Wednesday morning, December 27th, 2023, Rudi came into our room and told me that Clara and Lydiah wanted to talk with us. I am a bit groggy in the mornings (understatement), and my mind was a bit fuzzy, but I didn’t feel particularly worried or stressed, just groggy. Rudi went to the kitchen to make tea for us to drink while we talked with the girls. Both of us thought that they needed to talk with us about something to do with Casa TAO or maybe Lydiah needed to talk with us about her relationship with a young man she is courting.

  I threw on my robe and went down the hall to the room Lydiah and Clara are sharing. When I entered and took in the suitcases half packed on the floor and both girls fully dressed at 6:45 in the morning, I knew something was wrong. I asked, “What’s going on? Is something wrong?” To which Lydiah responded, “Yes, my dad died early this morning.” As this information hit me and ripped through my brain, it felt like a physical impact. “No, this cannot be!” was my first thought. I searched the girls faces to see if this was just a bad joke. But no this was real, Lydiah’s beloved father was gone, just like that, so fast, so unexpected. He had gone to bed and didn’t wake up. If I feel such a sense of loss for someone with whom I have only spoken with on the phone once, and had looked forward to meeting in person some day, I know that the blow for the entire Strauel family is enormous.

  Within hours we were on our way north to Quito to get Lydiah and Clara on a flight headed to Kentucky. All our plans for the week and the coming new year were off and getting Lydiah home to her family was the top priority. Doesn’t death change our priorities instantly? Suddenly, we are thrown into retrospect of how a person lived their life. It is certain that they made choices that will last into eternity, but what were those choices? At the end of a person’s life, we carefully inspect the eternal choices, as that is all that lasts. Everything else is left behind. ”And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:” Hebrews 9:27 KJV

  “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Romans 3:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” 1 Peter 2:24 “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

“And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Luke 18:18 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Romans 10:9 “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 2:13 “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;” Titus 1:2 KJV

 Mark Strauel has fought the good fight, he has finished his course, and there is a crown of righteousness that has been rewarded to him. Not because he was some great guy, although he was, but because he believed the verses that I put above and all the rest of what the Bible, God’s Word, has to say about this life and the one to come. Mark has heard, “Well done good and faithful servant.” And while we don’t grieve as those without hope, it is a sure thing that we grieve our loss in this life. Please pray for Mark’s family as they grieve the loss of their husband, father, father-in-law, grandpa, brother, and friend.

Below is a picture of the Strauel Family taken this fall!

L. to R Josiah and Bethany with Anne, Abby and Jonah holding Teddy, Denise and Mark, Titus in front of Denise, Mark holding Zebulun, Ednah, Elijah, Esther, Isaiah and Susannah expecting baby this month, Noah holding Gabe, and Lydiah.

Please take a few moments to watch this YouTube video a friend of the Strauels put together of Mark’s memorial. If you just watch the first 16 minutes you will be encouraged and challenged by Mark Strauel’s wife’s eulogy of her husband of 35 years.

         ”Only one life will soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last…”

This post was guest written by Carla Booher, Clara’s mother.