“Hey guys, this is James.” That’s how James began his voicemail message. Tammy and I have been blessed to share his story and legacy a number of times since 2011. Today marks 12 years since we lost James. The first night there, Sheriff Chris Prine said, “We’re not leaving until we find him.” At that point, I think everyone anticipated James would be found quickly. After a few days, however, we realized it would not be a quick process. At that point, someone told us we should bring pictures of James to the clubhouse at Ocean Pond. This allowed the search teams to see who they were searching for. Without using words, we were effectively saying, “Hey guys, this is James.” A few days later, Jessica Watson, a friend of James from Lowndes High School came down to Ocean Pond with a poster she and the graphic arts teacher from Lowndes had put together. It was a profile picture of James with the Bible verse Mark 9: 23, “As far as possibilities go, EVERYTHING is possible for the person who believes.”
We put one poster in the front room of the clubhouse along with the photos. I think Barbara Grondahl recommended putting one down in the command center where the search teams gathered and planned the day’s search efforts. It provided another opportunity to say, “Hey guys, this is James.”
As the days moved forward we were blessed with so many of James’ friends and teachers sharing stories about James, effectively telling us, “Hey guys, this is James.” We heard stories from Coach Ashley Henderson who told us, “I was known as being friendly when I was in high school, but James was a friend.” Coach Bart Shuman would tell us, “James didn’t have a group. Everyone was his group.” We received similar stories from so many others. “Hey guys, this is James.” Several days in, somebody made us aware of the words James had written in The Clock is Ticking that started with “Take time to love someone.” 219 words that tell you everything you need to know about how to live your life. Lisa Colburn, Tracy Jones, Tracy Gill and Stacy Joye created the t-shirts that soon bore those words. James Daniel printed a poster with James’s picture from his football Senior Night and the words to The Clock is Ticking that joined the other pictures in the front room. “Hey guys, this is James.” The story didn’t end like we wanted it to. James was recovered on the morning of January 31st and we held his celebration service on February 5th. We thought James’ story was over. But God. God continued to bring stories to us. Stories like the student who had James’ senior homeroom teacher that next year who frequently talked about James. She asked the student if they knew James, to which they replied, “No ma’am. I only met him once. I was having the absolute worst day of my life and walking down the hall between classes. James was running down the hall the other way. He saw me, stopped running and crossed the hall to tell me, “Whatever it is, God can handle it.” That was my only encounter with him.” “Hey guys, this is James.”
One year after losing James, over 100 people gathered at Ocean Pond to remember James. Jason Murphy, one of James’ best friends said, “He knew he could make a difference in everyone’s life just by being that one guy that makes the nerd’s day by saying hey with that wonderful smile of his or the guy who makes a girl feel as beautiful as she looks just by saying a few encouraging words. He showed his love for God by showing unconditional love to his neighbors. James had the kind of love for everyone that you read about in the Bible.”
We continue to move forward with James’ story as God continues to bring stories and experiences to us. Dick Yarbrough wrote about the experience. The Athens Banner Herald wrote about James. Joe Vitale from UGA Wire wrote about James. Scholarship applicants for his scholarship write about James. Stories about James’ picture on their mirror for 10 years after hearing his story for the first time. Stories from a young lady in a sorority at Valdosta State who had James’ picture on her mirror and her friends asking her who the cute guy was. She then shared James’ story with them. All as if to tell us, “Hey guys, this is James.”
I worked for Brad Head for the two years before he retired this past summer. Tammy and I attended his change of command ceremony. He had told me he would be mentioning James in his words for the ceremony. He introduced the story and led into events on the first day of the search to share about his boss, Colonel Russ “Bones” Cook. Brad shared that Bones was the aircraft commander of the first helicopter on site that first night. He said as they were preparing to depart, Bones’ co-pilot said words to the effect of “we can’t go yet. I don’t have the paperwork complete.” Bones replied with words (and I’m paraphrasing), “you can stay here and finish the paperwork. I’m going to find that young man.” Brad wanted all to understand the type of leader he was blessed to work for. Tammy and I didn’t know this story, but I asked Bones if he would share some of his memories from those 17 days. He would share that the combat rescue officer on board that night was Mike Vines, now the commander of the 38th Rescue Squadron. Mike has swum in the TCT7 Swim the past two years to honor James. Both of these men, along with all of the search teams, are heroes to us. I asked if I could get a picture with them this week, and they made time to do that. I shared that this Sunday would be 12 years, to which Bones replied, “I keep James’ card and picture on my computer.” “Hey guys, this is James.”
The day after the picture we started our day of giving and began at Second Harvest with our friend, Franklin Richards. His oldest son, Noah, was also there. Noah was a 2018 James Eunice Legacy Scholarship recipient. Noah recently had surgery, and his parents shared that before the surgery the nurses told Noah he had to remove all jewelry. He was wearing one of James’ bracelets and Noah told them he never took it off and then shared James’ story with the medical staff preparing to perform his surgery.
I mentioned Coach Mark Richt earlier. He spoke at an event for James in February 2012. Joe Vitale wrote about the event several years later, and included Coach Richt’s words from that night. Joe wrote, “(James) was special,” Richt said. “He is worthy of this kind of event. He was all about people coming to know Jesus Christ. That is his legacy. His legacy is not what a great kid he was, which he was, it’s not how friendly he was to so and so. The legacy is, he was making a difference in someone’s life.” Joe closed the article with the words, “his legacy continues to lift the spirit and invest in others. A Dawg forever.” “Hey guys, this is James.”
We look back today, still in disbelief that James is not with us. But also marvel that all God has done and continues to do through James’ life and legacy. We marvel at the stories we learned during those 17 days about a young man we thought we knew so well, about the impact he made, about the depth of his faith. We don’t like the story, but we don’t have to. James wrote in The Clock is Ticking, “Keep your faith in Him.” That has been so vital on this journey. Nicholas Wolterstorff wrote the book Lament for a Son detailing his thoughts about the loss of his own son. He wrote, “I will not look away. I will indeed remind myself that there’s more to life than pain. I will accept joy. But I will not look away from his death. I owe that to him and to God.” He describes faith perfectly when he says, “Faith is the footbridge that you don’t know will hold you up over the chasm until you’re forced to walk onto it.”
We’ll be sad today and reflect, but we’ll also rejoice. Not because James is gone, but because he lived and because God blessed us to spend 17 years with him. We love him. We miss him daily. And we’re so very thankful for the stories that remind us, “Hey guys, this is James.”