Finding comfort in faith ... 'I don't think God's done with me'

By Colleen Gallion     OGALLALA—When Ogallala resident Lori Beckius was hospitalized this past September, she said one thing that kept her going was getting back home to plan her funeral. To many people, that may sound strange, but for Beckius, it was comforting.     “I don’t want my family to have to worry about that,” she said. “That’s one of the first things I did when I got home. Funerals are hard on family.”     Taking care of others is something Beckius thrives on, despite her diagnosis with non-curative small cell cancer in January.     And, as director of faith formation and safe environment coordinator at St. Luke’s Church in Ogallala, she continues to help others, either from home or most recently from the hospital where she spent six weeks with pneumonia.     “I don’t think God’s done with me. I believe He has more that He wants me to do,” she said. “I just have to do my part to get better and do it, even if I have to do it from here.”     Father Bryan Ernest, pastor at St. Luke’s, hired Beckius to direct the faith formation program in 2008. But like most jobs, he said her job evolved into “more than what she signed on for originally” including youth ministry, social media, the website and computer technology.     “I hope she can come back, I’d love it if she could come back,” he said. “She’s so good with the teachers and the catechists. She’s got them spoiled.”     That, he said, was something they found out the first time they tried to get ready for classes without her.     “It’s been a big void.”     Fortunately, Father Ernest and Beckius have had help from others including Joan Kraus, office manager at St. Luke’s. Kraus, who has been at St. Luke’s for 28 years, has worked with Beckius for about 12 of those years, she said.     “She has always been very enjoyable to work with,” Kraus said. “She is always willing to help out when needed and has always been very passionate about her position as faith formation director. She loves her kids and does a great job showing it.”     But when she became sick, Beckius was grateful to Kraus and others for helping keep up with day-to-day activities.     “I don’t know what I would do without Joan, the secretary at the church. She does everything. If none of those girls are there and I’m not there, she answers all the questions...” she said. “They’ve been great. I’m really thankful that God put these people in my life to help me out.”     Some of those people also include Eileen Ohm, who does her safe environment training for adults; Caroline Spurgin, who stepped in to do her duties as director of religious education; and youth minister Gail Schreiter who takes care of children’s youth ministry.     Beckius said when Father Ernest had first approached her about working at St. Luke’s, she was running her own business—Ogallala Technical Associates. But she felt like God had been talking to Father Ernest.     “I think He (God) put Father in my path and brought us together,” she said. “I just figure it must be where God wants me to walk,” she said.     She said Father Ernest has been a “huge source of strength during her journey”as has her husband, Mark, and sister, Theresa.     “I don’t know how I would have made it through without them,” she said.     An avid power walker, Beckius said she began to notice something was wrong when she found it harder and harder to walk her usual distance at her usual pace. She asked her cardiologist, who suggested a chest x-ray. They found a lesion on her trachea and a biopsy came back positive for small cell lung cancer. Somewhere along the way, she said, doctors told her it was not curative.     “The way I see it is God’s not done with me. When He is, He’ll call me home and I’ll be ready to go, but He’s not done with me right now,” she said. “I feel too good.”     Currently, Beckius is tethered to a large oxygen concentrator. Her goal is to improve her oxygen level enough that she can use a portable concentrator and return to work in the office.     Beckius said she does as much as she can online and uses a program to share folders and files with people working in the church office. She keeps up with ‘facebook’ posts and ‘my parish app’ posts, ‘Formed’ videos and bulletin announcements, working about 10 to 15 hours a week.     “I miss work, the kids, especially the kids, they are all so good,” she said. “They did a fundraiser for me and sold a bunch of t-shirts. I was overwhelmed. Kids don’t always think about those things.”     Additionally, the local Knights of Columbus Council 4979 held a pancake fundraiser and her daughter and niece held an online auction fundraiser.     “We are very grateful to live in an area where our communities are so giving and supportive,” she said.     She misses attending church, though, and has to limit her exposure to children or “little petri dishes” as her doctor calls them.     “I don’t even get to see my grandkids very much because this time of year, they’re always sick.”     She has one daughter, Marcia, and six grandchildren: Blair, Kyle, Brandon, Kaiden, Benjamin and Kourtlyn.     But for now, she focuses on one day at a time, one word at a time. For Beckius that word is ‘joy.’     “Every day I try to find something that fits that word. So I try to find joy some time during every day,” she said. “It’s really helped keep my spirits up just knowing that God’s there to help me. All I have to do is ask.”