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The first time I met Dan Byler, I knew right
away he and I would be friends for life. He
was a man on fire for God who burned with
a passion to reach world for Christ. You
see, he understood all too well what it was
like to be lost and searching for true mean-
ing in life. And he never forgot what it felt
like when Jesus reached down from heaven,
loved him unconditionally, forgave him of
his sins and freely gave him everlasting life.
On numerous occasions, Dan would call
and talk for hours if I let him. Once, he
came to our house and shared his testimony
with a bunch of youth. He not only shared
about his troubled life as an alcoholic, but
also about the time he was asked to take the
community water tower down.
Before beginning the task, he sat down in
his rocking chair one evening and figured
out exactly how he was going to do it. Soon
thereafter, he got a cutting torch, crawled all
the way to the top of the tower and, piece
by piece, brought the tower down. People
were overly impressed by his way of dis-
mantling the tower, and soon pictures and
stories started appearing in newspapers eve-
rywhere.
Dan also had a business mind.
He owned a campground, a
train, a small zoo of exotic
animals, and an upholstering
business. House churches and
campers from all over the Unit-
ed Sates came to see him.
In late 2008, Dan called me
one day and said, “Joe, the
doctors say I have cancer.”
Then he went on to say, “But
don’t you worry a bit; God will
not let me die.” In fact, he was
totally convinced that he didn’t
even have cancer. But as time went on, it
became quite clear that his body was slowly
dying away.
One day in early 2009, Dan called me to
say goodbye. He had finally given up and
was preparing to die. That day, we both
wept on the phone. I had never seen or
heard Dan give up on anything.
Never! It was not like him. But
now he was surrendering and
making preparations to die and go
be with Jesus.
At the end of our phone conversa-
tion, I said, “Dan, I want you to
hang on to life long enough for
me to come and see you.” He
promised he would. Several days
later, I headed for Jackson, OH to
see Dan Byler, the man who had
impacted my life like few others.
When I got to Dan’s house, he
was barely able to raise his head
off the pillow. But
even then, he
was filled with excitement and could hardly
wait to see Jesus. As we talked, I asked him
if it would be ok if I continued printing and
Finishing the Course - Keeping the Faith
—
by Joe Keim
—
continued on page 11—
