Our Friendship That Never Was

Dean Rockwell worked in the graphics/printing department at Morris College where I also teach. When I first met Dean, I thought he was a curmudgeon who was bitter about his job and his home life. He scoffed at the first print job I gave him. However, over time I realized that he was far from cantankerous. He liked motorcycles and had pictures of them that he drew on the walls of his office He also displayed scupltures of spaceships from the Star Wars movies.

As we grew to know one another, I found out that he had a passion for rescuing stray pets and keeping them in his own home. By his last count, he had some 30-40 pets living with he and his wife. Almost everytime I visited Graphics, he had another story about the latest pet to join his menagerie.

One day our conversations turned to golf. We were both just getting back into the game and discussed clubs, local greens, and exaggerated golf scores we'd shot. We all but made plans to play together. For some reason, we never did.

One evening my fiancee and I saw Dean and his wife at a restaurant where one of my colleagues played music and sang. He was supportive of that colleague and of me. He made accomodations for my print jobs when I brought them to him at the last minute. I know he probably didn't want to do it, but he did just the same.

The last time I saw Dean he looked very sick and was suffering from an illness that I didn't even know he had. His wife held his hand that day as I helped him into his pick-up truck. I told him I'd pray for he and his family. The following week someone in our building told me Dean had passed away.

I yelled, "No!" out loud and held my head in my hands. I was upset because I didn't get to golf with him. We didn't get to enjoy any conversations together outside of work. I found out from Dean's co-worker in Graphics that he enjoyed hearing about the Bible and that her cousin would pray with him at work from time to time. Regretfully, our conversations never turned to God.

Now Dean is at rest, but my soul is vexed. In all my encounters with Dean, I had forgotten that God sends people into our lives as "salt" and "light" to them. More importantly, God sends us has "salt" and "light" to other people! We are in the lives of others to show them a more excellent way that leads to Christ, or that is why people who annoy us with their Bible-thumping and Scripture-quoting are sent into our lives. If the words are not placed in our mouths to offer people, the least we can do is to exhibit a life that is pleasing to God before them.

I'm thankful that I knew Dean. Ours could have been a blessed friendship had I truly gotten to know him more. It was a missed opportunity for both of us: a friendship that never was.