Carl Eicker - Birmingham, MI.another very special man

Carl's memorial service was on December 27th - he would have 93 on December 19 - just did not quite make that magic number although he tried really hard to do so. As he said just 3 days before his death, "There is just too much sickness here!" Having known Carl for at least 40 years there are hundreds of issues I could share. The most important was his relationship with Dorothy "Dottie" to me and so many others in his church and in the Tuesday morning group in Birmingham. We had a picture of the two of them on the brochure which was given to the people who came to the service. I wish I knew how to send a picture with this blog. During the planning for the service one of his daughters brought dozens of picture and one of them, more than all the others showed the relationship between he and Dorothy. Carl was absolutely focused on Dorothy and She on him. I asked a friend, who did not know Carl, to look at the picture, his response was so interesting, "I don't want to look at it, it makes me feel guilty!" A woman who was helping me to put the service together, also did not know Carl, commented, "I wish I had a man who looked at me that way!" This picture has been sent to each of his children and grandchildren and has become one of the "healing tools" throughout the whole family! In the Tuesday morning group Carl was the person who reached out to every man. He was brought by a mane named Bob. Then Carl brought Murray and Murray brought John - something like Andrew bringing Peter to Jesus - and the story still goes on and on. Carl was a part of chain web that circles our globe. It is said that there is only a 6 degree of separation from one person to any other person on the whole planet. With Carl that degree of separation has to be 3 at the most. He is related to people all over the world through just the Tuesday morning group and his church, the First United Methodist in Birmingham. Ethiopia, Croatia, China, Costa Rica, India just to name a few. This chain of relationships is so huge, so personal, so much bigger than any group or even one church. Carl was an attractor to Jesus. Many people came to the group with a great logging chain weighing them down and Carl was often the one who lifted that chain and secured a person to Jesus - even a person whohad a 20 year struggle with marriage, the church, business etc. I received a letter just today sharing with me how their inner life has been changed and the outer life,reflected in their home, has now been changed so much so that they are no longer afraid to have someone come to their home - it has been cleaned up! Sometimes a memorial service can be used to change lives in very real ways. This is how Jesus has used Carl even today --- just wonder how the fellowship is in heaven. I'm a few years behind Carl - by birthday is on 12/20. Bob Sayed's birthday was on 12/21 - Bob is the one who brought Carl to the group one Tuesday morning and Carr brought others and stayed around for 40 years. Influence ---- absolutely!!!

Two very special men

Two wonderful memorial services were held&in the last 3 month -- Sam Carpenter of Battle Creek, Michigan and Carl Eicker of Birmingham, Michigan. Both men were leaders of a group of men who met in those two cities - both groups gathered for over 40 years. The Birmingham group is still meeting on Tuesday mornings. Sam was lawyer for over 50 years - but he was really more than even that - a "music man" for the whole of his city! Wherever there was a piano available Sam would play and people would listen, call out songs, hum a few bars, and Sam could play! At his memorial service a few hundred people heard from family and friends about Sam's life, public and private, from his partners in the law firm and from his quiet work serving all over the city.For me the remarks of his pastor Bob Zuhl of the Weslyan Church,when he opened Sam's bible and read a few passages... in the margins of the bible were written the words WOW and WOW,WOW!!! Chris Christ Sam's friend and law partner shared one of Sam's mottos, "When you are wrong, admit it. When you are right, shut up!" Sam did pro bono legal work for seniors at Burnham Brook and several other places, he was a man of great faith working in his church and the Gideons and numerous service clubs. Sam taught the Wednesday morning group for a number of years, even when driving to the group was a slow drive. That was a thriving group until the drive became too much - another group leader or teacher has not shown up - yet! For Sam and the other men Wednesday was a time for understanding those WOW passages and discovering even more how deeply Jesus can and does influence our life! I'll write about Carl Eicker's memorial and about his life in another blog Bill