Steven Irsheid experienced twenty-nine years of a meaningful life.
Friends as Family
Steven counted Marie Renaud, MLA for St Albert, Rev. Mark MacKnight, Vice President of Vanguard College, pastors at North Pointe and a few dozen staff at Lo Se Ca as friends and family.
Steven’s Favourites
He not only read the entire Bible, he graduated from Bible College.
He never missed a Sunday at his church unless he was sick.
Steven had a passion for missionaries and experiencing a missions trip was on his bucket list.
He supported a child through Compassion International.
He cared a lot about people.
Books were a special interest – especially the Harry Potter series. He could tell you any paragraph from the book.
Steven had many pages of plans for his 30th birthday to be spent in Toronto.
He believed in the power of God and heaven.
Steven’s Heaven
Steven journaled, “Heaven is a place prepared for us, unlimited by physical properties. We will have new bodies. A truly wonderful experience of God’s presence. New emotions. No more death. Eternal life is so wonderful, it is beyond our imagination.”
He knows exactly what heaven is like now.
When I first heard the news of Steven’s death I was shocked, saddened, and numbed by a sense of loss. I heard a common refrain.
At Steven’s memorial, Mark MacKnight reflected, “The last time I saw him was in the hallway of North Pointe on a Sunday morning, and saying ‘Hey Steven!’ He seemed to be a man on a mission that morning and I wish we had spoken longer.
My lasting impressions of Steven come from the consistent theme that would arise whenever we sat together. We would have conversations about life or about school. There were two predominant ideas that Steven would always talk about.”
Steven’s Passions
“First, there was a passion to know and live to honour as he would say, ‘his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.’
The second idea that he would express just about every time we met was his deep longing to develop and enjoy meaningful friendships and relationships. He would talk about Young Adults at North Pointe, events at Vanguard (especially if they involved food), exploring a variety of networks and connection points to develop friendships.
Two impulses…to be close to God and to be close to others.”
Marie Renaud counted Steven as a friend. She met Steven as the Director of Lo Se Ca. He was a resident. At the memorial service she spoke affectionately about him like a younger brother.
Steven’s Beliefs
I am absolutely confident I will see Steven again in heaven.
And when I see him I will know him. And he will know me. I’m not sure if he will call me Pastor Bob or just Bob but I am convinced he will ask me a question.
Every one of our conversations started and ended with Steven’s question for me. One question always led to another and another and sometimes we circled back to the same question he had already asked just so he could be certain of the answer.
At Steven’s memorial service we shared one of his core beliefs.
“God says if you follow Him he will make your journey in life easier and you will be rewarded in your afterlife with eternal life.”
Life is not about the amount of days you live on this earth, its about what you fit into those days. A brief life is not an incomplete life.
Did you know Steven? How did his life give meaning to yours? Please leave a memory below. Thank you.
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Steven was a kind and gentle man. He will be missed by his friends at Autism Edmonton. Condolences to the family and all those who cared for Steven.
Thank you for posting Brooke and for your thoughts about Steven.
We were taking a ‘Streams’ course with Steven. When it came to prayer time, we asked for prayer as we were involved in fertility treatments and were hoping it would have positive results. Steven prayed that we would have ‘Babies.’ He is the first person to pray that we would have babies, not just a baby. This came true two years later, when we were blessed with twin boys!!
So good of you to share this. Inspiring! And touching. Steven’s life and prayers touched more people than we may ever know.
We have been gone a lot this summer and were shocked to here of Steven’s passing away. Larry and I had the privilege of getting to know Steven through praying with him and sitting with him during service. His worship to our Lord was amazing. We will miss you very much, Steven; but rejoice that you are now enjoying your eternal home!
Larry and Gudrun Tollefson