Some things are game changers

I was born and raised in the Roman Catholic Church. My parents rushed my baptism so my grandfather could see it before he went into the hospital for experimental surgery to remove cancer in his throat and vocal cords the next day. My grandfather's desire to see me become a member of God's family before he underwent a procedure he might not have survived always meant a lot to me. I've always seen that day as one that was very special to my life.
  But I was not the only baby baptized in that ceremony that day. A little boy who was just over a month old was being baptized with me. We ended up going to the same elementary school and being in the grade. He was the most popular boy in the whole school. He was not one of those popular boys who was popular but they was not very nice to unpopular kids. No, he lived the Christian ideals. When I say he was popular I mean that everybody was his friends and everyone liked him because he was genuinely nice to them. We also had faith formation together. We ended up having all our sacraments together.
  I remember a few days after we received the sacrament of confirmation (it's where we are considered adults in the church because the Holy Spirit comes down upon us and we are to go out and evangelize the Word) him pulling me aside to talk to me. He asked me if I felt any different since confirmation.
  Honestly, at first I thought he was just fooling around but then I realized he was serious. He told me how he had felt different since that night, how he felt the Holy Spirit inside of him. I was happy for him. Then he shared a secret with me. He told me if he continued to feel like this then maybe he should become a priest.
  He never became a priest. In gave into all the fun and temptation that comes along with high school. Maybe he was mistaken about his calling or maybe he felt that he had sinned and strayed to far to be able to come back, no one will ever know. His thinking about becoming a priest was a secret I kept to his grave. Yes, his grave. He died less then a month after turning 25 years old and you guessed it, another drug overdose.

To Be Continued...