There would be another headstone next to my brothers right now if you hadn't found me, if you hadn't taken my bleeding heart in your hands and protected it and fought for it like I was your own.
I spent many minutes questioning this life and our God in your company and you always let me question and fume and debate until the day's end. You gave me a place to unpack my pain, to wade through my grief in raw honesty. You gave me a safe place to scream and yell and cry and, eventually, to heal. There was never any judgment in your eyes, never admonishment for the words coming out of my mouth, never anything other than love for my broken soul and a fierce desire to protect it from the biting jaws of this world.
In a way, you were the shepherd and I was the sheep. Without the path forward, the path beyond the most barren desert being illuminated, without the guidance and gentle (and sometimes not so gentle) prodding of the Shepherd, the sheep would have known nothing but more death, more slaughtering.
Thank you for saving me. Thank you for carrying on the worry of a big brother for his little sister and channeling it into a mentorship and a friendship that provided life for one, and thus, many. I love you with every ounce in my soul and will forever be the most thankful for the way you shepherded me, for the way you protected the sheep in me and saw me into lionhood. Without you nothing would have been possible.
Thank you & I love you.