This weekend I went to a funeral to say good-bye to a friend. I went to a Bible study with Drew, and he was a good guy. I feel a little ashamed that my first response on hearing of his early passing, was that I knew him, but now well. While it’s true that there were a lot of things that I didn’t know about Drew, that was a ridiculous way to try to avoid the pain of losing someone you’d seen almost every other week for the past two years.
I knew Drew was a man of few words, but that whatever he said, he always meant. He was fun to be around, full of dry humor and smiles. I always appreciated how smart he was, despite how he sometimes expressed regret over not furthering his education. He had the work ethic to have done whatever he wanted too. From what I knew, he worked two jobs and did his best to maintain the fixer-upper home he and his wife had bought for their family.
Drew was an avid reader, particularly of theology. I may have started my walk with Christ earlier than he did, but from our conversations I am almost certain that he out-read me. We had a lot of good discussions about God, Christian living, and in particular ‘end times’, which was a favorite topic of his. I was looking forward to a lot more good talks with him, but that will have to wait I guess.
His passing is particularly upsetting to me because it was so sudden, because he was so young, and because he left behind a wife, and a daughter that was just one month older than my Gracie. As a dad I know that the first thing he must have done when he saw Jesus, was to ask him what would happen to his precious wife and daughter if he couldn’t be there to take care of them. Even though I wasn’t there, my faith, the faith Drew and I shared, tells me that Jesus took him by the shoulder and showed him the wonderful opportunities and blessings that would be opened to his loved ones. He showed him His plan for them, and how this difficult time would bring such beautiful ends that it would be worth the difficult means. I trust in the goodness of my Savior, that Drew sighed in relief when he saw how Jesus would look out for them even better than he could have himself because Jesus loves them as much, and more, than he does.
I’ll be looking forward to seeing Drew again, I’m sure we will have a lot to talk about. He’ll probably fill me in on what topics he had been ‘right’ about and we’ll share what it was like to watch our daughters grow from different sides of Heaven. I did know Drew, and I’ll miss him until we meet again.
