Binil Mathew Samuel (1985-2007)

The following has been a part of my Facebook profile for the last year:

The person to the right is Binil Samuel. He passed away in a car accident on August 6th, 2007 at the age of 22.

He was not a perfect person. In fact, his sin destined him to eternal separation from Christ.

However, in his abbreviated life, he was passionate about the one thing that saved him from his own sin, Jesus Christ.

Binil did not do enough pious sacraments to earn heaven. He placed the destiny of his eternity on Jesus Christ's death and resurrection.

Here are a few characteristics that set Binil apart from the rest of the crowd:
• He was witty and funny yet able to have deep, serious conversation. This is a balance that few ever master. Some are natural comedians but struggle with discussing the tougher issues of life. Others are just the opposite. Binil was blessed with a personality that was both/and.
• He cared about people. It was over a year ago now that the 35W Bridge collapsed in Minneapolis. Binil was one of the first people to call and see how I was doing. This may have been expected for the closest of friends, but Binil and I had not seen each other in months.
• More than just a phone call, Binil had a huge heart for the kids at the Navjeevan Center. Most of these kids are born of women from the red light district in Mumbai, India.
• He had a bigger picture in mind when it came to life. One of the last emails we exchanged, he mentioned how he was about to start his professional career as a consultant with Accenture. Here was his last line in regards to the job:

The best part is I get 25 PTO, not including 9 holidays, and my future manager has said people take it all their PTO at once usually, so the possibility of me being able to travel on missions annually is a very reasonable reality.

The reason I say these things is to give you a sliver as to how incredible of a person he was. But the hope of all this is not to draw more attention to him. No, it is to point the glory towards Christ.

For the next few posts, I hope to work through a few passages that have brought affirmation, realization, and encouragement over the past year.

***If you have Facebook, you can check out his testimony on my profile.