Smile (for Daniel)

“You’re better than the best.”

We sometimes might use that term of endearment toward a spouse, significant other, or family member.   It’s quite a compliment.  But, how exactly do you become “better than the best?” I certainly don’t consider myself better than the best, but I do like to see people happy.  I am honored to be in the line of work where I get to make people feel better, laugh,and… smile.  That’s right, I get to see people smile because of the things I do. But not everyone gets a stage, a rig of lights, and a microphone to amplify their words and thoughts into the translation of a smile.

Some people don’t need any of those things to make people smile.  They make people smile just being who they are.  One person whom I would most certainly call better than the best was a young man from my hometown named Daniel.  Daniel DiNardi.

“You’re better than the best
I’m lucky just to linger in your light
Cooler than the flip-side of my pillow (that’s right)
Completely unaware Nothing can compare to where you send me
It lets me know that it’s okay (yeah, it’s okay)
And the moments when my good times start to fade…

You make me smile like the sun,
Fall outta bed
Sing like a bird,
Dizzy in my head
Spin like a record,
Crazy on a Sunday night
You make me dance like a fool,
Forget how to breathe
Shine like gold,
Buzz like a bee
Just the thought of you can drive me wild
Oh, you make me smile.”

Wow, that’s a mouthful!  But it speaks volumes about Daniel.  Person after person after person has told stories about how Daniel made a difference in their life.  About how he brightened their lives, made them a better person just by knowing him, and most of all how he made everyone smile. 3 years ago, Daniel was headed to his earthly home when Jesus intervened and took him to his heavenly home instead.

Even when you’re gone
Somehow you come along
Just like a flower poking through the sidewalk crack
And just like that
You steal away the rain
And just like that…”

Tragedy has an ugly face when you first look at it.  It can cause you to be angry, point fingers, and cast blame.  But when you look at the really big picture, and you understand that Earth is not our home, and that our departed are where we long to be… that should make you happy.  It should make you smile. Here’s how it more than likely played out.  Daniel awoke in a very unusual place.  Unusual, because it probably is very unlike what you have heard from your church pulpit simply because there are so many opinions and screwed up contexts thrown in there with scripture. But, while this place was unusual compared to Earth, it was amazingly magnificent.  There were no constraints.  There was no confusion.  No sadness. There was no pain.  That’s right… no pain.  Any pain that Daniel might have endured during his final days on Earth were gone in an instant when he joined his Heavenly Father.

I like to believe that when it finally hit him that the pain was gone, and he realized where he now was, and that this was the place he had heard of, but maybe a time or two didn’t believe was possibly even possible… Daniel shed his final tears.  Because Jesus joined him on streets of gold, reached down and dried that young man’s eyes, and then held him tight, and then said… “2000 years ago, I hurt too.  But I took the pain for you.  Just for you… Just for this moment.  Today.  June 27^th.”  And as Jesus held him, he said to Daniel… “I’ve got this.” And Jesus smiled… and Daniel smiled.  And friends… THAT is what makes me smile.

“Don’t know how I lived without you
‘Cause every time that I get around you
I see the best of me inside your eyes
You make me smile.”

Are you smiling?  Go ahead, do it.  It feels good. We’re not home yet.  We are going to cry, and we are going to hurt.  But, if we know Jesus, he will dry those tears and await that smile.  Jesus makes me smile.  Knowing that He has gone to prepare a place for us where we will never again live in pain or fear makes me smile.  Knowing that I will get to take fishing lessons from Daniel one day in heaven makes me smile.  (I hope Jesus is still into multiplying fish like he did in His Word, because something tells me that Daniel has a rod and reel and is emptying Heaven’s lake as quick as Christ can fill it.)

Get excited everyone, because we are closer now than we ever have been before.  Let’s get happy, and just for Daniel… let’s smile!

 

SEE THIS STORY IN THE FORM OF A VIDEO SLIDESHOW…

The Journey Continues

One year ago, I closed the MacBook pro… and it stayed closed until tonight.  I felt like I had said all I needed to say, and that it was probably time for the Journey to end.

Well, the truth is I was wrong.  The Journey was actually not over at all.  I was just taking a road that led me away from the calling… the calling to continue to make humor and to inspire.  To share experiences.  My experiences.

With a renewed focus and vision, I am very happy to announce that “The Journey Continues.”

Stand a Little Rain

Yesterday, I learned the status of the DOMA bill.  I immediately logged off of Facebook and Twitter, and I turned off the TV.  I knew what was coming next because I know enough about our society.  I made the grave mistake of participating in such heated trolling after this past Presidential Election.  So this time, I just avoided it all together.

Where I stand on the issue of same sex marriage is probably the most insignificant thing in the world.  But where I stand on how I look at my fellow human being is very relevant and of the utmost importance.  I used to see things as black and white only.  You were either just like me, or you weren’t.  Boy, was I narrow minded…

Today I look at people through a different lens.  I try to look at people the way Jesus Christ looks at people.  And let me go ahead and break the hearts of some of you people who could probably qualify for immediate membership at Westboro Baptist Church…  My Savior does not hate homosexuals.  If you call Him your Savior, but tell others that He hates the ones He suffered and died for… you should probably be shaking in your boots.

But, when it comes to love, we like to pick and choose.  We like to try and dictate who we (and everyone else) should and shouldn’t be around.  We created the term “homophobia” (which is incorrectly used more often than not.  A phobia is a fear, hate is totally different.)  But this morning, I heard the term heterophobia for the first time.  Good grief…

But, as a Christian I am often told that I am not allowed to associate with a gay person.  Some of these same people tell me that as a white man, I am not to support my President.  People… please!

One of my favorite song lyrics ever says “If we’re ever gonna see a rainbow, we have to stand a little rain.”  That statement holds so much truth.  Nothing we have ever accomplished in life that was worth anything at all ever came easy.

The storm will rock you hard if you let it.  Whether you are for or against what the Supreme Court feels is the best for our Nation, the fact is that you’ll enjoy the storm so much more if you will just realize that you’ll most likely be alright when the clouds turn from dark to white.

Yesterday’s decision by the Supreme Court… I look at it as an opportunity to practice civility.  To learn to love.  If haters could learn to love the ones they hate the way that lovers love the ones they love… we could all change the world.

What you want the most will come with a price tag attached to it.  But if it means enough to you, it’ll be priceless, and you will never stop until it’s within your reach.  That’s what yesterday was about to me.  But that was yesterday.  This is today.  Today, it’s time to teach each other how to love.  There’s a rainbow above us, and it means different things to different people.  See it as you will.  But, understand that it didn’t appear without a little rain.