Dean Eddington 1/10/22

We gather this afternoon in deep sadness, profound gratitude, and with a fervent desire to celebrate the life of Dean Eddington. As we do so, we hold on to and draw comfort from the promises spoken by our Lord,

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. (John 14:1-3)

Also,

“I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. 26 Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die.

Please pray with me,

Our Father, this all seems so surreal. We ask you to help us come to grips with the reality of what has taken place. Draw us close in this time of loss. Help us to appreciate and celebrate Dean for who he was and how You blessed us through Him. Help us to find our hope in you. We ask in Jesus’ name.

Dean Eddington was born May 15, 1958 in North Carolina to E. Dale and Marilyn (Kraft) Eddington. He had great respect for his parents even though he surely gave them many of their gray hairs. Dean heard his dad preach and even farmed with him for a while. Watching his dad die was one of the most devastating times of Dean’s life. That experience created a crisis of faith for him. He didn’t understand why God would allow his dad, who had served so faithfully, to die as he did. After his dad died, he took good care of his mom.

Dean was a smart and talented guy, but he wasn’t “student smart.” In other words, he wasn’t a particularly “classroom” kind of guy. I get the feeling he was often bored in school. His mind was always active. He loved history and was fascinated with the way things worked. He had a good mechanical sense. He enjoyed woodworking. He liked the farm and had a fascination with antiques. He loved unique items.

Dean was one of the funniest guys around. He had a quick wit and loved to play around. He had that perfect sense of timing and a real sly sense of humor. He was a guy who would push the limits in everything. Looking back, he wished he had pushed things a little less with his family.

One day Dean was really needling his father. He just kept pushing and pushing and Dale kept his cool. Finally, Dean crossed a line and Dale shot back at him, “Dean, you are such a toilet!” Of course, that just cracked Dean up.

Dean was a storyteller. He could enhance the humorous aspect of whatever the subject might be. He would tell the story in his slow drawl and just wait to drop the punch line. You were always going to laugh and have fun when he was around.

As a dad, Dean was the “fun parent.” He was always playing with the kids. He wanted them to like him. He loved his girls and wanted them to have whatever they needed. He was the dad who was always taking the kids for rides on his motorcycle or seeing how high he could push them on the swings. He would play with them in the mud or the snow or anywhere else. He was also a bit protective during the dating years. It was hard for him to think that anyone was “good enough” for his daughters. His question after the girls had done something was always the same: “Did you have fun?” To Dean, having fun was the goal of life.

Another of the regrets he had in life was that he did not spend more time with his children and grandchildren. In Dean’s mind, after his divorce his girls needed their mom more than him and he did not want to hinder or tarnish that relationship. However, that just left regret and an ache in the heart in both he and his girls.

Dean farmed for a while with Duane Berlett. Then he did some construction work, and then went to work for Heartland Harley Davidson where he found a home and an extended family. He loved his work as a repair technician, and he enjoyed the people with whom he worked.

Dean had a nickname for everyone. He loved to play practical jokes. People were drawn to Dean because he lived life to the fullest. You knew it was going to be fun when Dean was around. Even at work, Dean always found a way to make things fun and interesting. It might be a bag of rubber bands he shot at others, or the pranks he played or the stories he told. In his mind, work, just like everything else, should be fun. Dean was a daredevil. He got suspended from school when he rode his dirt bike through the hallways. He was up for any challenge and always looking for some prank to pull. I suspect he was just trying to liven things up.

Dana remembers the time when Dean had a small white car and he drove it through the breezeway at the school between the cafeteria and the Vocational building. There were lots of people around, but Dean didn’t care. He wanted to see if he could squeeze through. He did. The fact that Dana was terrified and fearing the consequences only made it more fun for Dean.

I’m told you were not safe in any car or bike that Dean was driving. It didn’t matter how old or how few cylinders it had. He liked to drive fast, liked to see how high a car could jump going over a hill, or test whether or not he could navigate a curve at a higher rate of speed. Duane tells about a time Dean was driving a VW bus and entered the garage at 25 mph and then he slammed on the brakes to see if he could stop before going through the back of the garage. Duane reports there was not enough room to put a penny between the bus and the wall! Many people have said he was a man who had nine lives.

Dean was as strong as an ox and had an amazing balance. He could navigate a flight of stairs in a wheelchair and would regularly pop a wheelie on his motorcycle.

Dean was a collector. He collected vehicles, antiques, and had LOTS of stuff. He not only collected things, he could not (would not) throw anything away. One of his prize possessions was a Camaro convertible pace car he was hoping to restore.

Dean did not have serious conversations with many people. I know he thought deeply and had deep feelings because he and I talked several times over the years. Most people saw the Dean who was always “on.” It is too bad more people didn’t see the man who thought and felt things deeply. He had a big heart and was willing to help anyone who needed the help.

Dean had his challenges. He struggled with alcohol, and he battled depression. He had deep regrets about his divorce. He knew he had made mistakes in life (like all of us).

Recently, Dean felt something was wrong in his body and his visits to doctors proved unsatisfying. He feared dying like his dad did. We’ll never know what, if anything, the problem was. Perhaps his death from Covid was God’s mercy shown to Dean.

Dean Eddington was a man who possessed lots of gifts and a truckload of potential. I suspect, if you asked him, he would tell you he had fun along the way. He tried to squeeze every ounce of joy out of every day he lived.

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I’m not sure what to say about Dean’s death. I don’t know where he was spiritually. Sometimes people spend all their energy on the here and now and never give a thought to what happens after they die. However, Dean was a man who grew up knowing about Christ and His sacrifice on our behalf. His dad was a Pastor. He heard the message of God’s grace again and again. I suspect Dean understood that no one was ever going to get to Heaven because they earned it. He knew Jesus died for our sin. He understood that Jesus is the only way to Heaven. However, I honestly don’t know if He ever embraced these truths for Himself.

Dean was private about a lot of things. You were unlikely to have a deep spiritual conversation with him. That doesn’t mean he didn’t believe; it just means he didn’t talk about it.

The fact that Dean came to my office several times over the years when he was going through tough times tells me that his instinct was to turn and look for God’s help. He was a smart guy and I hope that is where he turned at the end of his life.

I am comforted by two texts. The first is in Ephesians 2.

8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Salvation is not about our performance; it is about God’s mercy and grace. I know that grace was available to Dean right up to the end of his life. And that is because of the other text that is in Luke, it is an account of the thief on the cross next to Jesus. There were two men crucified with Christ.

39 One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”

40 But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? 41 We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”

43 And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:39-43)

The thief was saved in literally the last moments of his life. He didn’t possess many of the things we think a person has to have before they can go the Heaven. He never went to church, he was never baptized, he did not have extensive theological knowledge. In fact, he may have been the most surprised person to ever enter Heaven.

He had no good deeds to report. If he would have been asked, “Why are you here?” He would have only been able to say, “Because the man on the cross next to me told me to come.”

But this is the message of the gospel. We are not saved because of something we have done; we are saved because we cling to what He has done FOR us. Ideally, we will do that early in life so we can live the joy-filled life God created us to live. But some do come at the last moment. All that is necessary is for a person to cry out to Christ, ask for His mercy and grace, and then truly rest in His arms.

Dean hadn’t felt well. And he certainly knew he was in trouble at the end. He likely knew what was happening to him was serious. It is my hope and prayer that in the quiet times of reflection, even the night before the ambulance was called for him, he called to the Lord he had heard about all his life.

It is not for me to make a pronouncement about Dean’s eternal destiny. I know God works in ways beyond my ability to comprehend. We are all people in need of God’s grace and mercy. It is my sincere hope that my friend Dean reached for that grace and is now getting to know the One who died for Him. It is my hope he has been reunited with his dad and sees him once again whole and loved by God. I can’t know for sure. I can only hope God gave Dean enough time to cry out to Him. For I know, if Dean called out sincerely, God would have rescued him, just as He did the thief on the cross. Just as He will do for you and me.

And maybe what we need to learn today is the importance of getting right with God. Not one of us is guaranteed another day. Not everyone goes to Heaven, only those who truly seek, Him will find Him. We can roll the dice and hope we have time at the end of our lives to cry out to Him, but it is a huge gamble that has eternal significance. It is also a shame to miss out on the life you could have had with Him at your side. If Covid can take someone strong like Dean, it can take us also. A vaccination is not our greatest defense, a deep and abiding walk with God is our best defense. I hope Dean’s death leads you to get right with God.

I also hope we can take some lessons from Dean’s life also. Here are a few I can think of,

1. Life is short, we should enjoy the journey because you never know how much of the journey remains.

2. Laughter really is great medicine.

3. Work does not have to be drudgery it can be fun.

4. Just because you can drive fast . . . doesn’t mean you should!

5. If God has blessed you with children, you should enjoy them and spend time with them whenever you can. Don’t let anything keep you away.

6. You CAN have too much stuff.

7. We should appreciate the special people in our lives every chance we get, because they may be gone before we get the chance to tell them how much they meant to us.

Let’s pray together,

Father, we thank you for the life of Dean Eddington. Thank you for the energy and fun he brought to life. Help us as we try to wrap our minds around the fact that he is no longer here. Father, we commit him now to you.

Lord, please bring comfort to this family and these friends. Help us all to work through our regrets even as we celebrate the happy memories. Help us, O Lord, to find that life that comes from you alone before we run out of time. Amen