Curtis

I’m having a sad night.  In the mail today I received some newslettery sort of things from Teen Missions.  One of them had a small mention of a memorial gift made in the name of someone I knew a long time ago.  Curtis was on my team to Papua New Guinea back in 1986.  I think he was 15 or 16 at the time.  I Googled his name to see if I could find out anything about what happened to him.  I found a wonderful website that was set up by his wife, Shane.  I have just spent the last hour or so reading, looking at pictures, and listening to the music on the site.  I’m SO sad.  He died nearly two years ago on February 28th.  He was only 35. 

In my mind, since that was how I saw him last, he was still a little fresh faced high school kiddo who always had me laughing.  In actuality, he was a big grown man with a wife and children and a job and all those things that go along with being a grown-up.  He looked like grew up to be the guy who still always had people laughing, though.  It looks like he turned into a really nice and really good man of God.

So, I’m thinking of his wife, and kids, spending their second Christmas without him.  And remembering what it was like to think you weren’t going to make it through the day, the week, the month, or the year, and then, all of the sudden, it’s been two years, and you can’t believe it.

I’m sure that Curt and Connie have met up in heaven.  Two former TMI team members yukkin’ it up…

…

About these ads