Tony Snow died of colon cancer this morning at the age of 53. He is best known as President Bush’s former Press Secretary.

But Tony and I first met 35 years ago, when were freshmen at Davidson College. We both loved philosophy, and had several courses together. Tony was a voracious reader, a quick thinker, and a prolific writer. Full of energy, full of ideas, adventurous in spirit, he clearly had an interesting life ahead of him. I took a year off between our junior and senior years, going to Kenya to teach secondary school. That year changed my life, as I focused for the next two decades on issues of economic development, spending several years overseas.  Tony corresponded with me while I was in Kenya, and, intrigued, decided to go himself the next year. He taught at the same school.

But he didn’t remain long. Development was not his issue. He returned to begin a PhD program in philosophy, but decided that that was not the right fit for him either. Two years after graduation he found his niche in journalism, and rose rapidly, eventually serving in the White House of the first President Bush, writing a syndicated op-ed piece, and anchoring Fox News Sunday prior to joining the White House a second time.

Tony’s faith in Christ deepened through marriage, children, and, ultimately, cancer. As he wrote last year in Christianity Today,

Picture yourself in a hospital bed. The fog of anesthesia has begun to wear away. A doctor stands at your feet; a loved one holds your hand at the side. “It’s cancer,” the healer announces.

The natural reaction is to turn to God and ask him to serve as a cosmic Santa. “Dear God, make it all go away. Make everything simpler.” But another voice whispers: “You have been called.” Your quandary has drawn you closer to God, closer to those you love, closer to the issues that matter—and has dragged into insignificance the banal concerns that occupy our “normal time.”

I last corresponded with Tony in April last year, after the news came out that his cancer had returned. Linda Longbrook had just died of ovarian cancer. I sent him my sermon from her funeral, and prayed that God “might sustain you and your family emotionally and spiritually; that He might enable you to hope in Him throughout the coming battles; that He might use even this disease, even this enemy, for His glory and ultimately for your good.”

I don’t know if Tony read those words – as a well-known public figure, he must have received thousands of notes and letters. But as the Christianity Today article shows, God answered that prayer. May His glory continue to shine through this man’s life and death, as we too embrace God’s call upon us, and focus on the issues that matter.