You know, as you grow older, you start to lose people in your life. It starts with grandparents, uncles, aunts, sometimes siblings, parents, but then you start to lose your friends. It happened to me last week when I lost a good friend – Bob Anderson. Bob was tragically killed when he came into contact with a high voltage downed power line after a storm. I won’t get into the details of that but suffice to say that Bob is no longer with us and that is a true tragedy.

Bob and I have been friends for close to 40 years. Starting way back in the Greenlee’s Mountain Bike Team days, to skiing together and hanging out after rides. Bob was an educator at Central Catholic High School. He was a favorite teacher of many of the students there even though he was tough and demanding, with his curriculum of diet and exercise. Bob was an extremely fit mountain bike racer even at the age of 63. A plant- based eater, he always paid strict attention to his health and was a fierce competitor and was extremely hard to ride with as I am getting older. I kept telling him that nobody is going to the Olympics, but Bob finished second in a race three days before he died. I did way better having a conversation with Bob after a ride than during.

But the great thing about Bob was that there was much more to his character than just mountain biking and racing. He had a heart for people and was the first one to volunteer to guide blind skiers, put on soccer clinics, help out at his church, and in general, if you needed a hand, Bob was there for you.

We all attended Adventurefest together which is an annual event of Christian men getting together for a weekend of camping, riding, and other activities in the great outdoors of the Laurel Highlands. Bob was taken aback when he heard testimonies on Friday night at the cross with guys who have come back to Christianity after a history of broken homes, marriages, substance abuse, incarcerations, and other life hardships. Bob was a Christian man whose faith meant a lot to him, and we all had wonderful discussions at the campfires at night and he was always inquisitive about faith and what it meant to him.

Sunday he went to church up at Adventurefest and was the first to volunteer to permanently erect the cross at the Boyer’s Pond Campground for future Adventuremen events. The cool thing about the cross is that after the men give their testimonies, they pound a nail into the cross to signify that they have put it all back on the cross and have given their life to the saving power of Jesus. Very important to Bob.

Bob was a kind father to his two daughters, Paige and Brooke, and talked about them often on our rides. People knew Bob as an amazing mountain bike racer. Strong and competitive, he trained diligently for a long time. But there was so much more to the guy and people are just now starting to realize the other parts of Bob’s life that were truly exemplary.

The tough part about losing friends is that in most cases there is a catastrophic illness involved. People taken before their time. And many in my age group. I have lost a number of friends this year and last year. I thank God every day for my health. But this situation was a tough one. There is a lot of talk about negligence where I do not have the expertise to accurately comment. But it sure seems like this could have been avoided. But I do know one thing- Bob is in Heaven today. He went from Adventurefest, sitting around a campfire and talking about the Lord, and now two weeks later he is with Him in eternity. Wow. From Adventurefest to Heaven. Amazing! Thanks for reading

” Be dressed, ready for service and keep your lamps burning.” Luke 12:3

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