The ’98 Spring semester ended this week on Malone College’s campus. There are few places on planet earth that seem more vibrant and full of life than a campus at Spring time. The trees and flowers are in exceptional full bloom this year thanks, in part, to El Nino. Adding to the "Spring-having-sprung" phenomenon are the students. Emerging from an Ohio Winter, 17 - 21 year olds will look for any opportunity to don cut-offs, tank tops, and whatever else puts them in a Spring mood. Frisbees and balls of all sizes and shapes zing through the air. Lovers camp and cuddle on every grassy knoll. It truly is a place just to sit and watch and remember and delight. In the midst of this effervescent scene, though, came a reminder of just how precious and fleeting life can be.

My social science course began in January with 22 students. It ended in May with 21. David was the kind of young man that exuded all of the vibrant descriptions one could pin on a young person. He was 19 years old, a football player, athletically built, dedicated to Christ, and constantly smiling. At his memorial service, his friends and teammates recounted this one consistent characteristic of Dave’s: He never stopped smiling. His coach painted a tender picture of Dave, remembering as he watched Dave at "Little Brothers and Little Sisters Weekend" leading an entourage of five of his younger siblings around campus. "It was like watching a mother duck and her ducklings." Dave was #3 in a family of nine children.

On Thursday, April 30^th, just prior to the semester’s end, David died. He had contracted a rare form of meningitis that suddenly ravaged his body and took him from a state of health to one of death in just a span of 12 hours. But David died at home, not at school. This is where David’s tragic story offers us hope and comfort.

Early during the last week of April, David called his mother who runs her own business. He asked her if he could borrow her company van in order to move some of his belongs from school back home. She lovingly, but firmly told him that he knew she couldn’t let him take the van given that her business appointments required her use of it. He understood and hung up to make other arrangements. Later that day, Dave’s mom had something happen that has rarely occurred during her 23 years of running her own business. One of her clients called at the last minute canceling the appointment with her on the following day. Surprised and delighted, she called Dave back and told him he could, in fact, use the van. Dave went home on Wednesday to pick up the van. He "went home" on Thursday to be with his Lord.