Rick Blackerby Eulogy

     (Rick Blackerby's Eulogy began with reading the lyrics from Garth Brooks Song "Fit For A King" which is a song about a street preacher.)

     I'm an evangelist. I met Micah Giles just across the way preaching at a college revival for Frazer Memorial. He came up to reacquaint himself cause our parents know one another; and he was rejoicing because of his recent commitment to live whole-heartedly for Jesus. He was so excited. He said, "Rick, I've been preaching publicly." And I thought, "Wow!" I started at about his age sharing the gospel on the streets of Atlanta, and I said, "another young man with boldness and zeal for the gospel of Jesus." He said, "No, that's not what I mean, Rick." He said, "I've been standing up in restaurants, like Outback, and I just whistle and I get everyone's attention and I share a brief message about Jesus."

     I said to myself in the back of my mind, "That's odd," and I wasn't comfortable. All my life is spent preaching Jesus. I live to see people come to the Lord but I wasn't comfortable. I thought, "This guys a little weird. Where's he gone with this thing?...He's a fanatic... What's he doing?" but I couldn't shake it. I went home and I still couldn't shake it. There was something about the passion of his spirit - something about the purity of his devotion - something about the clarity of his focus in life, so I called him. I said, "Micah, you're coming with me to Fort Walton. I've got to preach to some students after a football game and if God would lead you, I want you to do what you've been doing and I want to be there.

     All the way down there I'd ask him questions. We were at Montgomery Mall and I said, "When do ya do it?" "When Jesus tells me." "Well what do ya say?" "What Jesus tells me to say." I'm trying to find a hole in this somewhere. "Micah, why do ya do this?" "Because people are going to hell for eternity if I do not. And I love them Rick, I've gotta tell them."

     We got to a little pizza place in Fort Walton and the two ladies who met us, the coach's wife and a friend, took us out to dinner before the game. They took the "get-away car" option. He'd give people the option just to leave if they didn't want to participate. I wanted to participate. He stood in the middle of this small restaurant and he whistled. Cokes and beer bottles and pizzas hit the table. I stood by the door shaking. I was embarrassed, I'm an evangelist.

     He said, "Wide is the way to destruction, but narrow is the way to eternal life. And if you would bow your knee today and give your heart to Jesus as Lord of Lords and King of Kings, you to can be saved. Thank you, enjoy your dinner."

     Micah lived in 20 years more life than most of us will live in 80 to 100. If he were here he would not celebrate his own perfection, some kind of moral accomplishment in life. He would encourage you to live with purity of devotion and ask you only to do what Jesus has told you to do.

     Micah obeyed the greatest commandment, That you'd "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and strength and might and love your neighbor as yourself." Micah loved people; and that made him the winner in life.

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