Loncoy's Legacy

I wrote the below as a tribute to a young man who attended my church, his name was Andrew Loncoy and this week is the second anniversary of his death. As I was not blogging back then, the below was never published but it was shared with Andrew's family and I wanted to ensure his legacy from my perspective, made it into print.

I will always remember the first time I met "Longcoy", as the kids at A.C. Reynolds High School called him. I was at my daughter Emily's X-Country meet last fall, it was at an away location, and he was seated in the driver's seat of the school bus the kids had taken to get there. He was a senior, and he had aspirations of becoming a school bus driver one day. Aspirations is perhaps the wrong word - he was a bit obsessed with the idea. He always had a smile on his face and a story to tell, if you let him. He loved buses and cars. He knew everything about them, or so it seemed. He reminded me a bit of the energizer bunny, he never stopped moving, laughing or talking. I recall that he didn't seem to care what others thought of how he acted, how he dressed, or how he talked. He was a bit slow, in terms of mental capacity, but that didn't stop him from being part of the social fabric of the high school. After he felt comfortable around me (and that didn't take too long!), referring to me as "Emily's Dad", he remarked how much he admired my VW Passat. He said VW's were his favorite cars.
The last time I saw Longcoy was in church two weeks ago. He was in his favorite front row seat, singing and dancing with arms lifted high as we sang the praise and worship song "He Reigns". I remember thinking about how cool he looked up there, freely expressing his love for his Lord, not thinking for a moment about what others thought of him and how he looked. I remember wanting to do the same, with the same reckless abandon, but clearly (if I was honest with myself) worried about what others would think of me - especially my kids, I didn't want to embarrass my kids! I chose to sing and watch Longcoy, admiring his every move and the innocence of his heart. The amazing thing about that experience was the irony of it all for me - I had developed an admiration for his natural, unabashed expression of his faith and he had developed an admiration for my car. It confirmed to me once again that my example to others needed to be greater than what I owned, who I knew, how I dressed, or how I "looked".
My daughter Emily called me from a sleepover at a friend's house late Sunday night, awakening me at midnight to tell me that Andrew Clifford Longcoy hadn't made it home from our Church Picnic that day. He died tragically in a one-car accident, losing control of his car and hitting a tree. We talked for a bit, and I remember not having the right words to tell her. I thought about Longcoy's short, but full life all day yesterday, and last night around the dinner table we talked about the kid who longed to be a bus driver. Emily commented that for sure, he's in heaven, and God has him behind the wheel of a school bus. Amen.
I felt compelled to share Longcoy's brief story and his impact on my life. Next time I am in church, I will try to summon the courage and display the outward expression of love for his Creator which he showed week in and week out from the front row of Covenant Community Church.