We are not here to question why
Patrick’s light went out so soon,
But to remember how bright it shined
during his life.
This is not a tragic moment;
It is
a tender moment…. But not a tragic moment.
We are sure of this because Jesus
declared…
“I am the resurrection and the
life….”
(And these
are the key words for us here today):
“Those who believe in Me… even
though they die… yet shall
they live, and whoever lives and
believes in Me… shall never die.
Today we pause for a moment to catch
our breath.
We pause for a moment to celebrate,
remember, and mourn the passing of Patrick Cole.
Patrick meant different things to
different people;
To his parents…a beloved son.
To David and Brian… and Casey and
Kerry… a fun-loving brother.
To his grandparents… a loving
grandson and great grandson.
To the members of the F-M, Lightning,
and Blitz soccer teams… a trusted teammate.
To the doctors and nurses at
University Hospital… a model Patient.
To the staff at Dreamscape Online…
a fellow co-worker.
And to Jen Greenmann… and Lynne
McCormick…. a best friend.
Whatever the nature of our
relationship with him,
we pause today to give thanks to God
for having been able to walk the road of life with Patrick… and
for having the privilege of knowing
him and sharing life with him.
Today we come together with different
memories of that life.
We come to share those memories and
experiences…
And we come to remember that each of
those memories and experiences was a gift from God…. given as a
blessing… as we have walked along our journey of life.
Let me share a memory I have of
walking the road of life with Patrick:
I close my eyes and I can still see
the massive crowd of people, walking and running, on that crisp October
day… united for the sake of one very courageous young man.
That unforgettable moment, coupled
with everything that it stood for, forever changed my life.
Now I remember the eight days leading
up to that unforgettable day.The
rushing around… the planning… the phone calls… working with all of
those wonderful people to make the first annual “Pat’s Pavement
Pounder” a success.
Quite frankly… we figured a few
hundred people would attend to show their support for this exceptional young
man.I think we ordered 400
t-shirts.
Well… over a thousand people showed
up… and the event raised over eighteen thousand dollars for Patrick’s
charities.
And you know as the cool breeze of
the day swept across that field, I was frozen by the thought of all the
impressionable young minds that Patrick touched by handing down the love and
passion he had for his cause.
They say that heroes take journeys…
confront dragons… and discover the treasure of their true selves.Patrick took that journey… fought that dragon…and not only found that treasure but shared it with all of us.
And in the last two years of his
life, Patrick Cole was even better at touching us with his love and passion
for life.The “Pavement
Pounder” was merely his metaphor…a
vehicle to make us stand and take notice of his extraordinary personality.
He cajoled us to witness his
suffering… while he smiled and joked his way through all of his
treatments… all of his medications… all of his trials.
And Patrick was constantly joking
around.I saw a picture of him
here last night…. A picture of him wearing a long curly black wig…. And
I remember when he took that wig off of a pumpkin that one of his friends
had decorated for the Pavement Pounder, and put it on his head – he then
proceeded to entertain us all… with his impersonation of shock-jock Howard
Stern.Patrick loved to joke
around… and he never stopped smiling.
And you know… as the brilliant
sunlight illuminated the yellow orange leaves on that crisp October day…
my perspective on life suddenly changed.
I knew then… that it wasn’t about
raising money that day.
It was about community… and
family… and laughter… and smiles.
It was about life.
And as I watched that massive crowd
of people walk and run around that track… it suddenly dawned on me that
life isn’t always “the way it’s supposed to be”.
But life is life… and we should
enjoy it!
So, now as I walk along our journey
of life… I will always remember walking with Patrick that day.And I’ll always remember his smile.
