Vaya Con Dios Enrique

A little over 10 years ago an older friend, Jose, called and told me he had met a young person not far from where he lived and that young person would be joining our youth group for our Fall Harvest Day. That young person was Enrique. Only in 7th grade at the time, he was a well spoken, bright young man whose presence could be sensed from a mile away. Normally for the Fall Harvest event, we would go to a large farm-like property and spend the afternoon there doing all sorts of activities and eating all kinds of delicious food. This year was a little different as we decided to do a little gospel sharing first. In this case we went door knocking. I was unsure of how Enrique would handle being with a bunch of strangers knocking on the doors of strangers. As we went out, he had fliers in his hands and placed them on doors when no one answered. Eventually we asked him if he'd be willing to talk to the next person who opened a door. I was expecting him to say no, but he jumped right in and executed his greeting flawlessly. To say I was impressed would be an understatement,

Thankfully his introduction to us didn't scare him off. In fact he kept coming back and became an integral part of our youth group throughout his remaining Jr. high and high school years. He and my brother Stephen became pretty fast friends so I saw him more often than most. Through my interactions, I found out that he loved football and like me was a Philadelphia Eagles fan. We'd invite him to watch games and we would talk Eagles football for hours. 

In the summer of 2014, we took our youth to an Indians baseball game and Enrique came along. It was a day game, it was hot, and our seats were in the sun. There was almost no offense as both teams only scored 1 run each all game. After nine innings of play, the teams were still tied and headed into extra innings. The opposing team quickly took the lead and the small crowd that remained thought it was over. In the bottom of the 10th, the Indians managed to load the bases, but had two outs and Nick Swisher had two strikes. Then the opposing pitcher threw a meatball and Swisher didn't miss. I jumped in jubilation as I got to see my first grand slam sail over the fence in person. I then hear Enrique groan "Finally!" I looked at him funny and said "Don't you realize what you just saw?" He gave me a dead stare and said "We won and now we can go home. It's hot and I'm tired." All I could do was laugh because there was no reasoning with him.

Speaking of meatballs, Enrique loved those too. So much so in fact, that for a period of time, it became his most commonly used word. I would ask him how he was doing and he'd respond in a funny accent "Meatball". If I asked him what he was eating, sometimes he would say "meatball" even if it wasn't. And then there were times I'd try to get a longer response about something and would only get "Meatball." Thanks to Enrique, every time I eat a meatball, I can't help but think about him.

Sometimes we'd butt heads in disagreement and Enrique had a unique way of going about it. If things got to a boiling point, instead of raging or going into wrestling mode, Enrique would start shouting at me in Spanish knowing darn well I couldn't understand or properly respond to anything he was saying . Some of those arguments ended with me laughing and him still refusing to speak English until we were on better terms.

After high school, Enrique took a different path and I didn't see him much anymore. I still thought about him often and tried to reach out every now and then, but it was hard to keep in touch. Then, a little over two years ago, he reached out to me directly. I can't tell you how much joy I felt to hear from him. Shortly after, he showed up to help drive some of our kids out to an event in Willoughby. When I saw him walk through those meeting hall doors, I didn't say hi. I walked straight up to him and gave him a big hug. I rode in his truck to Willoughby that night and we talked the whole way catching up on all the lost years. I learned about his HVAC work and of course we talked a lot about the Philadelphia Eagles. Being able to spend time with him again was a breath of fresh air and I'm so glad I treasured that because I did not know it then, but that night would be the last time I saw him.

I received a call this past Sunday morning that Enrique had unexpectedly passed away. It came without warning and I couldn't believe it. Processing it was hard as I was tasked with breaking the news to others around me that knew him. Losing anyone is hard, but even more so before the age of 30.  

One of the things I loved most about Enrique was his heart. From a young age, he was always willing to help and cared a lot about the people around him. As he matured into a young man, he was definitely a people first, me second kind of guy. When we needed someone to run the sound equipment for Sunday services, he jumped onboard. It was rare to ask him to help move stuff or clean-up because he was already involved before you could. 

The other major aspect of Enrique that was so special was that he had become a man after God's heart. I was there when we baptized him and it was special. When I read through the facebook posts and listened to people talking about him at his visitation hours, they talked about his passion for God and love of Christ. Being one who has served youth all these years, nothing gives me more joy than seeing a young person commit their life to Christ. 

Enrique's time on this earth was really short and provides another reminder that tomorrow is never given and life is truly a blessing. Vaya con Dios Enrique, until we meet again my dear friend.