I did not know Jeremy personally...

When I heard of his passing, many of my close friends expressed their shock and pain and filled me in about who he was. From where I stood, he always seemed like a man who was living every second of life as if it was his last. On the mat, he was one of those refs that you were glad to see on tournament day. As always, when this type of tragic news hits, my heart clings to God's word. If there's anything that should cause you to become discouraged or to lose heart, it would be to face death every day. To realize that even though you may be healthy, that this could be your last day. Even though you had great plans and you felt like there were things to do and there was some measure of necessity for you being around, there was the possibility of some pain and some suffering that could cause your death, to be able to look death in the face and say, "We do not lose heart," is to have ultimately conquered the greatest enemy. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 2 that Satan holds men bondage to the "fear of death" all their life long. It is the greatest fear. It is the ultimate fear. And when you come to the place where you have conquered that fear, you have conquered the ultimate enemy. And the apostle Paul could say that... "We do not lose heart."

And the reason he can say that is very important. He said this: "We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." The way you ultimately do not lose heart in facing death is to see it not from a physical way, but from a spiritual one.

This ultimate rest and peace in my life is the truth that Jesus Christ came from heaven to this earth, lived a perfect life and willingly died on the cross for the sins of the world.

I don't know where Jeremy stood before God. I do know that he will be greatly missed by many and it's time for all who knew him to rally around his family. These are the times that we all should take inventory in our lives, speak from the heart, work on our patience and caring for every one of our relationships. It's times like these that Romans 5 tells us, these trials bring about perseverance.

Pray for the Struemph family...