Sermon Tone Analysis
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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.
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