Good-bye Johnny Potter part 1

I wish I was better at writing these things because the people I write them about really do elicit more emotion from me than my writing communicates. Frequent readers will notice that I use Tolkien to try and express this hard thing we call good bye. In Tolkien’s Novel, which is so large and so superb, we meet many memorable characters that grab our hearts and eventually in scenes like when Frodo goes to the Grey Haven’s, have to do this difficult but appropriate thing we call saying goodbye.

I remember saying goodbye to Harris and struggling to really communicate the significance of his impact on my life, be my knowing him a small amount of time. And yet I say goodbye again. This time to a friend whom I have developed what has become an almost sacred tradition with. Some of you who are local will know about the four of us who faithfully meet for this great American invention known as “Happy Hour.”

I don’t really know what it is about happy hour. Maybe it’s the honesty that comes out after a few beers or commitment to meet on a regular basis, but over the last few months I’ve come to know these three people in a way that is unique. We share the common bond of community that you can only find in shows…well like Cheers. Can I be bold enough to suggest that I have found a church within the church? A proverbial life group if you will. A group to hear my struggles, questions, and share my joys with.

And now, now one of us leaves. This is one of the hard but sad truths about life. We learn to say good-bye to some of our own narratives main characters. So to Jonathan Potter I say thank you. Thank you for taking a chance on a bunch of punks from the North and trying to make your way through the book of Job for a semester and thank you for all the great friendship that followed after that.

And cheers…Cheers to the most creative artist I know on this side of the Mississippi.

Here I should put some fancy thing like Craig, but for now that’s all.