“He died young, but lived old.”
That’s how pastor Tommy Nelson described Kyle Ogle during Monday’s funeral. Kyle’s life ended at a much-too-young 38, but in the process he touched many with his full and deep and overflowing magnetism. Before the cancer and with the cancer, he was a bigger-than-life kind of guy.
As I mentioned in a Wednesday Wonder post last year, Corbin & I appreciated and admired both Kyle and Darla during our Baylor days. Kyle was a year older than Corbin, consistently kind and friendly and warm, a natural leader. Darla was tiny and lovely and classy and engaged others with her generous smiles. Carrying out the quite-coveted role of KOT sweetheart, she displayed a warm and nurturing and caring spirit even in college years.
It was said at the funeral that if you’d met Kyle for even five minutes, you knew him - what you see is what you get. The same could be said for Darla. Another commonality is their over-the-top, brilliant smiles. And their kids didn’t miss out in the gene pool. God created Ogle smiles to be dazzling and and wide and contagious.

My take-aways from Kyle’s service:
- The privilege of attending. Of joining a thousand people to honor Kyle and his family. Proximity allowed Corbin and I the gift of participating in this outpouring of love and gratitude for Kyle’s life.
- Kyle’s dazzling smile in every photo - with hair, without hair; with his arm, without his arm; that grin consistently exuding a supernatural joy.

- Hearing Kyle’s two friends, Tommy Saxon and Jeff Turner, speak beautifully and honestly and sincerely about their life-long friend. They offered MANY moments of comic relief relaying stories. Among my favorites were descriptions of the junior high boys hunting, skinning, and frying north Dallas squirrels (or cooking them over a campfire - in a shovel), and Kyle scaling a neighborhood tree with an automatic BB gun to “welcome” younger brother Brad’s friends to their home.
- Kyle worked hard to make others comfortable with his declining health. Keeping things light, spouting classic one-liners and hilarious come-backs, and keeping an eye on the eternal. Before his amputation, Kyle threw a “farewell to arm” party with his friends.
- Sharing the experience with my dear friend and roommate Kristin - an unexpected gift of time together. And watching Nan dart about making things happen. Incidentally, Nan is one of Darla’s best friends, so she and Jeff flew in from San Diego for the weekend, leaving Mike and his brothers in the care of both grandmothers.
- I could write pages about Darla, and I haven’t talked with her in years. Simply from observation - her balance of including others in this journey along with truly protecting her family. Her full-time job of caring for Kyle and making home a sweet place for the four of them. One of the guys related a story about a recent treatment phase, with Kyle exhausted and nodding off as Darla read aloud the side-effects of his drugs. At the top of the list was “inappropriate humor.” His eyes flew opened and he flashed that grin. Now he had an excuse…

The deep and humorous and full atmosphere from Monday’s service can be summed up with the poem Darla had printed on the inside of the program:

On a miserable day during the worst of chemo in 2007, I wrote a spin off of Rudyard Kipling’s “If” for Kyle to cheer him up. He read it and flashed me one of his 1000 watt grins. I hope it makes you smile. - Darla

If… for Kyle

If you can do more with one arm than most can do with two.
If you can smile though the reasons are few.
If you can face suffering with courage and grace,
And not begrudge others who aren’t in your place.
If you can look at the odds and know they’re against you
But fight even harder because “lose” is not in you.
If you can count your blessings in the midst of pain
And refuse to give up, even with little to gain.
If you can trust God when things don’t go your way.
And remember that Heaven is just a breath away.
If you can face a world obsessed with perfection,
And know you are complete, no matter the reflection.
If you know life is short but that it can be wide,
And you grab onto it and make the most of the ride.
If you can look Death in the face and still grin
Then no matter the outcome, I say you win.

Friends - Jeff and Nan and all three boys are still in San Diego and Mike is continuing to slowly heal. Precious insight from an e-mail Nan wrote a couple of days ago -

I was asking God to bring himself to us. It’s no longer the question, “Can the God of the universe do it?”, it’s “What will He do?” I don’t feel anxious about provisions, I don’t feel like I have to “plan” out our day, I don’t feel like or even want to control what each day holds.

And then, He swam among us. A few days ago there were hundreds (yes hundreds) of leopard sharks that came close to the shore line. Since we spent the last eight months going online to study sea creatures (in preparation for our vacation) we knew leopard sharks were harmless. We took Mike and Luke out, holding them close to our chests and walked waist deep into the water. The water was calm, remarkably almost no waves. And clear, so clear you could see the finest detail of the sharks fins. They swam so close they brushed against our legs. As we stood out there we thanked God for his creation. And if sharks were not enough, giant sea turtles with shells four feet across appeared out of nowhere and slowly swam to the deep. As the sea turtles disturbed the sand, frisbee sized sting rays arose and glided by. It was an orchestra of sea life in perfect harmony for our family to enjoy.

We spent the next few days talking about God’s creation and what a remarkable gift it was that He allowed us to see a picture of His creativity in the wild.

And then yesterday, as Luke would say, “God brought us a whale”. It’s not whale season. We were told they don’t ever come this early and never ever that close. Well, our little family seems to be defying the odds lately. And so, God, once again, brought Himself to us. We looked out our window and there it was. So close you could see the details of the hump and fins as it played in the water. For hours, it stayed in front of our room, going back and forth along the shoreline, never out of sight. Once again, we picked Mike up, gathered the other kids, sat on the sand and marveled at our God. Others were grabbing scuba gear and I, in my excitement, too rushed out in the water to swim with the whale.

He walks among us, with us and He is here orchestrating everything from the fall to the whale.
So many have asked, wanted to give you a couple of ways to keep up with the Lawrence family.

For photos and updates, go here, and to sign up for meals and prayer go to their care calendar. For the calendar, use these codes:
CALENDAR ID: 8051
SECURITY CODE: 3457

- Never underestimate a pink-plastic-high-heel-wearing two-year-old with an enormous planter of dirt

- Rhinestone necklaces and high heels and taking a break to teach ballet are critical elements for a family bike ride

- No such thing as enough photos of my girls with Cappy

- Long-lasting friendships really are golden (happy birthday, Paulette!)

- I’m finding contentment in watching Branson (top right-blonde) bloom where he’s planted…

- Hudson is slow and steady and meticulous with just about everything he works at…

- Purdy brightens any room, any situation (we’ve known this for awhile)

- Always expect the unexpected with Uncle Trey’s surprises

- I always, always want to be known as Bill’s daughter and Trey’s little sister (and Corbin’s wife and Hudson’s mom…)