spread your broken wings and learn to fly . . .

My nephew's body was found under an overpass in Spanish Fork, Alabama this past week. Micah would have been 22 next month. No one really knows what happened. The cause of death was listed as "blunt head trauma" but no clue as to how that trauma occurred. Was he pushed? Did he jump? Was it an accidental fall . . .

We may never know.

Another mystery is his whereabouts since Christmas eve. Micah had been living in Mississippi, working as a plumber's assistant. His employer dropped him off at the airport in Gulf Stream, MI, on Dec. 24th so Micah could fly home and surprise his mom for Christmas.

(His mom is my sister, Shannon).

Shannon wasn't expecting Micah, so had no idea that he was missing until his employer called on Jan. 2nd, wondering why Micah hadn't shown back up for work. She called the police and filed a missing person report.

The police called following day and told Shannon that her description of Micah matched a body that had been found outside Mobile, Alabama. He had only recently expired . . . which raised even more questions. Where had Micah been and what had happened to him since being dropped off at the airport on Christmas Eve?

Again, there may never be any answers.

What we do know is this: Micah is with Jesus. Greg baptized him many years ago in the family's hot tub back in Kansas. Micah had many difficulties in his short life--including repeated abuse from a deranged step-father--but his broken little heart remained soft and he always loved his family. And Jesus.

I find it interesting--and comforting--that Micah's last known words were to the effect that he was going home. He may not have made it back to Kansas, but he is safely home, at last.

Greg and I leave tomorrow to fly back to Kansas, where Greg will do Micah's funeral. My sister wants the Beatle's song, "Blackbird" to be played during the service. It was Micah's favorite song, and a fitting epitaph of his brief life:

"Blackbird singing in the dead of night

Take these broken wings and learn to fly

All your life . . .

You were only waiting for this moment to arise"