A Dear Old Friend

Today, I was reconnected with my good friend Michael Pueppke. Mike and I first met when I was in third grade and he was one of the thirteen people that I graduated with in 2001. Recently, I found out that he was diagnosed with Leukemia. This is the second person in our graduating class to be diagnosed with cancer. Lana Beth Fisher, at the young age of 26, passed away from skin cancer three months ago. She left a beautiful legacy of faith and courage, my regret is that I never got a chance to say goodbye.

Mike and I have an interesting past. Even though there were only 13 people in our class we were not friends. I was not COOL enough back in my nerdy days of high school. He was definitely the cool kid, he always has been. After high school graduation, Mike and I went our separate ways, he went off to a state school and I headed off to Dallas Baptist University. I am not sure the depths of darkness he experienced that first year, but what I do know is that through the gracious hand of God, he sent Mike my way to attend DBU our sophomore year. God began to weave our friendship and he oddly became one of my dearest and closest friends in my college career. One of my favorite things about our friendship has always been the depth of the places we have gone in conversation. We both had a love for philosophy and a love for truth. I am not exactly sure how God used me in his life, but I always somehow knew that our friendship in college was quite intentional. We both needed something from each other and since my college days, Mike has always had a special place in my heart.

Unfortunately after college, we lost touch. I guess moving to a foreign country will do that to a friendship. Mike is now married, has a son on the way, and is working on his PhD in British Literature. Oh how time flies.

I was blessed tonight to talk to him. I am thankful for all that God is teaching him and his wife through this trial. I love to see the people of God respond to tragedy and glorify God, it is honestly the most beautiful thing on this earth.

Tonight, I am thankful for Mike's 27 years of life and how God is working in his life. I am also thankful friends of the past that still bless me today in the present!

I wish I had a picture of Mike and I in our college days, to post, but those were days before digital cameras were invented. Don't I sound old?

If anyone is interested in reading his story and his journals, you can read them here.