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As many of you have already heard, a best friend of mine, Ryan Rendleman, has passed away at the age of 22. He was on a photojournalist assignment for the SIU school newspaper when his car was struck from behind by a semi-truck on Illinois 127. He was to receive his degree in journalism on May 10, 2008, after which he planned to accept an internship opportunity posed by the Southern Illinoisan Newspaper.
Daily, it is a struggle to wrap my mind around this harsh reality. The entirety of both my heart and prayers are with his wonderful family, as well as our good friends. Although 22 years seems to be a relatively short time for anyone to dwell on this earth, I am constantly amazed at the life that Ryan was enabled to live in such a short time. Passions quickly developed and multiplied... beautiful masterpieces completed in merely years...
I had the privilege of spending the past 2 summers alongside Ryan as we worked as maintenance men/painters
(Ryan often referred to our position as 'paintnance') at The Holmstad Retirement Home in Batavia, IL. Each summer, we spent more time with one another than with our respective families; painting fences, cleaning clogged gutters, moving furniture, sweeping roofs?, cleaning dumpsters?, painting 400 door frames, driving golf carts and over-sized trucks and wasting time with our good friend Adam.
The summers led to a sincere and fulfilling friendship that seemed to be perfectly hand-crafted and wonderfully choreographed... Ryan has taught me so much about life, passion, faith... his example and legacy continues to encourage and challenge me to dig deeper into this short time we spend on this earth. I am absolutely amazed... amazed...
-it is very helpful for me to share these experiences with you all... I will continue to share thoughts and stories about Ryan as they come upon my heart... ( I'm going to guess it will be quite a few!)
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Ryan was a wonderful photojournalist and writer...
Below is Ryan's last photo story that he completed for the Daily Egyptian...
It was printed the day after the crash...
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Photo Column: Standing like Statues
Ryan Rendleman
4/23/08
The San Damiano Retreat Center is located on the Ohio River about nine miles east of Golconda.
I was there over the weekend with my church for a Christian retreat. The beautiful scenery and isolated location makes concentration on God easy.
The above image was taken in a light-hearted manner as friends played spoons. The center is chock-full of similar statues and paintings. Most of them represent Jesus as a blue-eyed, blonde haired Westerner.
Apparently, we've all forgotten that he was not a product of the 1960s Haight-Ashbury district, the old hippie-laden area of San Francisco.
The statues, however, are symbolic of an even larger problem for Western Christianity than the misrepresentation of Jesus Christ. Too often, Christians who face no persecution or trials such as those living in most democratic, Western nations remain as sterile and lifeless as these statues.
Their relationship with God is a matter of attending Sunday service and then living their own lives the rest of the week. Their hearts are far from God.
The Pharisees were similar in this regard, and Jesus called them hypocrites. He wants a lifetime of whole-hearted devotion to Himself.
The church grows through leaps and bounds when faced with hardship as a result of its faith. An early Christian, Justin Martyr, said, "Though beheaded, and crucified, and thrown to wild beasts, and chains, and fire and all other kinds of torture, we do not give up our confession; but, the more such things happen, the more do others in larger numbers become faithful."
This type of persecution exists in the world today. Christians face real persecution in such places as Egypt, China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia and Iran. Western Christians, however, are shielded from this.
Would there be as many people in the West claiming Christ if they knew their lives were at stake? Would they stand?
I pray I would.
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