Man Up

I am writing this on Monday, June 30, 2014, exactly two years after a good friend of mine’s life was cut short. I realize that is a morbid place to start, but let me say this: I miss Tyler dearly, and think about him very often, but I have a sense of joy when thinking about him that lets me write this without it being too difficult, and rather with a sort of peace and joy. Tyler was the sort of person who lived each and every day with joy, with purpose, and with a true sense of the Lord’s presence in everything he did, and I am a better person for knowing him. Among many, many stories, my shining memory of Tyler is that I was in a commercial in Budapest with him (if you pause at 16 seconds you can find us), but overall my memory is of a great friend and person who loved everyone he met and lived every day with joy and with zeal.

Tyler, though, is just where I want to start my reflections today, because I think he’d want me to say much more than just to remember him, and because I think he reminds me every day of many valuable things, very much including the importance of living with purpose. I don’t say living with purpose in the modern definition which says that we should be serious and driven, always striving to succeed before relaxing – quite the opposite, in fact. I mean that we should choose joy each day and that we should choose Christ each day, understanding that hard work is good and success is great, but that they are secondary to a life lived with and for Him who made us.

In thinking about Tyler, I am quite obviously reminded of the fact that I do not know the day nor the hour when my life will end. I am also reminded of the ridiculous things he would say and do, but some of those might be besides the main point here. Tyler was preparing to go to Africa at the end of the summer of 2012 and serve the world as a missionary, but instead a summer’s bike ride with family would be his last journey, the end of a life extraordinarily well-lived for someone his age. Looking to his example, the question I am challenged to ask myself simple; do I live each day as an adventure, striving to know and love the Lord and to bring Him to everyone I meet, or do I simply wake up in the morning and do the things I have to do without intention?

The title of this post is Man Up for a reason. A transitional deacon I had the pleasure of meeting this past weekend said that phrase first in a homily and then personally to me when talking about what it means to live the Christian life. You might, he said, be excited and on fire, living for Christ because it is easy and fun. If you’re not, though, then the choice is simple – man up, he said, and do it anyways. As I reflect on living the Christian life and the reality that I someday – maybe soon, maybe a bit further away – will die, these words resonate with me in a special way. When I wake up in the morning and don’t feel like living the Christian life, when prayer is difficult and loving my neighbors takes an extra choice, am I going to do it or not? When the good feelings I may have once had with the Lord disappear and my faith is not filled with warm fuzzies, how am I going to respond?

For Tyler, it was simple. Not only would he wake up in the morning intent to follow the Lord, but he would do it with a smile on his face that could be very accurately described as contagious. Am I, then, living intentionally like he did, choosing to give each day to the Lord and others, or am I focused on my own needs and the things I want to do?

When it comes down to it, the Christian life is pretty simple. If we each choose every day to be in love with the Lord and live a life that reflects that, everything else will come naturally. The first part, though, is the hardest; we have to choose it, we have to man up and take up our cross as the Lord asks us to, because sometimes it won’t be easy. As Tyler reminds me constantly, though, as I remember him, it’s completely worth it.

Here’s to a life well-lived, my friend, and to the hopes of following in that example and having somewhere close to the impact that you did. Cheers.


Image Courtesy of Likable Art, “Tyler Peltier: 1990-2012”

Jason Theobald

Jason Theobald

Jason is a Catholic youth minister who thinks that love casts out all fear. He is a diehard Chicago Bulls fan and dabbles in following hockey while doing his best to ignore baseball. He wants everyone to know that the Christian life is worth living and tries to write in a way which shows how true that is. He has a new website/blog, called Fulton Street, which will deal with art and modern culture, coming soon.

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  1. Pingback: Captain Francis: The Pope & Sports - BigPulpit.com

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