My Friend Earl

My Buddy Earl and his wife Shirley on our trip home from Florida in September of 2005
On our way to the airport on Sunday to fly to Jacksonville to attend George's funeral, Jessica and I had to stop by and see our good friend Earl. He was at his house and on his death bed. The family had been called in to be at his side and to pay their last respects. Earl passed away around 1:30 am on Tuesday. He went peacefully. He loved the Lord.

Earl was a good friend. He and Shirley were wonderful neighbors to my parents and he quickly became a grandfather of sorts to me. It was said of Earl at the funeral today that he was much like Barnabas, from Scripture. Barnabas was called "Son of Encouragement." That was the perfect way to describe Earl. Every time I was with him, I felt special. I never wondered about how much I mattered to him. He was a man who was not afraid to say kind words, tell you he loved you, and give you a hug. He was a good man. He is with the Lord right now. Today he is in heaven riding a sweet John Deere Tractor across his neighbor's yard just so they would know that he loves them. He is also saying strange sayings like, "That'll make a train want to take a dirt road." I had no idea what he meant with his sayings. He did. That's all that mattered. I tried to make some up on my own, but they didn't have the flare that his did.

Earl spent countless hours working on my Chevy Z-71 truck when I was in college. I stood around acting like I knew what we were doing, but all that mattered was that Mr. Miaggi was going to work on my truck. I would go off-roading and mess something up on my truck, and he would always open the hood and look at me and shake his head with an eye-brow raised and say, "O boy. Not good." He was normally joking. He thought it was funny to hear me say, "How much is this gonna cost me?"

Selfishly, one of my greatest regrets in life is when we were scheduled to go camping and fishing together in Wyoming. It would be my first time to go on a trip together with Earl. He was a man's man. He could wrestle a bear with his bare hands and he could catch trout with his teeth. He could start a camp fire with his breath and he slept with his eyes open. Okay, not really, but he was a man's man. He was going to be our guide on our trip to Wyoming. The Walkers had never been to Wyoming before. Earl had, and we were excited to have him share his love for the state with us. A week before we were supposed to leave, he had a stroke, and through the stroke they discovered that he had brain cancer. My regret is that Earl didn't get to go to Wyoming with us. 3 and a half years later, we stood at his grave site, wondering "Why Earl?", and still trying to grasp the last 42 months. It seems surreal still.

Today was a cold and wet day. I am going to miss my friend Earl. But one day, Jess and I will stand with Earl and Shirley- the ones that made the trip to Birmingham Alabama to see us get married- and we will witness the pinnacle of all marriages. The marriage between the Bride and the Bridegroom. Jesus Christ and his Church. We are seriously going to have a good time. And Earl will drag the golden strip on his John Deere and George will sell him some emergency lights for his tractor, and we are all going to laugh and sing to the great and glorious King, Jesus Christ. I can't wait to see my friends again. I can't wait to see my King.