Good Times

This is a video Jon took of himself using my camera when we went on a "canopy tour" in West Virginia.  Jon couldn't stop laughing each time he watched himself on this zip line video.  He was surprised how close it appears he was holding the camera to his face, but I was glad (glad he never dropped it, that is!!).  We had a really great time on this trip and had a chance to talk for hours on the drive to Charleston, WV where we picked up Jerone, a colleague of Jon's from the Netherlands.  Jerone (pronounced "your-roon") went with Jon and me on both of the whitewater weekends.   I can remember how we scanned the radio stations as we passed through the cities between Louisville and Charleston, looking specifically for ones playing 80's music.  When we found one playing the long-hair band or techno-style of our teenage days, we competed against each other to see who could guess the song title and the artist/band name first.  Jon sure knew his 80's music!    

Jon was an amazing detail guy, whether it was when he put together our whitewater rafting trips or when he recruited me to volunteer as support for the IronMan Triathlon when it was held in Louisville, KY. He always set activities up and made it so easy to simply show up and have a good time. Jon always looked out for his friends and provided out-of-the-ordinary opportunities to spend time together.  I only wish I had spent more time with him now, but who thinks time is short when you're just 40-years-old, right? 

How Jon's passing has corrected my way of thinking!...  

The Bible says it plainly in several places: Time is short!!
Job 7:7a Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath
Psalm 39:5 You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath. Selah
Psalm 144:4 Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow.
Proverbs 27:1 Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.
Isaiah 2:22 Stop trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?

Every one of us has an expiration date on our life, we just don't know when that day is. But you and I can have HOPE for eternity, the same hope Jon had on Earth and now realizes as he walks with Jesus in Heaven. The Bible says in John 3:36 "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." Again, in John 5:24 Jesus says "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life."

Do you question where you will spend eternity? Are you sure you know? The Bible is clear it's either Heaven or Hell. I am thankful I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, my friend Jon is in Heaven and I will see him again one day when I die. Jon and I both share this same hope and have accepted the gift of salvation made possible by Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross. At times as these, this assurance is the only thing that brings me peace and sets my mind at rest.

A Life Not Wasted

March 6, 2011 marks one year since I lost my friend, Jon Downing. Jon is perhaps the most well-rounded, spontaneous, flexible and committed man I’ve ever met and these qualities extended to everything he did, whether work or pleasure. If it caught Jon’s attention, it was going to be done well and completely. My friend set his personal expectations high, to the extent I never fully realized prior to his memorial service. Here Jon’s wife, Shirley, set out his personal daily journal in which he regularly reminded himself of eight goals for his life.

Jon's goals included:

    * Become more spiritually fit
    * Become physically fit
    * Eliminate work-related travel
    * Get organized at work
    * Get organized at home
    * Invest more in relationships
    * Help others/volunteer
    * Become financially independent

Jon wrote out his life’s mission and summed it up in a passage from the Bible when he wrote:

“Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your ways to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.” -Psalm 37:4-5

I can testify Jon Downing did as well as anyone I know at achieving this mission and reaching his goals before leaving this world at age 42. The fact he wrote these out still baffles me. Clearly, Jon was a deep thinker and took advantage of the times when many others would have typically “checked-out”.

I am thankful for the example Jon continues to provide for my life. For about a year, Jon and I ran together and we often talked about technique improvements or new gear we wanted. We were in a small group at a church near Louisville, Kentucky and this provided an opportunity to draw our families closer. Jon and I went on a white water rafting weekend in West Virginia two years in a row. On weekends, we played video games with a group of buddies for hours and hours, just like teenagers. Our families had cookouts and we helped each other with projects when the other needed an extra hand. But the countless hours Jon volunteered helping his son’s robotics team, the world-wide respect he earned from his professional contacts within the aviation maintenance industry and the love he showed his wife in the poems and letters he wrote were a revelation saved for his memorial service. Learning these elevated my respect for Jon, yet again.

I think more than anything, Jon’s passing has taught me to challenge my everyday decisions in light of eternity. This life is too brief to be caught doing things which simply don’t matter. Losing one of my closest friends has been a sobering event, one of the most painful experiences of my lifetime. The hidden blessing is getting the splash of cold water in the face, waking me up to see the full meaning of life and the impact I can have while I still have time. Invest in relationships, volunteer to help others in need, be more patient, show more love.

I miss you, brother, but am so very thankful for what you have taught me through your life. I find peace only in the knowledge we will see each other again one day in Heaven, thanks to the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and the way only He provides.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. -John 3:16