No SMALL Reputation ...

I met Craig while doing EFY in the summer of 2004. As his co-counselor, I had the opportunity to see him teach, lead, & be an example to the youth. I remember he had two boys that were obviously somewhat outcasts in their regular lives. It was very clear they had a difficult time socializing with their peers. I remember watching in awe how amazing Craig was with those two boys. I know because of Craig's love for them that the kids in our group accepted them with open arms as well.

I will also never be able to forget the blow-up penguin Craig took around with us *all* week! It came to games night, the dances, dinner, *everywhere.* At one point during the week, the poor penguin lost one of its flippers/fins/arms. I think looking back at that now, Craig would laugh at the similarity between he and the penguin. :)

I can recall the month Craig had his run in with the Mexican fireworks. We had been e-mailing each other back and forth & he had told me he was "single-handly conquering physics." I congratulated him on the feat (not knowing he had lost his hand). He continued to "joke" (as I thought) about only having one hand & coming up with crazy stories about how he lost it. All that kept going through my mind was, "Why is he trying to convince me he lost a hand?" I finally got a phone call one day from a friend who said, "Did you hear about Craig Decker? He blew up his hand!" I was still skeptical. I said, "Oh, he's been joking about that to me too all month." My friend then said, "No! I saw it! It's not there!" It then sunk in that Craig hadn't been joking that entire month and that his hand was really gone! I immediately called Craig almost bawling and began apologizing profusively. I can remember him laughing softly, finding the humor in the entire situation.

Some say that such a tragedy builds such an amazing character - not Craig - it was already there. The world was a better place because he was in it. I will never forget him nor the lessons of optimism and overcoming he taught. I love you, Craig.

--Mindy Thornley