Upon hearing the sad news this week I was over in Eastern Iowa (Cedar Falls) and when driving back I had some time to reflect about Alex. I first met Alex when I would come and watch the Dakota Valley high school basketball team, as a good friend of mine whose son Derek played with Alex on that team. I was always so impressed with the talent that Alex had and many times would just sit back and say WOW that is simply God given talent. Because when you watched the game, Alex always seemed to stand out with his abilities, individual skills and team awareness. There are just some kids that have that special gift and Alex was truly one of them.

I guess there are so many questions that we all ask and that is WHY? Why Alex? Why so young? Why my son, brother, friend? Why our family? These questions are all relevant and we just don’t know the answers, but I do know how people felt about Alex. Friday night at a gathering for the family in Jefferson I had a chance to read some of the letters that the kids had written who Alex played with in beyond the bell after school program. The words expressed in writing from these young kids, displayed his tremendous talent yet again in leaving such a positive impression on their lives.

A couple weeks ago Christine asked Lori and I if we had an extra cell phone to give to Alex since his broke and you can’t leave a young man without this necessity. So I told Christine to have Alex call me and I would take him to Verizon Wireless at the mall to help him get a new one as I have had to do this on several occasions. Well I think God had a plan, I never heard from Alex and then Christine called us and said they were able to get a charger and the phone was now working. God knew this phone would only be used temporarily as now he has a phone in heaven that doesn’t need a charger, call waiting or answering machine as he will always answer on the first ring. Just call and give it a try.

When thinking about that question WHY, I have my own personal visions for Alex and his leaving at such a young age. Like so many coaches you see with their pacing back and forth with such anxiety and frustration, I think God who is the head coach and Jesus the assistant coach simply needed a player of Alex’s talent to be a part of their team so they could relax a little bit on the bench. I can see it now with God sitting on the bench with his arm around Jesus leaning over to him and saying, “Son now that is GOD given talent”. To Christine, Ben, JJ, family and friends have faith and trust that Alex is on God’s team, and his team will never lose even if they have to play in overtime. So with a high five stretched out to Alex from your family, friends and kids from the after school program, wear God’s jersey proud as you are on a winning team forever.
Take Care and God Bless……