This week as I was putting the paper together and debating on the topic of my weekly column when I came across a familiar name in our obituary section.
\nDaniel Ramsey.
\nI couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t figure out why the name rang a familiar bell until I read the entire obituary.
\nI reported on Daniel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fight with cancer (June 24, 2003) and Montgomery Chiropractic Clinic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work to help find a bone-marrow transplant.
\nAt the time I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t very interested in covering the story. I was caught up in a number of other stories the morning of the press conference with the family.
\nI wanted to pass the story along to an intern or another reporter, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.
\nEspecially now.
\nI only met Daniel and his family once, but I will always be struck by his calmness, bravery and sweet spirit.
\nIt was well with his soul.
\nDaniel was down to his last chance for a transplant.
\nHis family members had been rejected and now he was left with finding a possible donor from the general public.
\nYet, it was well with his soul.
\nI was so touched by Daniel and his family that I did something I should have done a long time ago, add my name to the National Registry of Bone Marrow Donors.
\nI unfortunately didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t keep in touch with the Ramsey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s after the bone-marrow drive that was held for Daniel, but if his last six months were anything like the brief moment of time I had to meet him, they were well with his soul.
\nDaniel loved his family and loved life, yet even in the face of death — it was well with his soul.
\nI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve heard various people from time-to-time comment that a writer they read was always in search of themselves.
\nThe more I write the more I think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s true of all writers who are really honest with themselves and their readers.
\nI think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why we write.
\nWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in search of ourselves and ultimately something greater than ourselves. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re always questioning things.
\nAs I look back at some of my writings I can easily see a pattern and see that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m in search of myself and something greater.
\nMaybe it comes across to you, the reader, with more certainty than I feel, but the questioning is always there in my mind and in many ways I hope it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always there.
\nAs I turn 25 next week I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve realized that for all intensive purposes my life is a quarter of the way over.
\nIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a small quarter-life crisis I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m in.
\nI think my quarter-life crisis can be defined \u00e2\u20ac\u0153as searching now — to be assured that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t end up having a mid-life crisis at 50.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n25 years from now — I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll likely look back on my life and wonder if I chose the right path.
\n50 years from now — I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll likely look back and wonder if my life made a difference at all.
\nI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll wonder if anything I ever did or said or wrote will be remembered by anyone.
\nIt seems like lately I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been replaying the final scene of Saving Private Ryan through my mind as well.
\nPvt. Ryan is standing in a cemetery of World War II soldiers and he recalls the last words Capt. John Miller told him — the man who gave his life to bring Ryan home to his mother. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Earn this.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nRyan turns to his wife and seems to beg her for assurance that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s earned the sacrifices Miller and others made for him.
\nSo as I break the quarter-century mark I continue to really question what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m doing with my life and if I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m on the right career track or heading down the right path.
\nMaybe I should pack up and head to Asia or Africa for missionary work.
\nOr maybe I need to stop everything and focus on my side business.
\nThere\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a number of if\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and maybe’s I could stress over if I took the time.
\nBut in the long run I just want to live a life content and happy so that at the end of my life I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to look back and wonder if I did my best or chose the right path.
\nI want to always be able to say, no matter how many questions may come, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It is well with my soul.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nSo while I remember Daniel, I hope that his family will know that he did make a difference to someone. I only wish I could have told him myself.
\nAnd I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not the only one.
\nSo, for Daniel and the Ramsey family:
\nWhen peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It is well, it is well with my soul.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nThough Satan should buffet, though trials should come, let this best assurance control: that Christ has regarded my helpless estate and he hath shed His own blood for my soul
\nIt is well, with my soul.
\nMy sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not in part, but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord O my soul!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nAnd Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight. The clouds be rolled back like a scroll, the trumpets shall sound, and the Lord shall descend, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Praise the Lord, it is well with my soul!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n– Horatio G. Spafford<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This week as I was putting the paper together and debating on the topic of my weekly column when I came across a familiar name in our obituary section. Daniel Ramsey. I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t figure out why the name rang a familiar bell until I read the entire obituary. I reported on Daniel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fight with cancer … Continue reading My (Small) Quarter-Life Crisis<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2090],"tags":[2088,2089,2092],"class_list":["post-25","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns-reflections","tag-belton-journal","tag-columns","tag-newspaper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pEnSo-p","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}