Luke

It's been all over the news last night and today that John Travolta's son passed away yesterday. He apparently had a seizure and hit his head. As I heard the story, all I could think about was Luke. He was one of my brother's friends when I was younger and went to church with us. Luke was probably 3 years older than me and he was a senior my freshman year at Riley HS. About a year after graduating, Luke passed away...in an eerily similar manner to Jett Travolta.

Since Luke was my brother's friend, we never really hung out together, but he always seemed like such a great guy. He was always so easy going, happy, and laid back. There's a picture in my yearbook of him wearing a giant sombrero and his red & white striped soccer shirt with a huge grin on his face. I was able to go on one of our youth group's New York trips with my brother, Luke, and their friends. Luke was never an arrogant guy, he just wanted to make everybody smile.

Whenever I go to church, I'm reminded of him. A local artist put together a banner with the help of Luke's parents and friends. It's called "From Mourning Into Dancing" and is a beautiful piece of artwork. I was able to find a picture of it online, but it hardly does it justice. http://jeannelogan.com/public_space_ps30.html The banner is over 20 feet long and is filled with different colors swirling the length of it. Some of the cloth used in it was from some of Luke's favorite clothes or from those of a friend. The darker colors are present throughout, but it's the light blue I prefer to focus on. Whether it represents Luke's favorite creek or just a happier color, it seems symbolic of hope. Hope that things will get better and hope that there will be a happy ending.

Here's to hope in a New Year.