There continue to be signs that I am slipping in my battle with cancer. It is beginning to rob me of more and more of the normalcies and joys of life. But I refuse to let it take away the gifts that God has graciously bestowed on me. So, I look for joy in each new day, and I count it joy when I receive correspondence from you, reminding me of the value of friendship.
Our daughter and son-in-law have unexpectedly arrived for the weekend, and already I am filled with encouragement! Keep me in your thoughts and prayers. They’re the only thing sustaining me at the stage.
Here’s my latest installment of Along the Journey. It deals with God’s faithfulness, which will be a theme at my memorial service. “Great is Thy Faithfulness” will be sung at the service. But, as we await that, let me share a few words about God’s faithfulness.
-Jack
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37 comments:
Dr Snell, Hope you have a wonderful visit with Stephanie & Henry... I know your time together will be very special...
Love you (and Mrs Snell too!)
(((hugs)))
Jennifer (Hanson) Closson & Family
8/27/07
Jack, thanks for reminding me of that promise in Lamentations which has been my source of hope and encouragement also. Thanks for your faithfulness to Him.
Joe McDade
Dear Dr. Snell - You and your family are in our hearts and prayers every day. You are so special to us!
Gavin and Lori
Hugs and prayers for you and Anita--and the kids.
Love,
Ann Kersey
Hi Snells. I'm glad you had a visit from Stephanie. It sure is important to do and say the things that are on your mind and in your heart. Regrets are avoidable, which is sure important.
I love your family as my own.
Love you always, Sherri Howard Stratton
What can we say, but how much we love you, and thank you for the generosity of your spirit to include us in your journey that has brightened the way of our journeys. Whenever someone from HAB meets someone who has ever been a part of HAB, you may know that our conversation always includes you and your family in our exchanges. We express our concern for you, our deep sense of gratitude to God for knowing you, and our appreciation for your faithfulness to God and to us. Thank you for helping us keep things in perspective. May we learn by your example to find the joy that God provides us.
At the deacon ordination and installation last night, I realized you are the personification of the solo "Here I Am, LORD" - "It is I, Lord. I have heard you calling in the night. I will go, Lord, if you lead me...I will hold your people in my heart."
Your faith and faithfulness have strengthened us in these days.
LOVE
Ann Carter
Dr. Snell,
While reading what you have shared with us today and noticing the date above your posting (today is our daughter Catherine's 8th Birthday).. I realized that I have known you since I was about 6! At that time I was visiting my Grandparents at HAB and later joined when I was 10 after moving to Jax. You have had such a profound effect in my life from a very early age. I know I have said this before, but you will never know what a blessing and joy it was for our family when you and Mrs. Snell took part in my Mom's memorial service. She thought the world of you, as well. I will miss you deeply- but I am so happy for you- because I know that you are going on to the greatest of rewards.
I love you,
Julie (Seale) Brown
Great is thy faithfulness....that truly IS a terrific hymn and a favorite of mine as well....I suspect the same is true for many of us out here!
I pray that each remaining day adds meaning to your life, and i look forward to telling my children, when they're a little older, what an honor it was to know a man like you. It'll be fun to talk about you with them. In other words, a true roll model, like my grandfather was, my parents are and Julie's grandfather is. I can count up no more than about 6 or 7, but there you are on the list!
Today is Catherine's 8th birthday, by the way. She's already quizzing me about what getting a car entails....Halfway there, so it won't be long i suppose!
As always, much love and continued best wishes to you and your family,
Phil Brown
Jack and Anita, we continue to stand with you in prayer. You are both true treasures, and we're blessed to count you as friends.
Steve and Elizabeth Johnson
I love you both and continue to lift you up in prayer Anita Headley
Jack, I stuck my head in the CBF office the other day. You weren't there, but they graciously gave me an '
"update". Nannette was there for a Bapt. Today board
meeting and I was just tagging along. Be sure you
know that you and Anita are in our thoughts and prayers daily.
Joel Avery
At times, silence seems more appropriate than words. For me, having read your lates article, this is such a time. So, I have spent a few minutes here in quiet reflection.... How very faithful you have been, indeed. What a blessing ... to me ... to my family ... and to thousands of others along the way. You are the personification of all that the word "pastor" implies. Your love, your ministry, yes ... your faithfulness ... has and will continue to touch lives and span time and space. Our prayers are with you and Anita and your family. We love you. Connie
Jack, we have thought about you and Anita so much recently and we constantly reflect on the good times that we have had though the years. Each of your updates read as if you were in our home talking to us. May God bless both of you. Cynthia and C.W.
Dr. Jack,We think of you daily and find much peace in your words. Thank you for all you have done for me and my family over the past 24 years. We keep you and your family in our prayers always. Not only have you forever personified what a pastor truly is, you have blessed us as a wonderful friend as well. We love you and your family and keep you in our hearts always. Bryan & Jennifer Whitley
Jack,
Dianne and I always want to say something that will comfort you, but in your words, you help us more than we could ever help you.
I,too, wish that you could sing with us at the memorial service, but I know that you will be there in spirit and that spirit is what encourages all of us to be faithful to those promises of God that you so beautifully remind each of us of with your words and spirit.
Thank you for all that you have done for and meant to me!
Doug Aiken
Jack, At the reception for the Collison's Sunday evening, I shared some of the pictures Yvonne took when we visited recently. There were many ooh's and aahs'. The feeling of love was so great you must have felt it in Atlanta.
I love you, Jack Snell. You have been my Pastor, my friend and my confidante. In all those areas you have been "faithful". I will never play or sing "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" again without thinking of you.
Thank you for sharing who you were when you were healthy and thank you for sharing who and where you are in your present journey. I hope that those of us who have tried to walk with you have made that journey a bit easier. I wish we could do more.
With much love and admiration, Miss Dixie
Jack,
Your Along the Journey messages have been amazing and inspiring, and we can hear your voice in each one. The one I find myself going back to is your May 20 message on
"Kindness".
That's what Doug and I saw in you when we first met you ~ and then Anita ~ many years ago. Your ability to be kind to everyone, making everyone feel "included", but at the same time never compromising your beliefs or being judgemental. That is not an easy thing to do, but is the quality we've seen in you and Anita for more than 4 decades.
It's such a simple word, but would transform the world if we could just apply it to our daily lives.
However, it's always seemed to come easy to you ~ prbably because of your faithfulness to God and your seeing His faithfulness to you.
As usual, I'm asking Anita to give you a big hug from me and a manly handshake from Doug!
Love you all,
Dianne Aiken
Jack,this is your old friend, and I do mean old, Pie Burson. I have been reading your comments and wanted to get in touch with you. I hope you receive this message. My family has always loved you and yours, and we ask at this time for God go continue to keep you close to Him. One comment: While I have been reading I kept hearing your laughter. I remember it well and it sustains me. Love, Pie
Dear Jack,
Your words of faithfulness during such trial are a deep encouragement to me. I pray for you and Anita often. I consider it to be a wonderful grace that part of my time at Touching Miami With Love overlapped with your service at HABC. Recently I heard a young Ugandan pastor well-acquainted with suffering preach the Twenty-third Psalm. Two of his observations gripped me. First, he noted a change in language from detached third-person commentary of the psalmist during seasons in life of green pastures and still waters to the more direct and demanding second-person prayers of the psalmist in the valley of the shadow of death. Your comments a week or so ago about prayer and trust in God resonate with those reflections on the psalm.
The second observation the young preacher made regarded the valley of the shadow of death. Shadows, he said, remind us that somewhere a light is shining.
I do not presume to know the pain and darkness you fight daily. But I have witnessed the light that your fight shines. And I recognize it as the same light of Christ that has shined through the life of ministry you and Anita have forged for these many years.
Thank you for your indefatigable witness to hope in Jesus Christ. It will live on long after this life is through. I send this with love and continued prayers for you and Anita.
Peace,
Steven Porter
Dear Dr. Jack,
I have so thought of you and want you to know how much we love you. Please receive this HUGE VIRTUAL HUG!! Love to you and Miss Anita.
Beth Barron Wagstaff
Dr. Jack & Anita,
We love you so much and send you blessings. Thank you so much for all you've given us in this journey. You are a gift each and every day. God is holding you in the palm of His hand.
Love you,
Chuck & Sheryl
I have seen so many people who have been healed of cancer by prayer -- and then another cancer shows up. I am researching the cause of both cancers, carcinogens, and how the body may be healed of these poisons through prayer. Jesus promised that we could drink any deadly thing and it would not hurt us. The second witness is Elijah in 2 Kings 4:38-41 when he neutralized poisons in a pot by adding supposedly blessed flour. Certainly the flour by itself is no antidote for poisons!
But how about cumulative poisons we already have in our bodies? Surely God has an answer to these. And without knocking out the poisons, healing can't occur.
Everything in the Christian walk that's worth anything is by the grace of God through faith and obedience through His promises. Prayer is often what we are called to do. We could ask the Holy Spirit to come as a refiner's fire to drive off the dross or to come as pure light to overwhelm the "darkness" in our bodies to bring wholeness.
I would be willing to come look you up and see what the Lord would do.
You must know how we at HAB love you and think about you. Each Sunday there are commments of some memory that inspired us. We pray for you. We are glad you find joy in each day. Many of us don't look for the joy around us.
Gwen and Don
August 30,
Just a note to say you and your family are in my prayers. I have known you a long time and you have meant so much to me and my family. You are in God's hands. You will be missed by so many people whose lives you have touched by being on this earth. God bless you and bless Anita, Stephanie and Charlie.
Jerrie(Kramer)Wright
Dear Dr. Jack,
We have never met, but I feel like I know you from all of the stories that I have heard, and I have been following your blog. You married my parents, Bobby and Mary Ann Bell, at Central Baptist almost 32 years ago. You also work at CBF with my father-in-law, Terry Hamrick. I just wanted you to know that you and your family are in my prayers daily. Thank you for sharing your journey.
Ellen Bell Hamrick
You are loved...and in my prayers...every single day.
Laurie
Dear Jack and Anita,
I have been thinking of you both a lot lately. You all continue to be in my prayers. I will certainly sing with a heavy heart.
Florence Camp Allen
God bless you Jack as you continue to bless us! I am so glad Stephanie and Henry arrived to spend these precious times with you and Anita and Charley.
Thank you for modeling faithfulness for all of us and reminding us of God's eternal faithfulness.
I love you Jack, and thank God every day for the memories of how you blessed Erik's and my lives. You will live in our hearts forever!
With much love,
Beverly Connell
We love you and continue to pray for you daily. This comes with lots of big hugs and prayers for peaceful days. Thanks for your love and friendship over these many years.
Lori, Ron and Cheryl
Thank you for your words Along the Journey... In your honesty with God and with us you have bestowed such a gift of truth. The truth of our humanity and the gift of Gods faithfulness. Yesterday the pastor preached about Heros. Asking us who our heros are and your name came to my mind. I have always struggled with my humanity my fear or anger or frustration and the dishonesty that I really felt those things. Thank you for taking us Along the Journey and for teaching us so much. The words posted from friends here show the mighty way God has used you over the years of your ministry and he continues to use you even more mightily in the midst of this pain. Thank you, with love and prayer for peace and joy, blessings, Suzanne Anderson
Thinking of you and your family today... And also wanted to say that I am thankful that God brought you into my life. Having you in it (at HAB) helped make me who I am today. You are SO LOVED and have made such an impact on SO MANY PEOPLE LIVES...
-Jennifer(Hanson) Closson
Jack,
Just thinking of you today and feeling the deepest of gratitude for your friendship and love. You have been and continue to be a blessing to my life. Like Paul, I thank God for every remembrance of you. Take care.
Chuck and Alice-Ann
Jack...How fitting that "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" should be your favorite hymn. You have, and continue to be, the faithful servant God has called you to be -- both in times of plenty and times of need. And my heart is full when I think of you and Anita and the love and care you have shown all those with whom you come in contact. Words will never be able to do justice to the gratitude I feel toward you both. Please know that my heart is with you each time I lift your names in prayer to the God who is so faithful to hear us and comfort us. I love you both so much...Lindsay B (btw...it's my favorite too!)
Dear Jack, Anita, Charley, and Stephanie,
I only had two weeks with my Dad before he died, but those were special moments and special conversations that live on in my memory. As hard as this is, I am glad you knowingly have this time together, time to say the things that people often wait too late to say, time to share deeply out of your hearts and out of the urgency, knowledge that every day and every moment counts. You honor all of us as you have taken what we know is very valuable time to include us. Your journey is one of pain, but also one of great meaning and significance as you have made sure it is, not only for yourself but for others. Know that your words mean much for we all know they come out of great depth. We continue to pray for you each day. Much love, Cindy Ring Ruble
Hello Dr. Snell,
Your struggles seem to make mine less significant. You are one of the truely good people I know and I wish I would have known you better before my assault. I think of you often and I wish that your problems could dissappear. I feel as though I am acting selfish in my self-loathing. I mean who am I? I have not influenced people positively such as you. You have done such good things for humanity and the condition of us individually. I hope your day is better than the previous one.
Your friend,
Kevin O'Brien
Dear, ever faithful Jack, ministering to us all even in this moment in your life.....we love you very much, and we are grateful for your faithfulness to God. It bears witness to His faithfulness and challenges our faith....
Love,
Katie, Matt and the girls
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