Good morning…

The son of a mom in our “sue2you” community is a junior at a nearby high school. This young man embraced the privilege of being asked to share a message on Friday at the funeral of his friend. With permission from both this brave, articulate young person and the loving mom who grieves on earth while her son thrives in heaven, in awe I share with you the genuine, unconditional love of God expressed through the words of one well-spoken teenager.

As he says in the message below, “Love people because God loves them.” As we live on, our challenge today and every day is to consider, “Who in my world this day needs the love in my heart? In what form, in which ways, with whom am I to share the love of God in the next twenty-four hours?” This very personal, very universal question leads us to the reminder with which our minister ends every worship service, “Love is not put in our hearts to stay. Love isn’t love until we give it away.”

Therefore if there is any encouragement and comfort in Christ [as there certainly is in abundance], if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship [that we share] in the Spirit, if [there is] any [great depth of] affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, having the same love [toward one another], knit together in spirit, intent on one purpose [and living a life that reflects your faith and spreads the gospel—the good news regarding salvation through faith in Christ]. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit [through factional motives, or strife], but with [an attitude of] humility [being neither arrogant nor self-righteous], regard others as more important than yourselves, Philippians 2:2-3 (AMP),

Sue

Hello Everyone.

He was my best friend and I was his. We were similar in almost every way. I love him and his family like I love my own family. His family is mine, and mine is his. He was beyond my friend – he was my brother. His brother is my brother, his mother my mother.

I consider my friends to be my family, and I consider those I don’t know or maybe know little to be my friends. You’re all my friends and I love you all.

I ask of you today to not remember our friend only for the final, singular unpleasant memory, but for all the good memories you all have with him. Memories from the fun times you had with him, the stupid things you did with him that ended up as incredible stories, the times he made you smile. Let’s respect and love our friend by remembering him by these memories.

I think love is an incredible thing. It has several different forms, brotherly love, romantic love, mother’s love, and Godly love are just some examples. Love those you don’t know with the love you have for your friends, love your friends like you love your brothers and your sisters. Never be superficial; don’t play hard to get. Always be a friend. Love people because God loves them. Smile at people because you can. You never know what someone might be going through. Be there for people no matter what – even if you wouldn’t consider them a friend. Never hesitate to say “I love you,” but make sure you mean it before you say it.

I’ve heard that the reception after funerals goes one of two ways – either people speak in hushed tones for a couple minutes and then leave solemnly, or it’s more of a celebration. People laugh and share stories of the person’s life. I want this to be a celebration of our friend’s life. I want people to be not necessarily happy, but appreciative. Speak to people you don’t know, hear some stories of you might not have ever heard.

If any of you ever need to speak with someone about this situation or anything, do not hesitate to contact me. I don’t care if we’ve never spoken before. I’ll be there for all of you, for any of you.

My dear friend, I love you. We all love you no matter what. Thank you for the lessons and the memories. We know where you are, and we’ll all see you again one day, sooner or later, and it’ll be even more amazing than we could have ever imagined. Goodbye for now, my brother, and rest in peace.

Thank you all for coming. I’ll see you at the reception.