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This
poem was written for Jordan by his oldest
brother, Jonathan
A BETTER PLACE
You are in heaven now, a better place to be
though I wish you were still on earth with me.
As much as your brothers used to diss you,
they all will also greatly miss you.
As you sit there and look at us from high above,
I want you to remember our godly love.
You were way too good for this to happen to you,
but now there is nothing that we can do.
Hopefully one day we can all re-unite,
but until then I want you to sleep tight,
for you are in a better place.
We love you………
By: Jon Draper
Death
is nothing at all...I have only slipped away
into the next room....I am I, and you are
you...Whatever we were to each other, that we
are still. Call me by my old familiar name;
speak to me in the easy way you always used. Put
no difference into your tone; wear no forced air
of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always
laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my
name be ever the household word that it always
was. Let it be spoken without effort, without
the ghost of a shadow on it. Life means all that
it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was;
there is absolutely unbroken continuity. Why
should I be out of mind because I am out of
sight? I am waiting for you, for an interval,
somewhere very near; just around the
corner...All is well.
By: Henry Scott Holland
Don't
grieve for me for now I'm free
I'm following the path God laid for me.
I took His hand when I heard Him call,
I turned my back and left it all.
I could not stay another day,
to laugh, to love, to work or play.
Tasks left undone must stay that way.
I found my peace at the end of the day.
If my parting has left a void,
then fill it with remembered joy.
A friendship shared, a laugh a kiss,
ah, these things I too will miss.
Be not burdened with times of sorrow,
I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow.
My life's been full, I've savored much
good friends, good times, a loved ones touch.
Perhaps my time seemed all too brief,
don't lengthen it now with undue grief.
Lift up your heart and share with me
God wanted me now...He set me free!
Author: Unknown
The
following is the Eulogy for Jordan as told by
Rev. Kathryn Snedeker...
There are times when there is no consolation for
grief. There is no comfort. In these times no
one can understand the vastness of our pain. All
we know, all we see, is the terrible loss. The
world feels as if it should stop. Nothing
matters but our loss. We cry and rage and long
for the return of what we have lost.
In what feels like the most horrible of
nightmares, Jordan was abruptly taken from us
and we are drawn together in an inconsolable
situation. These parents have lost one of their
beautiful children. This family has lost a spark
of pure happiness, the kind of which comes only
from the touch of God's hand upon Jordan's
spirit. These friends have lost perhaps the most
positive and absolutely hilarious companion they
may ever know.
When your child dies, it is as if a part of your
own body has been torn away. You are left with a
gaping wound that cries out for healing, but for
which no salve or bandage seems enough.
If you were to look in Psalm 13 you would find a
cry to God appropriate for our needs here today.
"How long, O Lord?" Will this pain go
on forever? Is there no relief you can bring to
our pain? Don't you know how unfair this feels
to us? How long will we feel this way?
On and on the Psalmist goes exhausting nearly
every possible expression of pain and
disappointment. In their own way, our cries to
God reveal a profound faith in God. God is near,
and does hear our cries, and does want to help
us. Even now God is working to bring comfort and
peace.
The author, Philip Gulley writes, "Death
jogs our minds about what's most important. It
separates wheat from chaff. Life isn't about
money and big houses or fancy cars and titles.
It's about family and friends and our
relationship with God and whether we love. We
can't fit all that on a tombstone, so we carve
our names and our dates of birth and death and
hope that, somewhere between those two dates,
life was well lived."
Is there any doubt in any of our minds that the
life lived between October 11th of 1985 and
January 12th 2002 was a life well lived? Sixteen
all too short years, but Jordan didn't waste a
moment of it. You know, many people live well
into old age and yet have never enjoyed as much
of life as Jordan Draper. Many people wait for
better days, or some hoped for time in the
future to take advantage of the blessings and
adventures this life unfolds before us. Jordan
was there unwrapping the good things in life
like a kid under a Christmas tree - anxious for
yet another surprise, another gift from God.
Some of you may find this hard to believe, but
when Jordan was a little guy, he was a little
chunky dude. Still adorable, still able to fit
inside the backyard pail of water, but chunky.
His older brothers, Jon and David, true to their
responsibility as older brothers teased him and
he would sputter indignantly, "Don't call
me Chunty!" So they called him Shumway, and
he didn't care much for that either. Also hard
to believe was that Jordan didn't talk until he
was three. He didn't need to talk; pointing
would do the trick when you have two older
brothers to raid the cookies for you. Bill and
Dina worried about Jordan's lack of speech for
some time and when he started talking, everyone
in the family worried that he would never stop!
Up until about the seventh grade, Jordan was
notorious for his high squeaky voice. Grandma
told him to keep humming and that would lower
his voice. Well, whether it was the humming or
thank God adolescence, his voice did lower in
time to survive the treacheries of middle
school.
Jordan was a curious kid, who loved the
outdoors, rarely stood still, could tease you in
a loving and non-offensive way, and could laugh
and make fun of himself. There are so many great
family memories of ski trips with the Curry's,
and travel and even a boys canoe adventure that
found the Draper brothers spinning in circles in
the river as they tried to steer from the front
of the canoe.
Within this life well lived was a different kind
of relationship with each of his brothers.
Jonathan was the one Jordan looked up to. He
wanted to be as good as Jon at soccer and Jon
will admit that though Jordan didn't have the
opportunity to break his high school records, he
was a better player. There was a time when Jon
was coaching kid's soccer and Jordan would go
along as his assistant, offering advice on
strategies and plays.
David was the brother Jordan liked to tag along
with. Many of David's friends are Jordan's
friends. Jordan was the cameraman behind the
crazy videos the friends would do, including the
one where the actors charge the cameraman. He
was a good sport about taking as much teasing as
he could give out, even the time David and his
friends locked him in the dog cage and rolled
the cage over on the door.
And for his little brother Adam, he was the true
defender. Jordan was truly his brother's keeper.
He looked out for him, included him, loved him
and cared for him in a mature way so far beyond
his years. No one messed with Adam on Jordan's
watch. Adam was his buddy.
Jordan was also a true competitor. As a little
kid he would go out in the driveway and play
basketball with Jon and David, lose to his much
bigger brothers and come in crying his eyes out
because it wasn't fair that they beat him. When
his Mom would try to console him that his
brothers naturally win because they are bigger,
he would take no comfort because he knew he was
better than they were, therefore, he should win.
Jordan hated to lose. Those of you who are
soccer teammates must know that first hand. It
was certainly that competitive drive that led
him to win the award for best offensive player
his freshman year.
Jordan and Mike Gall were the best of friends.
It's easy to understand why - they thought the
same and shared a sense of humor that defies
description. The two of them found the perfect
solution for cold Mountain Dew readily
accessible at school. They lined a locker with
Styrofoam and brought cold packs to school each
day. Mountain Dew, popcicles, at your service
from Jordan and Mike.
Mr. Kurtz, their 6th hour teacher spoke about
what fun they were to have in class. They could
make the most innocent things a comedy and yet
knew when to turn off the jokes and focus on
being good students. Jordan and Mike had a
friendly competition going for grades - Jordan
would get his paper back and waive it in Mike's
face.
To say that Jordan was a very important part of
our youth group here at church doesn't even
begin to express how much he was loved and
enjoyed in this fellowship of Christ. Just a
week before the accident we were all together at
the Lake Louise Retreat Center, being amused by
Jordan's dry and timely sense of humor for a
good two hours. The next morning, Sunday,
January 6th, the day of Epiphany, Jordan helped
to serve communion to his youth group. A moment
that gains even more significance as now we look
back upon it.
Back in June of 2001, Jordan went on his second
youth mission trip. We went to Maine. The night
before we left on our trip, each mission
participant was given a bracelet to wear -
W.W.J.D. - "What Would Jesus Do?" as a
reminder that we were representatives of Christ
and should conduct ourselves in a manner that
would bring God glory and influence others
positively. One of the pictures displayed shows
Jordan wearing his bracelet, covered with paint
from a day's work and play with the paint
sprayer. But long before Jordan ever put on that
bracelet, he was following the path of Christ.
Take a look at his life and let it be a map for
the path less traveled by, but the one that make
all the difference. You know, I have had teens
tell me that they think that to follow the
rules, to work hard at school, to do what their
parents ask, and treat others with respect is to
not have any fun.
When you think of Jordan, could anything be
further from the truth? Jordan was rarely not
having fun. Jordan went to church, he helped in
worship whenever asked, he followed the rules at
home, he was goal oriented and certain he would
achieve a 4.0. He made the right choices time
and time again, he was self sufficient and
positive. He treated other people with respect
and he lived the Golden Rule. He loved his
family, loved his parents and told them so. On
the morning Jordan left to go skiing, he kissed
his mother good-bye. Don't think you can have
fun being good? Think again. Think of Jordan.
There are some W.W.J.D. bracelets for you if you
wish to pick them up after the service. Jordan,
living now with the Savior Himself would without
a doubt be pleased to have you wear a bracelet
reminding you to follow the path of Christ. And
if that seems a little too abstract for you...a
little scary, think of it this way, What Would
Jordan Do? If you focus on his life, you will
soon be following Christ himself.
Mitch Albom quoted his friend and teacher Morrie
Schwartz who said "Invest in the human
family. Invest in people. Build a community of
those you love and who love you. Jordan touched
a lot of people in 16 years. He invested himself
and he loved. He died in the confidence that his
parents loved him and were proud of him. He
lives again in the everlasting love of the God
who first gave him to Dina and Bill as a gift.
No words can console at this moment. Comfort and
peace take time. In time comfort comes knowing
that Jesus uses the image of a house in which
each person has a room. To have a room in God's
house means that we occupy a place of status. We
are one of the children of the house. We have a
room with our name on the door.
Of course, the greater significance is realizing
that not only do we have a room with our name on
the door, but also that God knows our name. God
knows who we are. God knows us personally. May
comfort be found in knowing that Jordan is
personally known by God. Was welcomed home by
God and called by name. That Jordan was never
alone but escorted to the heavenly place
prepared for him by Jesus. One thing is for
certain. They are laughing a lot more in heaven
these days.
May comfort also come from the reality of
reunion. Death has momentarily separated us from
Jordan. Our hearts are troubled because of this
horrible loss. But we are promised reunion.
Jesus will come one day and take us to a place
where we have a room. We will be reunited with
all those who have gone before us. Death will
not forever keep us from those we love.
"We carve our names and dates of birth and
death and hope that, somewhere between those
dates, life was well lived."
Well done Jordan, well done! Enjoy your
resurrection, Go with God, we will see you
again!
Amen
"
Jordan is forever loved and forever missed by
his family, his friends and all that knew him.
Our lives were so briefly blessed, but forever
changed. His spirit lives on in each of
our hearts." |
