March 15th

Today is the Ides of March. (Whatever that means!)

5 years ago today things changed in my life.

March 15^th, 2002, was a Friday: the last day of spring break. I had just returned home from lunch with my mom and brother. I walked in the door and saw the answering machine light flashing. I pressed the button to check the messages. There was only one. It was my dad.

In the eighteen years of my life up to that point, I had seen my dad cry less than four times. He was a strong pillar in our family. But this time, without even seeing his face, I could hear his voice shaking and could imagine the tears welling in his eyes as he spoke his recorded message. “I just got a call from Dan’s brother Pat. Dan was in a terrible accident about an hour ago. He didn’t survive. The worst part is, the driver of the other vehicle was Dan’s older brother Ray.”

The words “He didn’t survive” were a devastating echo in my mind. “He didn’t survive.” This was the day after I was forced to say goodbye to my girlfriend, not knowing when I’d see her again (because she and her family were moving away to Kansas), and now I was forced to say goodbye to another dear, dear friend, never to see him again in this life.

Dan Mehan was thirty years old the day he was killed. He had been the music leader at our church for the previous five years. He was also my personal vocal coach, mentor, and a close friend. Just the previous summer, Dan and I were co-leaders on a mission trip to Mazatlan, Mexico. The circumstances surrounding his death were bizarre; his own brother was the instrument that sent Dan to eternity. However, there was great peace knowing Dan was now singing with choirs of angels in heaven. Less than two weeks before his death, Dan admitted to a friend that he had finally come to a point in his life where he felt that if God wanted to take him home, he was ready. Dan struggled with the fact that he was thirty and had never been married. But just before he died, Dan saw a glimpse of God’s plan. After he died, the rest of us saw the bigger picture.

There were over a thousand people at Dan’s funeral. Like with the death of my great-grandma, I was compelled to write a song after receiving news of Dan’s passing in honor of Dan and the God he loved. I was asked by Dan’s mother, Rosie, to play and sing this at his funeral. I did with humble gladness. I struggled with the rest of the semester that year. I was a senior looking forward to graduating, but found it difficult to find as much happiness in my life as I had felt when Paige was near and Dan was alive.

Here is the song that I wrote 5 years ago, "Danny's Song":

Oh Danny Boy, we'll miss you friend
And though you're gone I know we'll meet again.
Now you're home and you feel fine,
And all things work in God's time.

You're finally home, you've made it before us,
But we'll meet you there somewhere down the road.
But Dan, we know you won't wait for us
To bow in praise before the throne.

You're singing now with a choir of angels
With a voice that's even greater than the one you shared with us!

And you sing,
Hallelujah to a sovereign God
Who loves us in life and is with us in our deaths;
Creator, Sustainer, and Taker of life--
Let His holy name be blessed!

Oh Danny Boy, it's hard to let you go--
Our eyes will cry but our minds know
Though it seems you're lost, you're finally found
In His arms, on solid ground.

Fear no more, and goodbye pain!
Life and joy evermore the same.
Eternal rest and pleasant songs
Sung by you with angelic throngs.

You're singing now with a choir of angels
With a voice that's even greater than the one you shared with us!

And you sing,
Hallelujah to a sovereign God
Who loves us in life and is with us in our deaths;
Creator, Sustainer, and Taker of life--
Let His holy name be blessed!

While you lived, Christ lived in you;
He was your God, your Savior, too.
And now in Christ you live again
This time dwelling in heaven.
And to Jesus you sing...

Hallelujah to a sovereign God
Who loves us in life and is with us in our deaths;
Creator, Sustainer, and Taker of life--
Let His holy name be blessed!