Difference Makers
For stories about people who have made, or are making, a difference.
Mentoring through the shadow
Each breath was a gift as Donna’s husband lay in the Cardiac Care Unit of the hospital, connected by tubes and wires to machines that beeped and churned. It had been less that 24 hours since the ambulance rushed Max to the ER while Donna and I raced home from Seattle. As we stood with their family around Max’s hospital bed, the heart specialist and two nurses entered the darkened room and described the severity of Max’s massive heart attack. After a short pause, the doctor then told us that, given his condition, there was nothing more they could do. It was shattering news, yet there was peace and calm in the room as Max gave his response to the...
Read MoreMentoring Crosses Cultural Boundaries
Lydia grew up the eldest of three children in a very poor village located in Southeast Asia. She had an extremely difficult childhood because she was from a disenfranchised minority group in Asia and had a drunken father who beat her mother constantly. She also had to walk a long distance to school each day and, as the eldest child in this culture, she was responsible for her brother and sister. While other kids went off to play, Lydia had to wash clothes, go to market, and help her mother, often with her baby brother on her back. When she was in grade 7, Lydia’s house burned to the ground, in the early hours of the morning. After this happened she was always...
Read MoreLittle eyes. Big influence.
A couple of Sundays ago, my husband and I were standing and singing in church with other people who lined the pews. In front of us stood a young couple with two small boys. As we came to the chorus of one of the songs, the dad raised his left hand upward in worship, as he held his youngest son (about 2 years of age) in his other arm. To his right, his wife stood with their oldest boy (about 3 years old) in her arms. When the little 3-year-old saw his dad raise his hand, he paused then raised his own little arm and kept it there as he continued watching his dad whose arm also stayed raised. The little boy didn’t sing. He simply kept his eyes on his dad and did...
Read MoreKeith’s Fingerprint
Siblings leave fingerprints that stay with us forever. But sometimes we don’t realize it until they’re gone. Four days ago my brother passed away after a four-month, painful battle with cancer. He was only 50 years old and left behind his wife, four children (the youngest is 12) and many family and friends who loved him. Even though many of us thought he worked too hard, he did manage to find time to go rv’ing, camping, fishing, hunting, or snowmobiling with friends and family. As Keith lay in the hospital, one of his greatest regrets was that he wouldn’t be able to take his two young daughters on a special vacation he and his wife had planned for...
Read MoreOur friend, Eileen Neufeld
This first post of our web site is dedicated to our friend, Eileen Neufeld, who unexpectedly passed away on March 26th, after having a masive stroke at work. Full of life and energy, and only 56 years old, there was no indication that Eileen’s life with us would end so abruptly. The night before her stroke, a group of us were together to celebrate the new release of Donna’s and my book, A Mentor’s Fingerprint. Eileen was her usual witty self – cracking jokes, laughing, affirming us and our book, and taking pictures. She was one of our greatest supporters as we wrote the book and launched Fingerprint Ministries. At the party, Eileen announced that...
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