RIP

You know that phone call that parents NEVER want to get? The one from the hospital saying we think we have your boy? Yeah, that call. A good friend got that call this week. His son is dead. And so the week goes.

Death of a young person is so tragic. Even more so when everyone could see it coming. I'm not speaking ill of the dead. It was common knowledge. He struggled with substance abuse, had been diagnosed with HIV, and lived life without looking toward tomorrow.  It doesn't mean we love him less. I think I loved him more. Because he was a wad of untapped potential. He had a heart of kindness and a mind that was quick. And he was desperately in need of self esteem that no one could give him. For some reason, he couldn't accept that when Jesus died for him, it was a life encompassing acceptance.  Though he had committed his life to Christ as a young teen, he didn't live as I understand life for Christ to be lived.

We all look for understanding and reasons in this time. "God took him home". "He would have wanted to go that way, without being sick." "His work on earth was done." "That's what you get when you drive erratically down the freeway." "The devil took a good one." Ehh, all those platitudes seem to fall flat for me. I don't know that they are untrue. But they don't make it hurt less. And we don't know God's reasons.

Perhaps his life can be a tale of caution and warning to young people. Perhaps some will seek Christ through his family's testimony. I guess all we can pray and hope for is that his life was not lived in vain and that good will come from this tragedy.

RIP John. You will be missed.