A couple of things have happened recently that have caused me to reflect on the past. You might say two projects, the first attempt failed, but I still feel like I can pull it off. But the second has a resolution, and it doesn’t seem to be a happy one.
Thinking about the time we have for living, some of us a long time, and some of us a shorter time. Something that we don’t determine ourselves but is laid out for us. Every time I think about my youth and college days, this is the story that comes to mind. This story was told me by a friend, as far as l know it’s true.
I had a roommate by the name of Roger, he wasn’t very smart or very good looking, and we boys made fun of him quite often. But there was one thing that Roger could do, he was a good football player and this didn’t always make us happy. Football was a big part of our life. I’m talking intramural football. We had our own league, our conference champions and our own super bowl, as our small college didn’t have a football program.
We were playing one day, and Roger was on the other team, and we were losing. Seemed like no matter how hard we tried Roger would get through the line and hurry our quarterback. We were losing and starting to get desperate, when we came up with a plan. We would let Roger slip through and then three of us will hit him at the same time. Kind of a scissors effect.
Our plan worked and Roger went down, only he didn’t get up. We had apparently knocked him cold and he just lay there. Someone ran for help, and it seemed like hours, but the EMS arrived and took Rodger to the hospital. The football game was over. Now it didn’t matter who won or lost. The next day we heard he was still in a coma but in following days we heard he was getting better. We all went to see him once, but it wasn’t pleasant seeing him laying there like that.
A couple of weeks later we received word that Roger had died. That he was injured playing football with us was something that we would think of every day for the rest of our lives. A few days later a very attractive girl by the name of Susie came to my room and wanted to speak to me. It was quite a shock because you seldom see a girl in the boys dorm. We sat down and she told me she was Roger’s girlfriend.
She loved Roger! He was the kindest person that she had ever met. He treated her like a queen.
Roger had been diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia, and his future was uncertain. She and Roger had lived knowing that, but they were trying to cope. Now Roger did not need to worry about that, he was in heaven with his heavenly Father and she would miss him everyday of her life. She couldn’t imagine life without Roger. I told her I would give anything just to play one more game of football with Roger. But life has a way of going in spite of what happens. My problems don’t seem so great anymore.
As you get older, your friends start to leave you. I guess the solution might be to find younger friends. The old saying you don’t miss the water… comes into play and we don’t realize how fortunate we are. I hear a song by a beautiful lady that died at a very young age:
“In the time that you gave me, did I give all that I could give?
“Did I love all I could love, did I live all I could live?
“Was my faith in your Grace strong enough to save me?
“Did I do all I could do in a time that you gave me.”
—Joey and Rory
—James Neuhouser
