Rick

My name is Rick Hillmer.  I was baptized and grew up in an ELCA church in a small town in northwest Iowa.  Like most kids, I went through the motions, not actually believing, until around middle school.  I was confirmed and then my weekly attendance at church slowed down.  The summer before my junior year, I started playing drums for our Saturday contemporary service.  This ministry really reengaged my faith and helped ensure my weekly worship attendance was steady.

During this time, I had to put this ministry on pause, when I was diagnosed with brain cancer, needing surgery, rehab, and 6 weeks of radiation treatments.  I got back to church and playing the drums, as soon as possible. 

When I went to college, I somewhat fell out of my faith, going to church only on Christmas and Easter.  When I graduated and started my career, I didn’t go at all.  After a few years of that, I knew I was missing a piece of my life and knew needed to find my own church, hoping to turn my behavior around.  I wasn’t sure where to try, until Donna Reisetter handed me a cup of water at the Sweet Corn Festival.  As a young member of Grace, I served on church council and our first internship committee.  That is when I saw my life turn around. 

I met my wife, Shasta, and we now have two great kids, Annika and Levi.  I attended via de christo a couple times in Northwest Iowa and served on our second internship committee (back when Pastor Tania was Vicar Tania) which also helped grow in my faith.  With the start of COVID lockdowns, I joined a men’s devotional group and have been having a zoom meeting with several guys each workday since. 

Everything was going great until October 11, 2020 (my wife’s birthday) when I suffered a stroke.  This was actually worse than the tumor, affecting my speech and vision as well as losing all muscle control on my left side.  The worst part about this was not being able to go to church, having to attend on zoom.  After learning to walk a 3rd time, things are close to normal.  Now, I’m trying to stay strong to help guide our kids through their faith.

I write this as I’m sitting in the hospital the day after having emergency surgery. My high school guidance counselor gave me a plaque that reads ”don’t pray for tasks equal to your powers, pray for powers equal to your tasks”.  To me, this sums up my life.

I believe that God will not give me anything more than I can handle and that I am stronger and my faith is stronger for all that I have been through.