For Randy

It is with the heaviest of hearts that I write this. My cousin, Randy Christian, finally embraced eternity early this morning. Rather than talk about his last struggles with the disease that gripped his body, I want to write about and remember what he truly meant to me.

Some of my earliest memories of Randy were always filled with his amazing smile and kindness. In high school, in a home economics class (which he freely admitted that he took because of ladies he could meet) he made me a set of overalls that I still have to this day. Why he picked me I’ll never know but I’m glad he did.

Later on in life, I began to know him as a man that rose out of a hard and challenging life that his 
teenage years brought and became a devoted husband, a loving father and one the most authentic men of faith I have yet to meet in this life. He never claimed to live a perfect life but he did live a life that was transparent. A life that pointed to a higher cause, a higher calling and a higher power.

Randy is the one person that I attribute my first steps of faith to. When I was 13 years old, he was the one that engaged me. His words were not filled with judgment, merely of a love of a savior and that savior’s ability to take a man like him and change his entire being. He then simply gave me a Long John Silver’s koozie and a tape of Christian rock artists. I didn’t immediately start my faith journey then but that encounter planted a seed that to this day has and will never leave me.

When I moved to North Carolina in 1991, I was an awkward, distant and very alone teenager. I didn’t fit in at my school, I didn’t fit in with my family and I really didn’t fit in with life. My teenage years were some of my darkest and loneliest times in my life. It was in those moments that I look back and see that God knew what I was going through and deliberately placed Randy in my life.

Both of us shared a deep love of music. Not just any music but hard, loud and sometimes in your face music that didn’t whisper hints of our faith, it roared it like a lion. He was the first musician I played with that made a truly lasting impact in not only how I play but why I play at all. He was one of the most gifted drummers and musicians I’ve ever known. We once played a church service that the music lasted for almost 7 hours straight. Strangely enough it seemed to only last about 15 minutes. Afterwards he told me that halfway through his arms went numb and that it had to be God that helped him finished the service. I looked down and noticed that the strings on my bass guitar were bloody from the wounds on my fingers from playing so long. To this day it amazes me how we played for so long that one night.

Randy was the one that took me to my first concert. Petra was the headliner but one of the moments I remember was when a guy by the name of Ken Tamplin took the stage. We were both big fans of him and I headbanged like there was no tomorrow. Ken actually pointed me out in the crowd and Randy always remembered that moment. The last concert Randy got to see me play, Randy witnessed that the intensity that he instilled in me never went away. The other moment was when a drummer from some obscure band signed Randy’s shirt with the words “sticks up for Jesus”. Over the years that little statement became our creed in a way. A constant reminder of the real, true reason we played music.

I actually lived with Randy and his family for a summer. Looking back now, having my own family, I know how hard it must have been on them to allow me to live with them. They never had much money, especially trying to raise three children. Even with all the hardships they opened their doors to me. Not reluctantly, but freely and with so much acceptance and love. That summer taught me that giving till it hurts is the only way to give at all. I honestly believe that if Randy and his family wouldn’t have received me the way they did I would not be here today.

I look back and see specifically how God placed him in my life at just the right time. Words fail horribly to explain how much of an impact he made on my life.

Randy did not pass away, because what he infused in my life was not the whisper of one last breath, it was the sound of a roaring, raging lion disappearing into the night.

Randy did not die, because what he left on this earth was not a daily preparation leading to his final days, it was a life that pointed to the one that will forever hold everlasting life for all of mankind.

Randy is not dead, because his life was not one of obscure existence, it was one that will forever be a part of so many lives including mine and will be carried on for many generations to come.

I loved Randy not because he was like a brother to me, but because he was a brother to me.

I love you Randy. You go on now to play in the coolest band in the universe.

Sticks up for Jesus Randy…NOW AND FOREVER!!!