Fetzer and Feltzy

Ever lose touch with some good friends and then had both of them pop-up on your radar in the same week? It happened to me this week when two old college buddies got in touch with me from out of the blue.

Jeff (Fetzer) Cobb and Jason (Feltzy) Feltz got in touch with me over the phone this week. It is another one of the items on my "Final Days" checklist of stuff I hope happens before I leave Marion, Indiana.

These two guys are likley my closest two friends from college and tragically I haven't kept in touch with either of them very well. As a tribute, here is the story of how I met each of them:

FETZER was a squirrely middle schooler who rode my bus to the local Crestwood Middle School in Kentwood, Michigan. I did not remember him even though he lived two blocks from me in our neighborhood. I must have made an impression though because one day he recognized me in our 8th grade History class and struck up a conversation.

SOME BACKGROUND seems important here. I had just moved with my newly divorced mother and little sister from eastern Denver, Colorado where I was born and raised. From a middle class family I came to the new middle school without a friend and began performing poorly in school and got in with the wrong crowd--the "stoners" in middle school who seemed to take anyone in their group. Wether it was a dare or just plain compassion, Fetz talked to me in History one day.

HISTORY class was a joke. Well, at least I thought it was and so I spent several sessions just talking to Fetz in the back of the room during lectures. One day I remember the teacher saying something about catching Aids off of a door handle and Fetz and I lost it in the back of the room. I am not sure what about the discussion was so funny, but we couldn't contain ourselves. We were both thrown out of the classroom and made to sit in the hall. Thus would begin a long history of the adventures of Jeff and Jason (his name is mentioned first because he was the most notorious of the two of us,... regardless of what his Mom says.)

THE INVITE I got later in the year was to visit Fetz's home church (Kentwood Community) where te youth group was huge (100+). I was grateful and asked my mom. She was hesitant and had to make sure this "Wesleyan" church wouldn't tarnish my Dutch heritage. It was here that I came to understand a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and later asked him to be my personal Savior. A decision that has impacted my life more than any other.

THE INTERVENTION came well into our highschool career. Jeff and I had been friends through thick and thin (and lots of Mountain Dew). But my mother (newly married now) was growing skeptical of Fetz and his lassaiz faire attitude toward "the disciplined way" of good Christian boys. So, one day she gave me the ultimatum: I had to dissolve my freindship with Jeff and vow not to see him anymore. No choice, just a mandate-- or else! I remember telling him one day in the church parking lot. We both cried, but knew somehow we would find away around this road block.

COLLEGE came and he went to the local Community College for a year and then went to Indiana Wesleyan. I went to the appropriate Reformed school of the elect, Hope College (not Calvin). We both changed so much and rarely saw one another. After two years at Hope I contacted Fetz one day to see how he was doing. Our talk ended with him convincing me to fill out an application to transfer. The next year I was attending IWU.

FELTZ and I met when I transfered to IWU the fall of 1993. We both lived in Williams Hall (the last great structure on IWU's campus). I was an RA at Hope and wanted to continue this ministry while at IWU. The RD wouldn't hire a new guy, so he asked me if I wanted to be Hall President instead. I thought this sounded fun and said yes. Unknown to me was that Jason Feltz (returning leader) was hoping to be Hall President too. I didn't know him, but learned right away that the RD had set us both up for an awkward situation. Jason (with his gracious spirit and love for Williams Hall) resigned to be the Vice President that year and the two of us worked closely on RHA starting many new traditions and setting a vision of community for that hall.

RA HIRING was that spring of 1994 and Jason and I both wanted to be RA's in our beloved hall. Jason got to stay, but I was shipped out to the apartment staff and spent a year in Phillippe Court with the psycho unit from Hell. Jason and I used our experience that year and decided to appply for ARD of Williams our last year. I was given the job and Jason stayed on staff as RA. By this time we both joked about the back and forth competition we had for the same positions. It became funny instead of a source of tension to us.

THE DREAM of both of us was to be RD's, but Jason was hired as Williams Hall's last RD while I worked at Admissions, unable to get an RD job. The joke had emerged again, but this time we were proud of each other's accomplishments and were just happy to be working near one another.

WHEN I WAS MARRIED the summer of 1996 Feltz and Fetzer both stood up with me at my wedding. They have been my closest friends throughout life and I am proud of each of them. I am grateful for their modeling in my life and would not be the man that I am today if it were not for them. Love you guys!

~Jmak