A Stranger's Death

How can a guy I never knew affect my thoughts and ideas so much? Today would be Marcus Moran's 20th birthday. For those of you that don't know who that is, he played varsity basketball at FEAST and died of a sudden heart attack following practice almost 3 years ago. I had never met the guy but when I heard that he died so suddenly I was shocked. The entire FEAST community was in mourning. Those who knew him and those who didn't. Some of my teammates knew him and were really shook up about it. For the first time I thought about death and wondered what would happen if a friend or family member were to die. I pondered this for a long time following his death. It changed my view on life. It showed me that though we may picture our selves at 30, 50, 80, we may not even live to see tomorrow. I had been told this over and over again but it never sank in for real until then. I didn't understand why it happened and I questioned God and thought a lot about it. It killed me to see my friends so sad and upset about him dying. Once I put myself in their shoes and thought about what it would look like for a friend of mine to die, I could feel their pain and it hurt a lot. My ideas about how to love people changed. I valued my friends so much more. I can't say I was the perfect friend from then on and never took my friends for granted but I can say that I honestly cherish my friends and our short life so much more. God showed me more through a stranger's death then he did through a hundred sunday school lessons. He taught me about the value and shortness of life. He taught me how to better love my friends and that there is no garuntee that I will ever get to see them again. So, to Marcus, happy birthday. Thank you for the lesson your life showed me and the many people you affected. To my friends and family. I love you and I pray that God will help me to love you guys as best as I can every day. I don't ever want to take that for granted