I dreamed last night that you came back, just for the weekend, to visit me. We spent the entire day together. We had been traveling and spent a lot of time hanging out in the car. We came back to Snowbird and I gave you a tour of camp. You even hung out with some of my campers and me. You loved it here and you were so excited about the ministry we were doing. But we knew you would only be here for a little while. We talked about whether it might be harder to have you back only temporarily, knowing you would leave again — but it was so good while it lasted. We went home to Bridget and Launa that night and laughed about how Launa had tried to kick you out of bed the night before. It was only a dream. But it felt so real. And it was nice to have you share experiences with me again.
I miss you so much. I know your eternity of rejoicing with the Savior is more beautiful than any memories you could make here. We always competed when we were kids. But you beat me in the end after all.
I love you. Through Jesus, we're taking good care of each other down here. We'll all see you soon.
Always a Gentleman
Written by Wendy
Wednesday, 02 June 2010 20:59
I think most teenagers spend weeks or even months stressing over prom. Not me, the pressure of having a prom "date" went out the window when my best friend asked me to our senior prom. Neither of us was dating anybody at the time so it made sense for us to go together. Naturally, the day of the prom Eric had car trouble(see David's story if you don't know what I'm talking about). He spent alot of the day attempting to fix his car so we could take it like we had planned. It didn't work, so he had to call his Aunt Lori to see if we could take her car. But, in typical Eric fashion, he had to clean it first. I'm sure it wasn't very dirty, it was just that Eric would have wanted it to be spotless!
With all of the car troubles, our schedule got pushed behind so Eric was late picking me up. Even though we were running late, my mom was not going to be rushed taking our pictures. I was in heels so I was about the same height as Eric and he couldn't stand it! In several of our pictures he insisted on standing on the step above me so that he was taller than I was! I laugh everytime I look through those old pictures. When we left my parent's house we were still in a hurry. Eric came over to open my car door and I looked at him like he was crazy and I'm pretty sure I even said "What in the heck are you doing?" He looked at me like I was just as crazy and said something like "Wendy, it's prom night and I'm opening your door dangit!"
Eric was my best friend and going to prom with him was one of my favorite memories from high school. I would venture to say that we had a less stressful and more fun night than alot of people did. Just because I was with my best friend didn't mean I wasn't treated like a girl should be on prom night. From making sure we took a nice, clean car to opening my car door and even holding my purse when I needed him to that night, Eric was a perfect gentleman, just like he always was in life.
Car Trouble...
Written by David Bryant
Wednesday, 02 June 2010 12:11
Eric and I had many adventures together and most of them involved a car.It seemed like anytime we were in a car we were: having flats, having fender benders, witnessing fender benders, running over curbs, installing any and everything that could be installed in a car (usually he talked me into using my car first as the guinea pig), driving to pick up cars on a dimes notice ( Ebay! need I say more?), pulling me out of ditches at midnight, cruising in circles in Gate City during are high school days trying are hardest to flirt with girls and many, many, more adventures...
In other words, we had a lot of excitement in cars.One specific story takes place over a two day event.One Saturday night we jumped in my Ford Probe and decided to drive to Tri Cities Cinema.Keep in mind a couple weeks before we drove his car, it had been raining and as we were pulling in to the movies he took the curve a little fast and next thing we know we jumped the curb and busted his neon green lights he had just installed under his car and flattened one of his tires.Okay, so now I am driving my car and we get there just fine.We watch the movie and start are voyage back home.On are way back home we were laughing about just how smooth the ride was going, a catastrophe free ride or so we thought...We were less than three miles from the house when it sounded like a shotgun had went off and we both screamed like little girls.As our luck would have it, there was a car that hit a guard rail on the side of the road and knocked huge rocks onto the road a few hours before we got there.Most of the rocks had been removed from the highway but it just so happened that me and Eric hit the last remaining one and it flattened my tire...
Now, I finally made it home and put my spare tire on late that night.Sunday comes along and I make it to church just fine.Eric did not ride to church with me that morning so of course I had no car trouble on my way there.After the service we always went to eat so Eric hops into my car.... and you guessed it.... here we go again...We start out of First Free Will Baptist still talking about are luck from the night before.We cross the rail road tracks getting ready to turn on to Main St and this is what follows:
ERIC:David do you hear that?
ME:Hear what?
ERIC:Turn the radio down, listen!
ME:What is that? It sounds like a high powered bee bee gun.
ERIC:Man, its your lug nuts!ME:What?
No sooner than I say that my newly installed tire falls off (AS WE ARE DRIVING!!!) and starts rolling down Main St.The night before when I had installed the new tire I turned the lug nuts the wrong way and they were not tightened at all.So as my tire is making a run for it down Main St, Eric calm, cool, and holding back trying to laugh hysterically asks me...
ERIC: Well, this was a first for me.Do you want me to grab the tire or the lug nuts?
If first you don't succeed... Eric did
Written by Joseph Cornett
Tuesday, 01 June 2010 09:52
I have so many stories about Eric, but a couple of my favorite ones truley define the type of person Eric was. The first winter we lived together, a friend of ours talked us into going snowboarding. Neither Eric, or myself had ever been snowboarding, but it was something we had always wanted to try. Eric and I were on the chairlift and when I went to get off on the beginners course, Eric held me down and made me go to the top! I was terrified. Of course I spent the remainder of the day mostly on my butt while Eric had no problem picking it up. The following summer the same happened when we attempted wakeboarding. I think I was only able to get up to my feet once or twice that whole summer and by August, Eric was jumping wake to wake doing spins. He never ceased to amaze me!
A Determined Joy
Written by Chad Roberts
Sunday, 30 May 2010 16:00
On Sunday morning, March 21, 2010, Eric asked to share his story with Preaching Christ Church. We had no idea how God would later use that 5 minute testimony. Now there have been thousands upon thousands who have heard it... But if you weren't there, let me tell you what I saw. I saw joy in Eric's heart! I don't mean happiness and fun. Anyone who knew Eric knows what a fun guy he was to be around. No, I'm talking about something far different and far greater...JOY! Psalms 21:6, "You make him glad with the joy of your presence." There is a joy in the sufficiency of Christ that is beyond explaining and I saw it in Eric that morning. I saw him stand before a congregation and openly say what God has been doing in his life. That takes courage! There are many great things I will remember about Eric's life...but the one thing, and the greatest thing is that Eric, "tasted" and "seen" that the Lord is good (Psalms 34:8) for I saw with my own eyes March 21, 2010!
Eric Stories