It’s easy to take time for granted.

I did, and I never saw one of my best friends before losing him, because of it.

I played phone tag with Larsan Korvili for weeks during the summer of 2010. Apparently, I was “really busy,” and hadn’t seen him in a while.

Eventually, we connected on the phone a few days before he left for a school retreat, and agreed to get together to work out and catch up when he returned from home—but I never got the chance.

He passed away on that trip.

I’d like to avoid this becoming an “any day could be your last” article that won’t be valuable to you minutes after reading. No, what I’m going to do is tell you a concrete way to live your life the way in a way it should be, inspired by both Larsan’s life and death.

Larsan was interested in attending a military school after graduating high school—so what’d he do about it?

He met with administration to figure out exactly what he needed to do to pursue it. He attended the US Coast Guard Academy Introductory Mission, to expose himself to military rigors.

Larsan was interested in strengthening his faith—so what’d he do about it?

He openly spoke about his relationship with God, and how he believed that relationship bettered him. He was involved in his own church, and participated in school masses whenever possible.

Larsan was interested in being a great friend—so what’d he do about it?

He was readily available to anybody (I mean anybody) who needed support, and was universally known as someone who was reliable, kind, and thoughtful.

He even took it upon himself to give my freshman basketball team a halftime pep talk

Notice the the common denominator in Larsan’s decision-making, that made him the person he was: when he valued something, he pursued it immediately. He didn’t get caught in the “busy trap,” claiming “it wasn’t a good time” to pursue things he wanted.

Larsan’s rejection of this common approach led him to influence thousands of people to live with urgency after his passing in 2010.

Because we don’t necessarily have time to play with. I mean, maybe we do—but is it really worth the risk?

Larsan didn’t think so, and his example inspired me to live my life with a sense of urgency. Frankly, we all need a dose of this—because it’s not worth playing with time we don’t necessarily have.

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I wrote another article on what Larsan taught me about sacrifice HERE.