On Saturday I opened my phone to find news that Taylor Hawkins had died. That name might mean very little to some who read this. But it is a name which means a lot to me. Taylor was the drummer of the Foo Fighters, one of the biggest and best bands of the past 25 years.
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Twenty-five years ago, in 1997, I was in year 8 at high school. In a music class that year I was taught how to play a basic drum beat for the first time. I was hooked. From then on I would irritate everyone within earshot by banging away on anything I could find.
I asked dad to buy me a drum kit but he resisted initially, wanting me to learn a "real instrument" like piano or guitar first. Coming from a bass player, that still seems a little rich! However one day after church I jumped on the drum kit. I guess he realised I wasn't going to be dissuaded so he bought me my first drum kit.
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1997 was also the year in which Taylor became the drummer for the Foo Fighters.
Eventually I would have a few drum lessons. But for the most part I learnt to play by sitting in my room, cranking my stereo as loud as it would go, and trying to copy the drummers of my favourite bands. The Foo Fighters quickly became one the bands I would try to imitate the most.
I guess that is why I have found this particular "celebrity death" sadder than most. Hawkins and his band have brought me so much joy over the years.
I'll never forget the first time I saw them live. It was in a small enough place that I was able to get close to the stage and really see some of the intricacies of Taylor's drumming and be in awe of what he could do behind the kit.
It is sad to think that I will never have the joy of seeing him in action again. Even if the band finds another drummer for their planned tour in December, I will be seeing someone other than the drummer who has given me so much joy for the last 25 years.
Yet the simple reality is that life in this world is fleeting. All of us live with the sadness of times when those people and things which have been most special to us, have been lost. All of us live with the knowledge that our own days in this life are numbered, yet none of us can know when our time will be up.
In moments such as the one I have experienced in recent days, I have found comfort in God's promise of a future which is permanent, rather than fleeting, and joyous rather than sorrowful. And I find myself turning to the second last chapter of the Bible to remind myself of what God tells me I can look forward to because of Jesus.
"Then I saw 'a new heaven and a new earth,' for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
"He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new!'"
