THE LAUGHTER OF A CHILD

The laughter of a child has a power of its own.

Decades ago, while bringing my little kids to a church youth group called AWANNA up in Madison, Maine, I met Travis, an older teen, a young man really, with the most self-enhancing and contagious sense of humor. Confident. Big in stature. Larger than life with a ready smile. Positive but levelheaded. Always ready to help. Never degrading.

I'd been thinking about volunteering to help with this program. I watched Travis pick up my youngest son and hang him by the ankles. Squeals and laughter ensued. Both of them. My son, just a tyke, remembers this even to this day as one of his earliest memories.

Seeing Travis and my son interact, I readily joined that group and led portions of it for many years. Travis brought light and the love of the Lord with him every week. Kids love him. That says a lot.

As it happened, my wife and I moved our family away and joined a different church. My boys, older at this point but still young enough, wanted to join our new church's youth group, Ignite. Of course, that sounded good to me. I joined, too, serving as a student teacher for another big chunk of years. I recently retired from regular student leadership and now just fill in as a substitute when needed.

Travis unwittingly brought me into nearly three decades of working with youth at church.

Travis eventually married a sweet woman, Ariane, whom I've never met but hope to soon. They have three beautiful little children.

But not long ago and only in his thirties, Travis found out his body had been invaded by cancer. He fought for his family and his life. At no point did he lose his faith, instead trusting God and sharing the love of Jesus with nurses, doctors, and everyone around him. He kept his sense of humor throughout.

Earlier this year, the doctors gave him wonderful news. Cancer? In remission. He was cancer free! Let the celebrations commence!

Three days later, doctors sat him down. They'd been wrong. The cancer was back. And inoperable.

Travis passed away this morning, October 5th, 2026, at 5:42am.

My own church had been praying for Travis for months. They found out and shared this verse: "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope." 1 Thessalonians 4:13 (ESV)

Let me expand on this. Travis would want that.

We grieve, but not as others do. Those “others” are non-Christians, and they grieve hard. Because they have no hope. No hope? What hope is that?

You see, God is real. Really, he's real. Tons of evidence for his reality exists. (read Buckled https://link.amazon/B03Qe1jEI and Is God Real? https://link.amazon/B0g1xgidc)

If God is real, then his book tells a true story. Here's the bullet point version.

1. God created the world. Everything was very good.

2. We mucked it up with our rebellion against God. The world and everything in the universe was cursed, including you.

3. The punishment for this rebellion is death, which is separation from those whom you love and who love you.

4. Your soul is eternal. And so is the punishment for rebellion.

5. There's no way we can be good enough to meet God's standards to enter heaven and his love when we die. We will be judged by the holy creator God and found wanting.

6. This creates a separation from God and, after death, from those you love.

7. Jesus Christ, God's own son, lowered himself, came into the world, and died as the payment for our rebellion.

8. Jesus rose to life three days later, conquering death and eternal separation.

9. He paved the way for you to spend eternity with those who love you, including Jesus himself.

10. There is no measurable downside. Price paid in full. Just accept the truth of God, believe, and publicly proclaim your belief in and following of Jesus Christ.

What good news! Here's the hope found in that verse. Christians have that hope. While I grieve that he died in such a terrible and untimely way, I rejoice that I'll see him again. I have that hope. I'm sadder for those who don't have it.

This good news is what Travis lived for: to show people the hope of Jesus Christ. And he didn't do so in vain. I can't know how many people found faith and trust in Jesus because of Travis, but I'm betting it's a boatload.

Travis might smile in his I'm-not-serious way and say, "That's because I'm awesome." And he truly was. Still is. A child of the one true God. He's laughing with joy right now.