Aaron O'Kelley

I officially met Aaron in fifth grade at a junior varsity football game (the Atlanta Rabbits!). His brother Adam and my brother Jason were both in seventh grade and on the JV team at the time. His mother knew my mother, and since we were sitting near them, Aaron and I were somehow introduced. At this encounter, I asked Aaron if he wanted me to show him the secret way to get under the bleachers. If you are from Atlanta, you must remember that this was at the old Rabbit stadium near the Junior High. The area under the bleachers had a fence around it, but you could slip under there at a place near the bleachers entrance to get under and find "half-time footballs" that had been thrown by the cheerleaders at the crowd, only to have fallen under to my satisfaction.

From that point on, Aaron and I were friends, and I began to be included in the "in crowd" of guys that played Nerf Turbo football everyday at recess. Guys in that crowd included Aaron O'Kelley, Mason Steger, Dustin Kirkland, Clint Crowder, Chris Schaeffer, Aaron Lofton, Luke Addington, Greg Fouche, Daniel Welch, etc. I remember that Chris would get "injured" frequently during these games, and we would threaten to go get Mrs. LaFevre to take care of him (we won't talk about how she carried her lunch trays) so that he would immediately get up and shake it off.

Things that everyone remembers about Aaron from going through school with him are (1) he was a straight "A" student, bright as all get out, (2) he was an extremely nice guy whom every teacher and student liked, both cool and smart, (3) he had a deep faith and a sharp knowledge of Scripture, and (4) he was quite the lady's man until he settled down in seventh grade and started dating Joni, who seven years later became his wife. Things like brains, friendliness and sincerity, being well-liked, talented and loyal stick out when I think of Aaron.

But you have quite a mix of things going on with Aaron in Junior High. He is all of these things mentioned, but he was also the "trouble student" for Mrs. Donna Rice, who invented "Skid Row" in her classroom in his honor. I don't even remember how or why, but he sure did wreak havoc in her class in seventh grade. He also started a "devotional" time outside the JH in the mornings out by an old oak tree near the tennis courts. He would give a five minute or so spill from the Bible, and we would pray and sometimes sing. I don't remember it so well, but I remember at some point it became somewhat controversial among certain teachers that we were doing this.

Aaron was the kind of guy that I started to hang around as much as possible after meeting him because he was neato, well-liked, popular, you know, but soon felt very comfortable with as a friend... while at the same time, he continued to intimidate me through the years, because he seemed to be perfect at everything, and it seemed that I could beat him in nothing, academics, sports, social life, etc. And it is very important to note that it was Aaron's faith, perhaps more than anyone else's, that influenced my own through Junior High and High School. I considered him both a friend AND a spiritual model or mentor, of sorts.

After Aaron met Joni, he continued to stay close to his closest friends, but pretty much faded away as a social entity. I remember being so proud when he let me be his cross-examination debate partner, and we had quite a run of it through the four years of high school. We had this tradition in debate that about once a year when we were doing especially bad during a round, I would stand up for the rebuttal and, rather than giving a formal speech as usual, would say something ridiculous and irrelevant.

My freshman year, while debating about global warming, I had stood up and told the judge to vote for us because the polar ice caps would never melt, and that I was certain of this because God sent a rainbow to Noah and promised to never again flood the earth. Of course, we believed this but mostly I just said it to be radical and for shock value, so that we would have a story to tell later. Another year, we were losing so bad (something about juvenile violence) that I just stood up for my rebuttal and said, "Purple cows don't go 'Moo,' they go 'Oom.'" I got told on by that judge to Mrs. Tomberlain, our coach. She was not happy.

I was in a Christian band with Aaron all through high school, Fishers of Men, and we even made a couple of cd's. Aaron wrote all the songs but two, which I wrote, and we had a jolly good time, especially when we got to practice at the Blue House, an old shack out by Chris Schaeffer's old house.

I then roomed with Aaron at East Texas Baptist University until he got married to Joni, my cousin. I remember that I used to take a nap most days after lunch, and he eventually started taking naps in the afternoon as well, following my lead. So, I would go all out and blacken out our windows, put on background music, and we'd do the nap thing. Sounds gay, but don't worry, we were in separate beds, and he never did the "No, you cannot have the mango" unless two or more friends were around.

Aaron is quite a fellow. A pastor now at Corn Creek Baptist Church in Milton, Kentucky, and a seminary student finishing his M.Div. at THE Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Conservative and fundamentalist as all get out, and about a fifteen point Calvinist... and I guess you can blame that on me, because I'm the one that bought him Desiring God by John Piper for his 19th birthday. Now whether you fall in line with Aaron's beliefs or not, you must know that he is brilliant and knows his stuff backwards and forwards. Remember, he was in debate in school, and boy, let me tell you, he'll school YOU if you aren't careful. (But for goodness sake, don't let that stop you... in fact write a blog about anything and let the goodtimes roll.)

For reals though, if you want someone who is always thoughtful about everything he says and does, who will be a loyal friend through the years until you're old and gray and dead, who will have all sorts of questions about your salvation if you're a liberal or a Northwesterner or disagree with Al Mohler or John Piper or but will never let that get in the way of your friendship, you've got to know that this Aaron guy is quite stellar.