Lost in all the national attention surrounding the death of Whitney Houston this weekend, was a local death here.
Mike Pueppke, a good friend and a decent rock-n-roll lead and power rhythm guitar player, died last night after a long battle with leukemia. He was only 29 years old.
Mike was a multi-talented and multi-faceted person. He was an adjunct Literature professor at Dallas Baptist University. He was a PhD student at SMU. He was a husband to a lovely and loving wife, and had son who will soon turn 2 years old.
I visited with Mike many times at the Cancer Center at Baylor-Dallas Hospital. I was one of Mike's pastors. That was a privilege. I learned a lot from him. He had a very dignified, calm and grace-filled faith . . . faith that I have seldom seen in people many years his senior.
Through his buying and selling guitars on eBay, he got to know Sean Simon, one of my best friends. Sean was very blessed by getting to know and have lunch with Mike, especially these last couple of months.
I do not begin to presume if there is any justice to life when you die at 29. To me, as I approach my 55th birthday, 29 seems awfully young. Unlike many who are the same age, Mike leaves a long and large legacy. He accomplished quite a bit in 29 years. People would meet him, and just walk away afterward knowing they needed to work on stuff in their lives.
I know I did.
God's grace, and people like Mike Pueppke, still amazes me daily . . . ><>
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We never met Michael, but we work for his aunt, Karen Rehder. We have come to know him through her. We have been touched by his faith and challenged by his written words. Our office shares in the loss of a great man of faith. All of you are in our thoughts and prayers during this time. Blessings, Penny Chen, Sandra Hazel, Rachel Sapienza, Rebecca Lombardo, Amber Cvetich, and Ann Hodgin.
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