Still on the Way: A Father’s Journey to Hope
Ebook
"Your son has cancer."
What can a parent do to live hopefully after hearing words which shatter dreams and turn the course of life in a moment? Hank Graeser had to learn the answer to this question through three long years of pain and dashed hopes and through the years beyond his son Bryan's death.
Like aliens who enter a completely unfamiliar world, Hank and his wife Peggy struggle to gain their footing and learn the landscape and language of cancer treatment. Hank begins to question his relationship with God, as carefully constructed certainties come unglued and Bryan fights for life.
The years after Bryan's death are a winding road in which mourning and grief permeate every area of life including work, marriage, relationships. Wise guides help him feel the pain, grieve well, and view the whole experience as an opportunity for transformation to a new kind of living.
He and Peggy are led to reach out to other parents who have lost children. And it becomes clear that even in the darkest times, there has been a competent companion with him at every step as he is still on the way.
“Henry Graeser has crafted a beautiful and poignant memoir of his journey through grief. Framed by the letters he sent to friends and family during this ordeal, he reconstructs the process he and his wife, Peggy, went through from diagnosis of cancer to the death of his son, Bryan. The insights and wisdom he gleaned by faithfully wrestling with God through this time are sprinkled lightly and lovingly throughout.”
—Jeffrey Smith, director, Salt and Light Ministries
“This clear-eyed, open-hearted account of the hard journey from diagnosis to death and beyond is a gift both to readers who have suffered similar losses and to those who haven’t. Hank Graeser writes not only as a father but as a brother reaching out to all of us as brothers and sisters who know our paths, too, will pass through the valley of the shadow.”
—Marilyn McEntyre, author of Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies
“Hank Graeser invites us into the lived experience of finding hope amidst the sorrow and suffering of losing a child. This book is a beacon for all who are navigating loss or desire perspective on how to keep going through the dark valley of grief by holding tightly to the hand of our Lord. This beautifully written book articulates a tremendous journey of faith, as only a father can tell it.”
—Christine May, professor of biology, James Madison University
“Still on the Way reads like a conversation with Hank Graeser around a cabin fireplace. As he reflects on his son’s battle with cancer, Hank’s raw transparency draws the reader into the tension found for individuals on a journey of faith. With no pat answers, he shows how our stories of joy and grief are a part of a larger story where God is calling each of us ‘further up and further in.’”
—Zac Collins, pastor of student ministries, Stony Point Church
- Title: Still on the Way: A Father’s Journey to Hope
- Author: Hank Graeser
- Publisher: Resource Publications
- Print Publication Date: 2023
- Logos Release Date: 2023
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781666774214, 9781666774191, 1666774197, 9781666774207, 1666774200, 1666774219
- Resource ID: LLS:9781666774214
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2023-07-25T22:58:31Z
Hank Graeser is a disciple of Jesus. He is married to Peggy, and they have three children. He has a PhD in chemical engineering. After a thirty-four-year career with E. I. duPont, he and Peggy began what they call “second vocation” in God’s kingdom.