Life

So today I said goodbye to Jeffery Hill, a friend since I was 12 years old.  We met in Junior High and clicked ever since.  I hadn't seen him in a while.  But, even when months went by without seeing him I often thought about him.  This was the case with a lot of my highschool friends, particularly some of the guys.  I was always concerned and hopeful that the men close to me would never become statistics, that they would excel.

Jeff was a smart cookie.  Jessica showed me this OLD picture of Jeff and I in junior high or high school playing chess against each other.  (I probably won)  But as he grew older he still played.  I would see him at the loop all the time playing chess.  He was such a comfort during the days and nights when I was studying for the bar.  He became a wonderful player.  He was a highly intelligent, strategic, and witty thinker and chess player.  He impressed many people.  He was always in honors classes in school...he did ROTC, Explorers, and Compact Team.  I know that Jessica, Christian, and I will always remember the days seeing Jeff at Camp Miniwanca.  This is someone who should have never become a statistic.  Sometimes what you have on the inside doesn't matter if it doesn't get nourished.  

Just like Jesus talked about sowing seed on good soil and it will spring up and produce a harvest.  If you sow a sad and bad soil, the crop will wither away and die.  Jeffery Hill was too good for his surroundings, for his environment.  At minimum, his unrealized potential would have led him to places unfathomable. That's why it's hard: He was generous, smart, charismatic....a true gentleman.   He wasn't callous, hard, stupid, unlearned, unexposed.....none of those things.  He took college level classes in highschool.  

So, on the outside it seems like another black man lost in the streets.  But, Jeff was more than just another black man.  Completely special.  My heart hurts as I type this entry.  I'm now trading my sorrows for the joy of the Lord, and rejoicing in the fact that Jeffery Hill is looking at Jesus face to face....feeling much better than I am right now.  Bless his soul.