It is 10 days and counting until our good mate Richard Lawrence "Gherkin" Gordon escapes the faulty prophetic word of celibacy spoken over him and ties the knot with his beautiful bride-to-be, Libby "I CHECK things" Quinlan. Before Rich got engaged, I thought about him a mere 2 or 3 times a day. Now, that number has shot up into the triple figures...per hour! Rich is one of the most engaging and incredible men you will ever meet. It is completely impossible to box such a man...he plays the nerd ("I stayed at varsity all night working on my Masters"), the hardcore jock ("I beat up chicks and play rugby!"), the drama major (he played Jesus in the life-house skit), the emcee (We've all seen him in those red tights!) and the life of every party (No one has a party outfit like Captain Jack Sparrow!) with equal applomb!
But besides from all those numerous skills all rolled into one, Rich's greatest impact on the world is through his love for Jesus. No one else, in my books, comes close to his ministering with the Holy Spirit during meetings, and I have never found a better partner to run homegroups with, to do SCA's with, to make a fool out of myself with!
Besides him trying to steal the girl i liked from me in 2005 (just joking of course), that year was one of the best of my life as Rich, jen Collier and I lead our first homegroup together with a huge measure of success and even bigger loads of jol!I am not ashamed to say that Rich taught me all I know about leading homegroups! Even the dodgy stuff!
Other highlights in the Gordon-Dockers (thats what Ashneel called us) show up to now was the infamous co-hosting of the "Survivor" series in 2006, the naked incident on stage at Live the Life 2008, and everytime Rich phoned me in the middle of the night with a tearful voice telling me that he was sorry!
In 10 days time, the Jalaps and Gherkin story comes to a close as he acquires a new partner, a new best friend, a new spooning partner...and a much hotter one than me!
I love this man. I would take a bullet for this man (as long as it's not in the money maker). And I am without doubt that the Gordon-Quinlan team (that's MR and MRS Gordon to you!) will be a million times more successful than any of our combined ice-breakers were.
And as Paul once said to all the matrics leaving, "We salute you Gherks!"