I was raised in a small town. Beaver Dam, KY – population 3,033. It really doesn’t get much smaller than that.
Many of the kids that I started kindergarten with were the same kids that I graduated high school with 13 years later.
I knew my classmates, their siblings, their parents, their grandparents, their cousins, their cousins cousins. It drove me crazy as a child and teen growing up, but as an adult I can see so many aspects of small town life that I took for granted.
Two weeks ago, I read via Facebook that a friend of mine from childhood had suffered a massive heart attack and had undergone a triple bypass. I will admit that after I got over the initial shock, I began to realize that these children from my elementary school memories are now in their 40’s just like me! The times that we gathered together to mourn the passing of grandparents and the occasional parent has now given way to losing our own.
Steve Cook : 1972-2014
These are the times that it stinks to live 1,000 miles away from home. All I had to offer my friend’s family was prayer. And, although I know that’s the best gift of all, it somehow doesn’t seem like enough. I felt as if I needed to make a casserole or a dessert to drop off, because that’s what you do to show that you care in a small town. You make a hospital visit. You pick up their kids from school. You show up.
Sadly, Steve – the boy who tried to kiss all the girls as they went down the tornado slide at recess – passed away. It still doesn’t seem real to me. And, let me tell you, watching your friends grieve via Newsfeed is torture.
Times like this remind me of two things: (1) I’m thankful that Steve was a Christian and I will see him again, and (2) I’m thankful that Steve’s wife and family are also Christian. Although the days ahead will be hard, there is strength in the faith that this Earthly life is just a blink compared to the eternity that we are promised.
The moral of this story is love your friends – the old and the new. If they really mean something to you, tell them often. If you think of them even for a moment’s time, let them know. Our time is truly short.
Romans 8:38-39 “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
