Update

I feel like I need to post something here or everyone will assume that I'm never going to post again. Its been hard times here for the last few days. Around 6PM on the 4th we found out that one of my friends died suddenly on a church backpacking trip. I wasn't extremely close to him, but he was pretty close to both my little brothers, and he was more than an acquaintance to me. In addition to the pain of having a friend die, many of my friends from church were on the trip with him and were with him when he died, which has caused some additional trauma to many of them. As you can imagine they are in various stages of emotional and spiritual turmoil -- I don't think most people ever have to watch a friend fall over dead before their eyes, but its especially hard given the circumstances and their ages (my friends from the trip are between 17 and 19, but there were several kids around 15 on the trip as well). Its been very hard for everyone who knew him because his death was so sudden and unexpected.

His name is Nathan Bell. He was 17 years old and an experienced back-packer. Apparently he had altitude sickness but didn't know it because he had a small cold when they left for the trip. They had been gone 5 days and he had been feeling sick all week, but hadn't shown many signs of altitude sickness -- I assume that he didn't complain about the headache he must have had because he figured he was just sick and didn't want to slow down the group. That morning they were on their way home, but he woke up dizzy, weak, and pale. They were about two miles from the trail head when he died. The guides -- his youth pastor and youth pastor's brother -- administered CPR for almost 2 hours, but, knowing now what killed him, it was useless. The medical examiner said unless a doctor had been there within 10 minutes that nothing would have helped him. He had pulmonary and cerebral edema, which I guess are common in advanced stages of altitude sickness. The swelling in his brain killed him, so by the time he died there was really nothing anyone could do. They only knew his condition was serious for a few hours before he died, and they had no idea how serious. Although he was feeling very sick that day he was hiking and collapsed on the trail when he died. He had been backpacking many times before, so he was the last one anyone thought would have problems. It has been especially hard for some of the kids on the trip, especially my girlfriend's sister, because they prayed non-stop during the hours between when he collpased and when the park rangers came and pronounced him dead for God to save him, and now they feel like God ignored their prayers. Its also been especially hard on the guides. As you can imagine they blame themselves, but there is no way they could have known since he was not throwing up and didn't complain about his headache.

Nathan would have been 18 on Sunday. His Boyscout troop awarded him his Eagle Scout posthumously yesterday. He had finished all the requirements and only needed the formality, so he was deserving of the award. His younger brother just turned 16. His older brother is 22 and has been living in Russia as a missionary and will be home later today. Nathan had just graduated from high school and was planning on attending Colorado State University in the fall, I'm not sure if he had decided what to study there. He was active in the youth group and had started participating in the college group. He also played bass in a local band and was interested in all sorts of A/V art. He is already deeply missed.

Anyone who is of the praying sort please pray for Nathan's family, the other kids on the trip, and the guides. Its been a hard few days for all of us who knew him, but the worst for them. If anyone is going to be in Aurora on Saturday the memorial service is at 10AM at New Life EFC. Anyway, that's why I haven't been posting. Thanks for your prayers.