Daniel Mark Larson, the son of Mark and Cynthia Larson, was born into the world on October 26, 1982, in Lexington, North Carolina. He passed into the glory of the Heavenly Country on March 14, 2024.

Daniel was a gifted carpenter, designer, cabinet maker, and successful businessman. He had a deep love for his wife Marci and his new-born son Micah. He was gifted with grace and wisdom beyond his years, able to discern the difference between good and evil, and calling upon the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, the One "who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil age" (Galatians 1:4).

We are comforted with the words of Paul: "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21) and "to be absent from the body" is "to be present with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8). We find consolation in the words of Jesus to the dying thief who asked for mercy: "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise." When Stephen was martyred, he "gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God" (Acts 7:56). Heaven indeed brings the vision of God and unspeakable happiness. Revelation 7:15-17 describes the experience of the saints in glory: "He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

All of Daniel's loved ones have deep sadness and grief, but we do not "sorrow as others who have no hope." The day will come when "the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:13, 16-17).

We believe in the biblical hope set forth by Jonathan Edwards in his sermon "Heaven: A World of Love": "Every gem which death rudely tears away from us here is a glorious jewel forever shining there. Every Christian friend that goes before us from this world, is a ransomed spirit waiting to welcome us in heaven. There will be the infant of days that we have lost below, through grace to be found again. There the Christian father, and mother, and wife, and child, and friend, with whom we shall renew the holy fellowship of the saints, which was interrupted by death here, but shall be commenced again in the upper sanctuary, and then shall never end. There we shall have companionship with the patriarchs and fathers and saints of the Old and New Testaments, and those of whom the world was not worthy."

The funeral service for Mr. Larson will be held at 12 o'clock on Thursday, March 28th at First Presbyterian Church, with the Rev. David H. Lauten officiating. The family will receive friends following the service in Jackson Hall of the Church. A private family burial will be held in Aiken, SC. Shives Funeral Home, Trenholm Road Chapel, is assisting the family.