Chris was a freshman guy who in the fall of 2004 expressed an interest in spiritual things. He had a passionate desire to succeed in school and truly wanted to follow Jesus. We met several times over meals in Cal's new dining commons to talk about faith and the Gospel.
He was a strong young man who had worked very hard to get into Berkeley. I respected him because he was upfront about making his studies a priority and the reasons behind declining to get involved in ccc small groups or weekly activities.
He was the consumate postmodern Cal student: brilliant, leader, creative, driven, social, spiritual, thoughtful... and in a tragic encounter with apparently another college student from Berkeley City College, ...he's gone.
College students are not supposed to die. They think they are going to live forever. They are the ones we pour our resources and energies into helping succeed, ...because we think they are going to live forever (or at least outlive us). As a campus minister I'm saddened and sobered. As a father of a college student my heart breaks for his family and friends. As a Californian I mourn the loss of one we had such high hopes for. As one who knew him briefly at the beginning of his college career, ...I'm glad I spent those times with him talking about the most important Stuff in the world. Selah.
"There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: righteous men who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless. So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun." (Ecclesiates 8:14,15)
4 comments:
i'm sorry man. it's crazy, this whole life-thing. one day you're hear, and then you're not. I can't wrap my head around it.
wow Dan, I had no idea. So sorry to hear about this.
I'm so, so sorry. Daniel.
I'm reading the Gospel of John right now, and I just read about the death and resurrection of Lazarus. What I realized that I hadn't noticed before is how much Jesus is saying just by weeping. When reading scripture I try to imagine that I've never heard anything about what I'm reading before so I can feel like someone hearing the gospel for the first time. When Jesus brings up the resurrection to Martha it seems like it would make sense for him to rebuke them and say, "Don't worry about death of this earth. My Father has the power to defeat death. Don't mourn for him." But he doesn't do that. It says he was moved by Martha's mourning, and the the Jews' mourning, and everyone's mourning. And then he wept. Jesus is letting us know that it is okay to mourn, and I think that is amazing. Only a God who is all loving, and omnipotent, and has come in to the human experience could cry when one of His creations dies on this earth and bring him back to life through His Son.
I am so sorry to hear about this student. I pray that you and your family have peace, Dan. And I pray that this student does receive the awesome gift of the resurrection. Its too bad that he didn't get to stick around here longer to experience the fruitful labor that Paul talks about, but hopefully we'll see him in New Jerusalem.
Grace and Peace
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