then
over the other shoulder blade rubbing against the side of his head and
ear. There was dirt pressed into his
teeth and ear, but Tyler got up on his own.
My brother in law came running to him to make sure he was OK and then
came to tell me that Tyler had been run over by a truck.
LISA: Jake quickly
brought Tyler to the house and told me what happened but knew no details and I
took him to emergency. Tyler would start to cry and then stop short. He said it hurt so bad he needed to cry but
it hurt too much to cry. The drive to
emergency was about 35 minutes. On the
way Tyler asked me to pray for him that the pain would go away. I prayed for him and by the time we got to
the hospital I had to keep him from falling asleep.
JAKE: Meanwhile back
at home I went back to my brother in law to see what had happened. That’s when
my brother in law told me that Roderick had been the one driving the truck and looked
up to see Roderick still sitting behind the wheel worrying about what had
happened to Tyler. I tried to comfort him
saying Tyler would be fine. We went back
to the house with Roderick worrying about Tyler the whole time. He tried to figure out what he could do for Tyler
to make up for what he had done. He
wanted to use all the money he had in the bank to buy Tyler a bike.
LISA: Back at the
hospital Tyler was taken in by the staff there and strapped to a board to
protect his neck. Tyler was taken in for
x-rays and brought back into the room to wait for the results. The doctor took a cloth and cleaned his face
and teeth while chatting with Tyler. When
the x-rays were done, he left Tyler and me alone a bit to go look at them. As soon as Tyler and I were alone Tyler
started to cry not for pain but for Roderick.
He hoped that Roderick would not feel to bad because it wasn’t his
fault. The x-rays were sent to the city
to specialists for closer observation.
At the hospital Tyler was completely relaxed and I couldn’t tell that he
was in pain anymore although if I asked, he said his chest was still hurting. When the doctor came back, he said there was
no damage, and nothing was broken. He
unstrapped Tyler from the board and told him he could tell his friends that he
was iron man, he could get run over by a truck and nothing happened to
him. Tyler said, “that’s not the reason”. “What’s the reason?” the doctor asked. “Are you a Christian?” Tyler asked. The Doctor said he was, and Tyler said that
was the reason God had protected him. When
Tyler got home, he told Roderick not to feel bad and Roderick was so happy to
see him. Tyler never doubted that a miracle
had happened that day.
JAKE: Tyler looked up
to his older brother and was proud of his accomplishments. After Roderick’s passing Tyler and Angeline
got even closer as siblings. He helped
her whenever she needed help with her computer or phone and Tyler would let her
know about a new video game, he knew she would enjoy playing. Tyler found it easy to talk to his sister
Angeline whom he dearly loved and even commented to friends that he wished
everyone was as easy to talk with as his sister. Tyler would also help us with our computer problems. Just recently I tried for hours to fix a
problem with my monitors and when I asked Tyler, he had it fixed with a few
clicks of the buttons. He built his
first computer when he was 12. You can
see the computer he built in 2016 on the display in the lobby. Tyler also enjoyed cooking. We really enjoyed his meat loaf and enchiladas. Several years ago, he did all the Christmas
baking.
LISA: Although Tyler’s
passing will be difficult for us and we miss him so much we believe that God
will give us the strength to live each day knowing that Tyler and his brother
Roderick are now at home with their Savior.
What an amazing reunion they must have had. Tyler was sensitive and compassionate to
those who were hurting, and we need to continue to reach out to those who are hurting
showing them love and kindness because we don’t always know the battles they
fight. Many people are praying for us
and we ask you to continue to pray for Jake Angeline and myself. We covet your prayers and know that we will
only get through this with God. Our love
and faith in him have not changed.
Although we are devastated and full of sorrow from missing our sons God
has given us a peace that passes all understanding. John 14:1-3 says Let not your heart be troubled,
ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In my father’s house are many mansions if it were not so I would have
told you I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for
you I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may
also be.
JAKE: We will miss
our boys each minute of every day but we know without a shadow of a doubt that
one day we will all be reunited again and we will spend eternity together and
we feel a special love from God and to all of you. Thank-You
No comments:
Post a Comment