Some people may be on the periphery of our lives, but still light up our world. Clifford So and Libby Yu are like that for me. Today, I discovered how beautifully and inexplicably God has tied our families together in our grief, and in His goodness.
Cliff and Libby were camp counsellors when I was a teen. I don’t think we Actually interacted much, but it was nice to know they were there, quietly being awesome with their continued love in my college age fellowship (I think they were leaders there just after I had aged out?) Little did I know the terrible battle with Cancer they were going through.
On facebook I saw he was supposed to die have four years ago. The oncologist estimated if he had not started chemo at the time he did, he would have had only 48 hours to live, such was the tumor load in his lungs. Then he experienced a massive brain hemorrhage during treatment, from which he also should have died. The doctors had actually drawn the curtains and summoned the social worker for his wife and sister to help take care of his arrangements.
Miraculously he survived, but last year, his cancer relapsed and he underwent another brain operation to remove another tumor from his brain. In total, He had 2 brain surgeries, 6 rounds of conventional chemo, 2 rounds of high dose chemo with stem cell transplants and 20 rounds of radiation.
In January Cliff posted that his oncologists could not give him any more hope of treatment or cure. His community mobilized quickly – setting a Meal Train, Sending the So’s to Disneyland! and dedicating Fraser Lands Church‘s regular Thursday night prayer meeting to them.
I decided to go to that prayer meeting, and asked God for a Word of Encouragement for Cliff and his wife. Immediately I saw a picture of a sea gull flying away, so I tried to think of an interpretation. I told Cliff what I saw, and encouraged him that who the Son sets free, is free indeed – no matter the difficulties he was in, he could soar in the Spirit with Jesus, and just as the sea gull was white, he had such a pure heart, and one day he would SEE all that his faith had accomplished.
He said it was interesting I saw a seagull – because his guitar was one of the Seagull Guitars, and he would often use it to worship God.
Today, I expected to write a very different post, because my son was born today last year. This post for Cliff and Libby was in the works, but I was going to put it off again, until I saw Dorcas‘s Happy Birthday wish for Cliff show up in my news feed.
It struck me deeply, that Cliff and my son share a birthday, and as I meditated on it another connection came to mind.
My husband’s father also passed away when he was young, and for some reason when he, his two sisters and his mom were deciding on an urn, they chose the one with three sea gulls on it, and as they left the funeral home they heard a cawing and looked up -just then, three seagulls flew overhead.
I was thinking of how hard it would have been for Cliff to go, leaving behind his three young kids and wife, wishing he could be there for them, praying they would be okay, and I realized my husband family went through a similar thing, just with the kids in reversed gender order – oldest son, two little sisters, vs oldest daughter two little brothers.
They are a testimony of how amazingly we can grow up, despite those difficult circumstances. My husband and his sisters are some of the coolest people I know. They are kind, hardworking, and So Trustworthy. Clifford and Libby, I know you have raised your kids wonderfully well, and when they are old, they will not depart from the way they should go. They will soar in the Spirit with their Father God, and with you watching over them.
Read more of their story at https://clibbyblog.wordpress.com