Billy Scott
Notes
Transcript
Where Do We Start? The Beginning
Where Do We Start? The Beginning
So let me tell you how we met. Some of you have heard this story, but many of you have not.
I started dating this girl who was Billy’s neighbor. She told me that I should meet him so I did.
We shouldn’t have been friends. He was a die hard Ford guy and his political views was different than my family’s.
I was a Chevy guy.
I was really skinny and he wasn’t.
It’s funny how that changed. He lost a bunch of weight and I gained it.
And he wasn’t shy to let me know that.
Despite theses things, we became friends.
We hunted together, we fished together, and we went bow-fishing together.
If you didn’t know, Billy was a natural at things like that.
He could shoot, hit, whatever it was naturally.
I can’t remember for sure, but I think he had a BA of .640 his senior year.
If we were shooting, he always beat me.
I don’t care if it was a shotgun, rifle, or bow, he would out shoot me.
There’s just something about being out on the water, or in a deer stand.
I will always think of him when I’m out there.
That’s what he loved.
He also loved being around kids.
He loved coming over to our house for the kids birthday.
Or going hunting with them.
Or shooting clay pigeons.
When they asked for pictures, I looked through my phone and I found a bunch of Billy.
The problem was that they were an arm of him, or he was in the background
He didn’t need the attention, he was just fine with being there.
I knew that if anything ever happened to me that Billy would be there for my kids.
He was that kind of guy.
If a boy did something to Lizzie, I knew he would take care of it.
And he wouldn’t leave any evidence.
He loved his family as well. He talked about them all the time.
I was his family too. He called me brother.
24 A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
But Billy wasn’t perfect. He was a Ford guy after all.
We got some trouble together.
One time we doing turn arounds over by the dam.
You know what a turn around is don’t you.
They are probably better known as J-turns.
Billy was driving my Camaro and he did a turn around and the engine started making a noise.
I thought he had blown my engine.
He didn’t he just blew a spark plug and that’s why it was making noise.
One time we were over by Stillwater and had been shooting at a gun range.
We had all kinds of guns in the back of the truck and bows as well.
It was bow season and as we were leaving, we saw a deer just about 3-0 yards off the road.
He talked me into turning around.
He got into the back of the truck.
I slowed down and he shot that deer with his bow.
Shot looked perfect.
Then the park ranger popped over the hill.
We got off pretty easy, just a ticket for hunting in a place we shouldn’t be.
The thing is that none of us are perfect.
The only one that was perfect was Jesus.
As Billy got older, I saw a remarkable change in him.
After he lost his mom, I saw some things changing.
He started going to church with us.
I saw him forgive people that I never thought he would forgive.
He love started becoming more apparent.
I know it’s not usual for guys to say they love other, but Billy started saying it to everybody.
Almost every one of my conversations with him ended with “Love you brother.”
A few months ago, I visited him in the hospital (one of his many stays).
He told me - I want to get baptized as soon as I get home.
He was never home long enough for that to happen.
There is no doubt in my mind that he had faith in God.
He had hope that one day, he would get out of that bed and walk.
The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:1-8
1 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,
3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked.
4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.
5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.
7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
This tells us that those who believe in Jesus will be in the presence of God.
I know Billy believed. I heard him say it and I saw the change in him.
He was my brother, he was my brother in Christ.
And he loved all of us that are here.
I say loved, but that’s not correct. He loves us.
He is with us.
And he is walking again.
I prayed and prayed that God would heal him, because all of us here needed him.
God did heal him, but not in the way we wanted.
Billy really liked to read. He loved the LOTRs, the Hobbit, and the Wheel of Time books.
There is a series on Amazon that is based off the Wheel of Time books.
By the way, Billy wasn’t a fan of the Amazon version because of how they changed everything.
But, in the intro to the series, it shows these threads being pulled apart and then woven together.
When it’s done you see this beautiful tapestry.
We see the world from the perspective of the threads.
We can’t see the whole thing.
One day we will understand, but right now I don’t know why God took him.
There is a masterpiece being woven and we will see it one day.
In the meantime, we hurt because a piece of ourselves is missing
One more thing, Billy is not hurting now.
4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
Billy’s former pain is gone.
He’s probably there in Heaven, fishing in the river of life, or going through the trees looking for sign.
We are the ones hurting now, not him.
It’s ok to cry, even Jesus did.
But Billy’s not crying, he’s not hurting, he is whole now.
He is absent from this body, and he’s in the presence of the Lord.
One day, I will see him again.
Pray
Pray
Lord, we trust in you.
We put Billy in your care.
We ask for you to comfort us
We ask you wrap all of us in your arms.
Help us to know that Billy is in a better place.
Help us as we grieve.
And Bless those of us who knew him.
Amen.