I met him 28 years ago. We did not like each other in the beginning. He was loud and I was much more reserved. We were both fiercely competitive, which on more than one occasion proved to be our undoing. We both hated to lose and this was born out in hundreds of games of playground basketball.
One trip to the Howard Payne University cafeteria together and a friendship was born. A true brotherhood that has stood nearly three decades. That one trip to the cafeteria led to him rooming with me and permeating every part of my life. He was there to help make the introduction with Brenda. He shared a class with her and my eye had been on Brenda since she started school at Howard Payne. We waited one day until she sat her tray down with her friends. When she left to get her drink we moved in. Three years later I asked her to marry me. He even helped with the proposal delivering my marriage proposal to the press box announcer at a Howard Payne football game. When she said yes at the start of the fourth quarter he was the first person I gave a high five. He was my best man when I married Brenda. He allowed me the privilege to preach his marriage ceremony to Dawn several years later.
He has been there for me in the high moments of life. God has used him time and time again to connect me to some ministry opportunity. God has used him to open doors for me in preaching youth camps, retreats, revivals, and going to serve on staff at churches. His circle of friendships is wide and mine much smaller. He laughs and makes me laugh time and time again. He is everything I am not.
He is also real. There is no pretense with him. We have shed tears together as well as laughed together. Like when they found is brother dead in his apartment we hurt together. I was honored when he let me preach his mother's funeral just a couple of years ago. We walked that sorrowful season of grieving together. It was not an easy time for him. We endured it together.
We have both seen great times in ministry and we have walked the road of suffering as well. In all of it he has been there to pray for me, to support me, to give me counsel, to offer unconditional love, and to stick closer than a brother.
Over the years we have not always agreed. We have spoken hard and sometimes harsh words to each other but that has not dampened our friendship. It runs deep. We are bonded by our mutual love for Jesus Christ and each other.
We are not collegians filled with high dreams and running around foot loose and fancy free anymore. We are now middle aged men with families of our own. We have both been wounded deeply by church people. While others have broken our trust we have always proven to be trustworthy and been there for one another. ALWAYS. We can turn a conversation on a dime from sports trivia to deep soul talk as we bear our deepest hurts and regrets with one another. This is a treasured gift in this world.
We are both family men now. I have four boys and Jennifer and he has three boys of his own. He is a great husband and a father. He loves and serves his family along with countless others who cross his path.
We are different. He is gregarious, loud, outgoing, has never met a stranger, a talented musician, quick witted, funny, and creative. He loves people with more than words. He loves people with deeds. He is one of the most generous people I have ever known. More than once, when he had so little, he shared it with me. If either of us had money in college we shared it. I rarely had money back in those days and he did most of the sharing. Little has changed. He still does most of the sharing.
I admire him as I watch him work. Whether his work be leading a congregation in worship for a revival, leading a group of students in fun and worship at a youth camp, or talking from his heart to the students he has impacted over nearly three decades of ministry I am awed. I wish I could love people a fraction as much as he does. I wish I could impact the lives of those around me half as much as he does. I wish I could serve people with the deepest humility like he does. He does not have a big ego. In fact, I see him as the personification of John 3:30 He must increase and I must decrease.
I often sit back in the shadows and watch him work. I am amazed at how God uses him. Compared to him I have often felt like a failure. He is strong, optimistic, encouraging, and so Christ centered he is always considering the needs of others before himself.
His splash on the lake of life has been huge with ripples still going out. Wherever he has served those students still keep in touch with him and talk about his lasting influence. He is an amazing man. Not a perfect man but he is God's man.
This week I have been afforded the rare opportunity to spend several days with him as he leads the worship for a student winter camp and I get to preach. In so many ways we are as different as night and day. Today I honor true God ordained friendship. I do not know where I would be in life if I had not met Eric Adcock. I admire him. I love him. I respect him. Today I honor him.
For years when the situation got too emotional, rather than us expressing our true feelings to one another, we would just say, "Well you know." That is not enough today. It is not enough for me anymore. I want him to know how much I love him. I want him to know what value he has added to my life. I want him to know I appreciate his loyalty, love, support, prayers, and encouragement over the years. He has walked many dark and painful paths with me. He has been God's voice of reason to me more times than I can ever count. He has picked me up when I was discouraged and felt like the trials would never end. I have given him so little in return.
Today I celebrate and honor the gift of true friendship I have with Eric Adcock. We both have other close friends. We are not threatened by those other relationships. We know what we have. I know my brother has impacted other lives just like mine. Why not send him a facebook message or a text to let him know today.
I thank God for these few days we have shared with one another, built a few memories, and we get to serve Christ. Eric, I love you bro. You have been nothing less than a gift and blessing from God in my life. Thank you for teaching me what true friendship looks like. You have my heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment