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…

♫♪ A Man you would Write About ♫♪

The arrival of high school yearbooks is always an exciting time for students.  They get to flip through the pages and see themselves and their friends, and their new hardcover source of memories in their school colors.

Traditionally, the front and back pages are intentionally left blank.  These pages are for friends and teachers to sign their name to a personal message to the book owner.  Some get messages like “Have a great summer,” “Never change, and you’ll go far” or “Do something stupid… YOLO.”  These messages are awesome and somewhat memorable, but they just can’t touch a message like “You were such a great friend,” or “I’m really glad I was able to know you.”

I recently had a conversation with a real good friend of mine, and he was telling me of a dying wish.  He has put into place how he’d like for his funeral to be, or actually what he called his “Celebration of Life.”  He wants a service that is uplifting and joyful, rather than many of the sad ones he has witnessed before.  Something that stands out though is this… He wants a solid white casket, and a pile of sharpies.  With this, his friends and family can actually write messages on the casket.  Though he will never see the messages, they’ll be with his “earth suit” forever.

Now, some of you will perhaps read that and say “that’s a real arrogant and cocky attitude to have” or “he must be really full of himself.”  You don’t know him.  If you did, you’d know that’s very far from being true.  He has a heart for God and a heart for people, and a sincere heart for service.

♫♪ “From the time time began You always chose a man
to lead the people safely by Your way
To be a voice and echo what You say.
Like David or Abraham Your Word is full of such men.
And if the Bible had no closing page and still was being written to this day…” ♫♪

♫♪ “Generations away it is my prayer that they will look back and say
Oh, to have that kind of faith and love… What a solid man of God he was” ♫♪

God has not called His Children to be a congregation to the world, but He has charged them with being the ones to spread the GREAT NEWS of His Word to a lost and dying people.  We are called to be nothing less than radical world changers.  We read about people in the Bible who were this very thing, and we are to simply pick up where they left off.  We are to continue the legacy of Christ.  We are to be Jesus in shoe leather.

♫♪ “I want to be a man that you would write about
Oh a thousand years from now that they could read about
Your servant of choice in whom You found favor
A man who heard Your voice.” ♫♪

That’s not arrogance or cockiness… that’s God’s desire.  That’s what’s He has called ALL OF US to do… to deliver the great commission, and to be His representatives on this big spinning rock that is our temporary home.  To make a difference just as He did 2000 years ago.

Wanting to be God’s chosen one… some call them history makers, or Jesus Freaks.  My friend is one of them.  He becomes less to become more, but when you talk to him, you KNOW that Jesus is in his heart, and you KNOW he wants you to know Jesus too.  I somehow believe that on the day of his Celebration of Life, there will be many messages that speak those same words written in sharpie ink covering his white casket.

 

♫♪ “A Man you would Write About” by 4HIM contributed to the composition of this post.