“Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised. I don’t think you’re deceitful or vain, do you?”

How’s that for a pick up line? Those are the words Scott Resnick wrote me fifteen years ago in college. I will never forget his wit. Scott died in a plane crash on Friday, May 22, 2009. He was 39, married for 13 years and the father of four.

I’ve struggled for two weeks to write something about this man who transformed me.

You say, “Kay, do you honestly claim to be transformed by a man other than Jesus?”

I answer, “This man ‘channeled’ Jesus.”

“Was he perfect?”

Good golly no! Scott was a happy sinner (unlike the Christ), but he embodied the radical lifestyle, the intensity for authentic rightness and the love for people that must have shocked and thrilled the people who actually got to experience Jesus’ life on earth. Two years sharing life with Scott was a good gift. It was hard to let him go back then. I can imagine the grief his wife is experiencing as she lets him go now.

Scott made me uncomfortable.

He was always questioning things. “Do you think your parents raised you well? What mistakes do you think they made?” “Why do you think drinking beer is wrong?” “What makes you buy clothes like that?” “What is God thinking making something nice like tobacco?” “Why do you like me?” “Why are you crying again?”He questioned all the authority figures in my life, not to cause rebellion, but to create understanding. It was painful, especially when he pried into my motives, but eye opening. I am a truth-teller today because of Scott. He drove the fear of being uncomfortable with uneasy truths away from me with everyday use.

“I know of an island in the gulf that grows fields and fields of marijuana. If we set fire to it, do you think the entire state of Florida would get high?” I was uncomfortable even with the idea that he had smoked it, much less discussed it so freely! (Me<a bit naive.)

I remember the time he saw someone squatting on a curb, smoking. Scott walked over asked if they had another. He lit up and began talking about Jesus. The kid he was smoking with looked uncomfortable at first, but he listened and even prayed with Scott. I don’t smoke, but I utilize the methods I learned from Scott to make uncomfortable evangelism easier.

Scott was always fiddling with his Audi. One of the most uncomfortable times with him was riding down I-85 through Atlanta  while he reclined, feet propped up … he had rigged the gas and brake pedals to a push button he held in his hand like a remote. Hmmm, not sure that was legal? heh.

Scott taught me.

He taught me how to “properly” brush my teeth. He taught me how chefs chop an onion. He taught me to ski by letting me do the bunny slope twice, then taking me to the top. He taught me how to spin a car out on ice. He taught me you can buy used sports equipment really cheap at thrift stores and that you can purchase cheap snow-gear at the Army Navy store.

“The best designed engine is in a Volkswagen beetle. You can run anything with it.”

He taught me to sandblast metal. He taught me about Uggs.  He taught me to slice a potato very thin and roast it crispy. He taught me that windsurfing utilizes every muscle in your body-ouch! And, he taught me many other things that won’t be profitable to mention.

Scott enjoyed life.

I don’t think I was game before I met Scott. What do I mean by that? I remember him pushing me into activities that I was too lazy or too self-absorbed to get involved with. I’d have rather stayed in my comfort zone of what and who I knew. It took a lot of effort and courage to try something new, but newness was a habit for Scott. I’m game!

He authentically loved God’s people. Scott forced me into situations where I had to hang out with people I didn’t know. I watched him ask questions of them to start the conversation and copy how he steered the talk to Christ in a nonchalant fashion. He genuinely cared about the people he talked to and found them infinitely interesting.

Scott was able to enjoy life because he knew how to view things through an objective lens. He wasn’t caught up in his point of view only, which only leads to misery. His objectivity was an unselfish way to live and was at the root of his love of living…he not only enjoyed his life, he enjoyed other people’s lives too! He taught me to set my desires, my emotions, my agenda to the side and look at issues without those selfish hang-ups. I have learned that not many people do this, and it is a lesson I value more than gold. As I teach and counsel through my local church, I have told and re-told about Scott and his unselfish objectivity as an example worth working to emulate.

Scott unburied Jesus from the ground of religion.

I grew up in a missionary home. I knew the Bible. I went to church numerous times a week. I attended a Christian university. I was saved and baptized at a young age. But, I didn’t know Jesus until Scott introduced me. Jesus came alive, a real man who sweated and laughed. My life changed at age 19 because I knew Scott Resnick.