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…

♫♪ I Won’t Let Go (The Tuscaloosa Tornado) ♫♪

Class is cancelled.  Three words that are a relief for any student that didn’t finish that paper last night.  On April 27, it was not a surprise for the students at the University of Alabama to hear that classes were cancelled at the Tuscaloosa campus due to inclimate weather.  Just over a week ago, T-Town experienced bad weather as well, so many students were re-living their plans of what to do if another twister touches down in the small historic town.

Hanging out at the house is nothing new for one group of Bama students.  But today, they sat closer to the news station to keep tabs on the possible danger that luked in the Alabama atmosphere.  As if they were watching the Iron Bowl in the 4th qtr, the friends all stayed on the edge of their seats to see what would play out as the clock ticked down.

Around 5pm, on the Eastern Shore of Alabama, nearly 250 miles away from Tuscaloosa, two parents get a text message saying “We’re about to get hammered.”  They immediately begin to pray for their son and his friends, who have now began to all pile in the bathroom to take cover.  Thinking of all of the movies that popularized tornados in the 1990’s, many thoughts ran through the mind of these young adults as they prepared for the worst… in prayer.

“It’s like a storm that cuts a path
It’s breaks your will…  It feels like that.
You think you’re lost, But you’re not lost
on your own, you’re not alone.”

When the storm was gone, it was time to inspect the result of nature’s fury.  Two rooms in the house were damaged, a car was smashed, and there was leaking gas.  This was the damage at this house.  Many other houses in the area sustained total devastation.  What was described as a bomb detonating was an understatement as the group of friends look at their once beautiful neighborhood that now resembles a Hollywood movie set.

The F4 Tornado that was estimated to be a mile wide with wind speeds of nearly 200 mph totally shredded 15th street where my friends live.  As they overlook the devastation, they immediately begin to send messages to family and friends letting everyone know that they’re alive and well.  But, they weren’t alone in the storm.

“I will stand by you, I will help you through
When you’ve done all you can do
and you can’t cope.
I will dry your eyes, I will fight your fight
I will hold you tight, and I wont let go.”

When the storms passed, headed east to Birmingham, Cullman, and other parts of the state, the storm claimed over 100 lives, at the latest estimate.  Homes and businesses were totally obliverated.  Lives were shattered during what was supposed to be a normal April afternoon, but now a war zone after the storm.

“It hurts my heart to see you cry,
I know it’s dark, this part of life.
Oh it finds us all and we’re too small
to stop the rain, Oh but when it rains…”

I can’t explain the weather.  All I can tell you is that in my short life, I have never seen such insane conditions in this short of a period of time in one area.  Many states have experienced their share of bad weather in 2011, but Alabama has been slammed in the past two months.  One friend of mine said today on Facebook – “I’m not usually one to jump to this conclusion, but I think God has really been tryin to tell us somethin lately…”  Yes, He has.

God doesn’t renig on His promises, and He has promised to walk with us during the good times and the bad.  He never lets go of us.  Yes, there was a death toll in this, and every other disaster that we’ve seen since the beginning of time.  But, even with the flood that Noah overlooked from his homemade ark, God had a plan and a purpose.  But, the fact remains that God has His hand on the Earth he created, and He has a tight grip on His children who feel they’re all alone, and about to get blown away in the storms of life.  He had a tight grip on my friends who were hunkered down in their bathroom in prayer.  And He had a tight grip on the parents and friends who prayed in faith.

“I wont let you fall, don’t be afraid to fall.
I’m right here to catch you, I wont let you down.
It won’t get you down.
Your gonna make it, Yea I know you can make it.”

Don’t try to figure it all out.  It’ll just give you a headache and make it hard for you to sleep at night.  Just as it’s 4am right now, and I am blogging this post.  God is in control, and He won’t let go of us.  Everything has a plan and a purpose.  In fact, check this out…

Everyone remembers the trees that were poisoned at Toomer’s Corner in Auburn, right?  Well, Alabama Alumni created a group called “Tide for Toomers” that raised money in an attempt to save the trees and an extremely important tradition to Auburn University.  Did the Tide’s efforts go unnoticed?  Well let me answer that question for ya.  NO, it was not unnoticed at all.  In fact, almost immediately after the storms passed through West Alabama, a group from Auburn University created a brand new group called “Toomers for Tuscaloosa.”  Two rival schools will join hands to rebuild tradition and shattered lives.  (That is until SEC season starts, and at that point, they’ll most likely start fist fighting until after the Iron Bowl.)

Were the point of the tornados so that God could unite Alabama and Auburn?  No…  I don’t see that.  Sorry. But, God will not let go of His children, even in the toughest storm.  Look to the Father today, and thank Him for standing by you when the storm rages.  Something is on the horizon, and time is running short.  But rest assured, that God is with us until the end.  That’s a promise.  Hebrews 13:5

“I Won’t Let Go” by Rascal Flatts contributed to the composition of this blog.