In Rememberance...(a few weeks late)

These last few days have been rather interesting. My has undergone some minor changes that have impacted us as a whole (nothing to worry about, so don't be concerned), I've been either a week ahead or behind in my classes, and this morning my family found out that one of our Earthly Angels passed on to the next life.

Daily life has been fairly typical, but for some reason this death has affected me more than I'd anticipated. Maybe it's because I didn't even come close to anticipating it.  Don't read me wrong, I'm not to the point that I'm no longer able to function or that I'm a basket case, but it's caused me to reflect a lot on the impact we can have one each other during our experiences here on Earth. At this time I'd like to offer my condolences to the Brinkman family. I know they'll probably never come across this blog, but I'd like it to be on record that I'm personally grateful for the influence that Curt Brinkman had on not only my life, but more directly on the life my family as a whole.

As I've reflected about the potential of each of our lives, I'm overwhelmed with the amount of good we can do. I'm convinced that this mortal experience wasn't designed to only help ourselves, those abroad, those with life-changing challenges but also those with whom we regularly interact. I believe that a portion on my purpose is to be a shoulder to cry on, to serve as an encouragement to press forward, to help others endure their trials, learn from the good bad and ugly and to help those I love see the long term value of these hardships. Thus, today I vow that I'm going to do all I can live my life a little more like Curt, to end my "service project" mentality and change the way I look at life; to see it as an opportunity to serve my family and neighbors, strangers and my God.