Heaven’s Citizen On Earth (October 3, 2004)

My sons' high school is in mourning today. A student, Roosevelt (Rosie) Jones, collapsed and died while playing a pickup basketball game Sunday evening.

I knew Rosie. Not well, but I had met him and talked with him a number of times while playing ball at the YMCA. I have been favorably impressed with all the Neuqua High players I've met over the past couple years - they’re really good kids - but none was more courteous,pleasant or joyful than Rosie. He was a 6'5" skinny black kid, simple-natured, with a huge smile and a high-five for everybody, even for a fat, 40-plus white guy like me who didn't belong on the same court. I remember his eyes widening with eagerness when he asked me, "You a coach?" No, just a fan - but, hey, thanks for thinking I might be a coach.

After talking basketball with him one time I came home and told my son Ben that Rosie was one of nicest kids I ever met. Ben confirmed that he was just the same way at school. I later found out that Rosie was so popular that, in blowout games where Neuqua's subs got to play, students in the stands would chant, "RoSIE, RoSIE" till the coach put him in.

What I didn't know was that Rosie was a Christian. This morning's Chicago Tribune says that Rosie's "passion for basketball was exceeded only by his Christian faith." He led the team prayers, was active in his church, and planned to go to a Christian college in order to be an evangelist some day. I'm not surprised.

May God grant that his example continue to speak to those who remember him. Rosie not only articulated his faith, he lived it. By age 17 he achieved what I have always longed for but stumbled short of attaining - the grace to project Christ through transcendent personality. The Apostle Paul calls it being the "fragrance of Christ" (2 Corinthians 2:15). An aroma like that can live in the memory, and I pray it will do just that for those who knew Rosie. May many of them be drawn to the Source of Rosie’s joy.