for Adam.

It's eerie to read the obituary of a friend. The words are sterile, impersonal, and almost cruel because they are so short and contain none of the laughter or personality of the one lost.

This past week, a friend from the semester I spent in Ireland passed away from complications from diabetes. I really have no more information than that. I haven't spoken to him since 2001, and I don't know what he has been doing since then.

I do know that remembrances from friends fill in the gaps of the obituary. His church has a posting remembering Adam, and the notes and memories bring his smile and personality back to life, and my memory has been flooded with random Irish moments and conversations with Adam.

Adam spent three intense months with 37 people without telling a single one of them that he brought a diamond ring to Ireland with him. When his girlfriend, Kate, came to visit him for spring break, he proposed at Powerscourt in County Wicklow. Quietly he observed and absorbed all that happened around him. He'd climb trees, stand up on the bus, and often join in the loud raucous of our group. When he talked with someone, his eyes told them that he was giving them his full attention. It's exciting to realize that his eyes are now seeing Christ with full attention.

Pray for Kate. The church posting mentioned that they were soon going to be missionaries in Germany...