Mark

He drove a minivan.  Perhaps it wasn't the coolest car for a seventeen-year-old, by the world's standards, but then again, he was never much concerned with the world's standards.  Yet, somehow, he still managed to make that minivan cool. Sara Bareilles got to ride in that van. Her manager lamented that he couldn't find someone more professional, yet the van's driver was one of the most professional and respectful people you could ever hope to meet.  He was a guitarist who was also a bassist who was also a singer, and he did all these things well.  He was still just a boy, but in many ways he was already more a man than many thirty-year-olds.  He wasn't a gardener, yet he built greenhouses in Nicaragua.  He wasn't royalty, yet he had a Father greater than all the kings in all the ages of this earth.  He knew that, and it made him bold.  Not bold in an obnoxious, bellicose way, but bold in a quiet, unassuming, influential way.  This was a person who could change your life through one small conversation, whose smile instantly lit up a room, whose sense of humor made every interaction memorable.  This was a worship leader who was genuinely in love with his Savior, and whose life reflected that fact.  This was a son who placed his faith in a God unseen and encouraged all those around him to do the same.  He firmly believed in a future joy that would surpass all human understanding and expectation.  And now that joy, long hoped for, is finally his.  The fight has been fought, and the rest he longed for has been won.  Not by his strivings or his achievements, but by his Father's.  There is great rejoicing in Heaven this day for the son who has come home.

Goodbye, my brother and my friend.  You are sorely missed, but praise God that I will one day stand by your side and worship Him with you!  May we give Him praise for the extraordinary person He created, and for the short time He allowed us to know and love you.

Your life has touched so many others.  My prayer is that its memory will continue to bring Him glory.  I am so happy for you, Mark Rodriguez.  Sleep well, and one day I'll meet you in the clouds.