I received some sad news yesterday. A friend from college has passed away, after spending 14 years in a persistent vegetative state - after a tragic accident, only weeks before his wedding was to take place. His wedding to my other friend, a girl that I worked with as a high schooler at Burger King. She was Mormon, and with 4 of my classmates by my side we shared Christ with her and she came into a relationship with the Lord. She came with us to Bible College, where she met my now departed friend.
The story is tragic in any context, but more so if you knew Jeremy. Jeremy was Quality. He was one of the kindest, friendliest, funniest, most joyful, most brilliant people I have ever met. He had such an amazing energy. He had such passion for the Gospel. He radiated Christ's love to everyone he met. Everything about him was genuine. He was everyone's trusted friend. He was outgoing, with a personality that instantly set everyone he met at ease. He had this electric personality that could not be denied...until the accident.
I guess I’ve always held out hope in the back of my mind that his passion, ambition, extroversion and drive would somehow miraculously bring him out of his injured state. I had always assumed that God would not “waste” such a precious life, such a bright testimony of His love. My heart was startled out of that pleasant dream when yesterday morning greeted me with an email entitled “In case you hadn’t heard…” and my eyes have been wet with tears in each of my private moments since. And in between my faltering faith asking God “why”, I saw how Jeremy taught me not only how to live but also how to die.
With passion.
With joy.
As a living sacrifice.
I don't know how many days I'll cry over this loss. I honestly don't know if there will ever come a time in my life that I remember Jeremy and don't cry. I do know that I have stopped asking God "why?" Because if I were God, I would have wanted Jeremy home and by My side too.
Jeremy's passing has set me vis a vis with my own mortality. Up until now, all the people in my life who died were "old people". Now my contemporary has gone before me, and it really impresses upon me how brief life is. There are no guarantees. There may be no tomorrow. There may not even be lunch. I'd better get off the computer, and start living.
2 comments:
it is always bittersweet when a believer passes, isn't it? sweet for the end of suffering, but bitter for OUR loss here on earth.
hugs & prayers.
I've been thinking a lot about Jeremy too. I only knew him through Diane but I knew his siblings as well, after the accident occurred.
It's hard. There are lots of why's for me too, I always had a hard time understanding the holding on of his body when his mind was gone. Personally I feel he went to be with God long ago, his soul left when his body broke. It's just taken 14 years for the shell to finally give out. I'm glad he's not bound to earth anymore, I'm sure he was longing for release.
Post a Comment