My Friend Ben

Ben Hammond was and still is my best friend. He moved to an address in heaven over 9 years ago, but it seems like it was last year. I just attended one of his son's wedding last night and now I'm all sentimental and lonely.

I have a wonderful family, and a world of friends but it seems as if you only have one really true best friend in life. I had a best friend in school and we are still good friends, but we've drifted apart as we've grown older and we don't see much of each other anymore. I've also got great friends that I've played music with over the years. And some of them I feel like I've grown very close to, but still not to the extent that Ben and I enjoyed.

Ben was an amazing musician who was an accomplished drummer, singer, keyboardist, bassist and guitarist. Talent oozed from his pores as much as sweat on a hot southern night. Everything he put his hand to turned into something beautiful, from his carpentry to his music and paintings. I often envied Ben and told the Lord so on any number of occasions. And when he died I asked the Lord for Ben's talent. I figured he wouldn't need them as much in heaven and I would love to have a tenth of them down here.

Now I'm not one to complain to the Lord about anything. I feel like I've been blessed in this life way beyond what I deserve, but I don't think He answered that prayer in the affirmative. I don't complain anymore about my talent and I'm grateful for what God has given me. I just don't understand why God would call Ben home when he had so much more to offer this world (in my humble and ignorant opinion).

Anyway, Ben and I spent a lot of time together, especially his last year. I would meet him for lunch whenever I could and Kathy and I would go out with Ben and Patrice nearly every Friday night. We also spent time in the studio working on our music, but mostly we just talked. Ben was a talker unlike most men you'd meet. His idea of going out to eat was to order your meal, eat it, then spend the next 3 hours just sitting and talking. We talked about the Lord, about each other, about our kids, our music, our church, the world, politics (rarely) and just about everything else. When you spend that much time talking to someone you can't help but get close to them.

But talking is a Hammond trait, just like being strong headed. I don't mention either to make light of the Hammonds, rather I admire both character traits in them because I've seen how much good can come from both. They are a friendly tribe and I'm not sure they have ever met a stranger. If they did, the strangers only remained so because they didn't understand friendliness. And the strong headedness manifested itself in a determined and consistent love of God. Once they found God's love and forgiveness, they not only held onto it tenaciously, but were fervent in sharing it with others and no obstacle was too great for them to conquer to see others enjoy God's love too.

When Ben was in bible school, with a wife and 2 small kids to take care of, he would come home in the evenings and spend time with his family, then head out on the streets after midnight to share the gospel with anyone he would meet. He had found that most people would open up more after midnight and talk so he made that his time to find the lonely and broken and share the love of God with them.

I could go on for much too long talking about my best friend, but I'm going to take a break. I'll try and continue on later because if you're reading this I want you to know about Ben, who he was and all that he did. He loved God more passionately than anyone I've ever known and maybe if you're reading this you'll get that same desire like I have since I've started remembering.