Vacation
I’ve had the privilege to have a few days off last week with some long-time friends that I met while in college back many years ago. We met in Bible College and we all had a desire to be involved in ministry in some form or fashion. We get together once each year to play golf together and tell tall tales. Some of the stories have become staples each year. We call our gathering the “Greater Greek Open” because one member of our group studied Greek in college. He was nicknamed “The Greek”. This is our 33rd year of getting together. We always pick up where we left off. We laugh a lot. We do have some tears as we share each other’s pain. Some of guys are good golfers and some (like me) are mostly “hackers”. Here is the roster (in no particular order) ….
“The Greek” – Jeff Bullock from Sturgis, Kentucky. Jeff is married to Laura and he is the minister at a small church on the weekends. He works a regular job to do ministry on the weekends.
“Daddy Rabbit”, “TG”, “Ray” – Terry Ray is from Maryville, Tennessee. He is married to Maggie and serves in leadership at First Christian Church in Maryville. He works at Denso Manufacturing.
“Bim” – Tim Burgess is from Corning, Arkansas. Tim is married to Shawn and he also has a weekend ministry. He works at Nestle in Jonesboro, Arkansas to support his family.
“Lave” – Dave Locke is from Maryville, Tennessee. Lave recently retired from the US Post Office after 25 years. He serves as Children’s Pastor at The Way Church in Powell, TN.
“Floyd” – Tim Ray is from Bowling Green, Kentucky. He is a Certified Public Accountant. Tim retired a few years ago from the State of Georgia where he served as an auditor. He moved back to Kentucky to care for His Dad.
“O.B.” – Doug Roberts is from Powell, Tennessee near Knoxville. He is married to Sherri “Bear” and he is the lead pastor at The Way church. He served in Youth ministry for over 37 years!
“Mr. Pres.” – Tony Atkins is from College Station, Texas. He is married to Lois and they are involved in their church and community in College Station. He serves as a manager of H.E.B in College Station and has been there over 25 years.
“Derwood”, “Draino” – Dwayne Hicks is from Carrollton, GA. He is married to Tina and serves in leadership at Southern Hills – The Church at City Station. He is a REALTOR in West Georgia and has been a REALTOR for over 18 years.
We have a bond between us that is hard to describe. We have a chat group where we share joys, sorrows, and struggles. We care deeply for one another and our families. We pray together. We laugh a lot together and at each other! We are at similar stages of life (getting older and slower). We absolutely cherish the time we spend together each year. When one of us can’t make it to our annual trip, we are all affected.
This year (2021) we have been in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas. This is the most time I’ve spent in this state, and it’s very beautiful. The house we stayed in overlooks one of the courses we played this week. We went to McClards BBQ in Hot Springs – oh my goodness… that was some great food! We met a gentleman at McClards who chatted with us – asking where we’re from. It turns out that he owns a golf course near Hot Springs. He invited us to play his course and we played there on Friday. It was a nice course. We’ve played some great courses and told more stories from our days in college. One of the things that makes life on earth rich is the relationships we’ve formed. It’s a blessing to be friends with family. It’s also a huge blessing to have family (brothers) to share life together with.
I’m so thankful for our GGO family.
I’m so thankful for our time together last week.
I’m so thankful that the Lord is the bond that brought us together and keeps us together.
Dwayne
GGO 2021