{Chorus}:
Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel
Will I dance for You Jesus or in awe of You be still
Will I stand in Your presence or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine
I can only imagine
When that day comes
And I find myself
Standing in the Son
I can only imagine
When all I will do
Is forever
Forever worship You
I can only imagine
To listen to this song go to:
This is a letter from Chris and Sara Dent who stood up for us when we married at the Vineyard church in Cape Coral.
It is hard to express the kind of impact that Michael's presence had on our lives. Whether it was sitting in their home talking, watching Michael and Maureen face paint our children, sharing a dip in the pool, lite conversation over peanut butter and toast, or gathering as the four of us prayed together for needs, thanksgiving and praise, the real parts of who they were, were always present. The greatest privilige for us was when we were invited to stand up with Michael and Maureen when they renewed their wedding vows. That is a memory we will cherish forever. When Michael walked into a room, he carried a presence that was higher then himself, he lived and breathed the testimony of Jesus Christ. Michael's life truly impacted our children in a very profound manner and each one of them treasures and have never forgotten the time he took to speak and share with them. We have not been blessed with such loving and compassionate friends that we could laugh, cry, pray, share and love with since. We have thanked God for the privelege of havine Michael and Maureen in our lives. Along this journey of life, with it's pain, Michael set an example of trusting in God implicitly. While heaven must be brighter for having his presence there, earth is just that much dimmer. We love you Michael and we look forward to the day that there will be no more parting and we can laugh and share again in His glorious Kingdom forevermore. We wish we could have been with Michael to hear Our Father say, "Well Done".
We lift a toast (Oban of course) to you and We All Love You.
Chris & Sara
It is now nearly a year (Sept. 2002) since we had joined the Vineyards.In the past 7 months My husband has under gone surgery for stage four cancer, 40 treatments of radiation, and a couple months of physical therapy to learn to walk. This was/is a devastating blow to both of us. Michael was Canadian, so in order to be closer to his family and for medical/financial reasons, We sold most everything we had (after he was strong enough) packed up what we wanted to keep, put the car on a trailer, our stuff in a uhaul, the cats in the car and off we went in a huge leap of faith from south west Florida to Alberta. 4000 miles door to door. I cried through four states. We had no idea what are mission was, so we just pray for the Lord to show us what He wanted. Michael was on a personal mission to save his family. He did manage to plant seeds. Lord, let us live another day and we will live the way we pray. Amen
The way you live may be the only Bible some people ever read. Please keep us in your prayers.
!
Born Sept 23, 1950
Died June 2nd 2005
Michael Glenn Ritz continued on his journey and is now with Jesus, his eyesight restored, his legs moving and leaping for the Lord's glory. No more pain or sadness, I am happy for him as he as reached our ultimate goal. I miss him desperately! He was my soul mate, He could make me laugh when I was angry, held me when I cried, and made my world brighter when the clouds rolled in. We did this for each other. I pray for his family that the Lord will pour His grace on them too.
Our lives were enriched by knowing Kurt and Marion our pastor and his wife, Lionel and Lori and the girls who Lori let me love. Lynn and Bob , all these people being the backbone of our church and our closest friends. They will always be my extented family which I love dearly. Thank you all for your support and prayers. Thank you for holding me when I wailed and cried. Thank you for listening when I harped on and on thank you for loving up Michael. I am blessed by your friendships!
The whole day long I did not try
To wipe a tear from any eye.
I did not try to share the load
Of any brother on the road.
I did not even go to see
The sick man just next door to me.
Yet once again when day was done
I prayed, "O Lord, bless everyone."
But as I prayed, into my ear
there came a voice that whispered clear,
"Pause now, my son, before you pray.
Whom have you tried to bless today?
Gods sweetest blessing always go
by hands that serve him here below."
And then I hid my face and cried,
"Forgive me, God, I have not tried,
But let me live another day
and I will live the way I pray."
Its now June 4th, 2006 its a year now since Michael passed away. It's hard to beleive. I still haven't scattered his ashes. He's sitting right about me while I type. Yes I still talk to him and still miss him. I wonder how his family is, if they remember him?
Lifes jouney continues. Since I have returned, my mother has been in the hospital 3 times. This last time 2 weeks ago where she was diagnosed with COPD, kidney failure and congested heart failure, and double pnuemonia, on top of that she has shingles and been in agony since Jan. Chronic RA and Osteroporosis. WE prayed and prayed for her, I really didn't think she would make it home from the hospital. She arrived home May 31st. kidneys working. medication for her heart, and 24/7 oxygen for her damaged lungs. Praise God for He has relieved her of shingles pain. She is slowly recoving, she's doing pretty darn good considering she is 84 years old. depression has set in as she realizes she is plug into the wall . One day at a time.
Two weeks prior to mom being in the hospital, Dad was in the hospital with TIA's (mini strokes) Kathy and I are watching after our parents which is a full time job for us both. I have to keep an eye on her too as she has MS and chronic chrohns. She is in remission right now but stress can trigger all kinds of things. Seems I cannot get away from being a caregiver. hmmmmmmm I just wish it wasn't so exhausting.
I was going through some of my things in storage and found a big box of loved letters from Michael which I brought home to read. We had long distance relationship until we got married 8 months after we met. We met through a mutual friend in November 1994 while I was on vacation in BC. He lived in Canada and I in Tahiti. No one in the islands had home computers yet. It was 1995 and I knew nothing about computers or email. so we wrote lots of letters. talk about a long distance relationship. I returned home to Tahiti. leaving a heart bursting at the seams.
I forgot to mention that when I first met Michael he had just been saved. I was not. He was praying every 2 minutes driving me crazy How was I going to compete with God? Well that's another story you can read about on my testimony page. When I arrived home I was telling a lady friend about Michael She told me to go with my heart because "its better to love once than not at all" She was right!
Its now Jan. 2009 and I am finally able to scatter Michaels ashes. I had more healing to do than I thought. I held on to alot of anger and its taken this long for me to let it go. Slow aren't I? Thank you Lord for being so patient with me. I also was trying to figure out how a person could be there and the next minute not. It's a very weird concept. When I looked down at Michaels body I remember thinking where did the life go? Thats what "dead" looks like. Even knowing he's with Jesus I still struggled with a lifeless body. I have never heard a boo from his family. I can only pray that the seeds that were planted will be watered by God.
Still caregiver for Mom she will be 87 next month. She's bed ridden now but in pretty good spirits. The four us live here trying to take care of each other when we're not ready to kill each other.
