Alan Brock:
CLASS OF 1961
Lee Edwards High SchoolClass of 1961
Asheville, NC
University of North Carolina - AshevilleClass of 1963
Asheville, NC
Alan's Story
Life
I would like to share reflections on my years at Lee Edwards, my spiritual journey, funny stories about Joe Sutton and myself, and my future. I am married to Jane Garrett Brock since l963.
Sometimes now I suffer from short-term memory loss (forgetting what I went into a room for), but my years at Lee Edwards bring back some good memories and some frustrating ones as well.
In the ninth grade at David Millard junior high, my academic motivation began to slide. I passed on to the tenth grade but things began to get worse. I barely made it to the eleventh. In the eleventh grade I hit bottom. In some of my courses I made straight F's. My goal was to fail, and in reflection, it does take some effort to purposely fail courses. I made failing grades in all my classes except Algebra where I made all A's. Mrs. Bennett would give a weekly test and stand by my desk to see if I was cheating.
One day she called me into her office and tried to get me to open up about what was going on in my life, but I generalized and was not honest with her. Mr. Jones was the Dean of Men and each week I would get some girl to write a note for me "from my mother", saying I had a doctor's or dentist's appointment, and I would get out of class for two to three hours and head for Black's Pool Hall.
Often, there would be other students there. Mr. Black with always a cigar in his mouth would speak to me. I smoked then, and this gave me an opportunity to smoke at least two Winstons and dream of becoming a pool shark. My goals in life were very confusing.
I grew up in Beaverdam, North Asheville, and the Dotson boys lived down the road. Buddy was the youngest and in the l0th grade, I decided we had to try our first beer. We stole it from his father and hid it in the woods and planned on drinking it one night.
We retrieved it and rode our bikes to Lord's Drugstore on Merrimon, went into a field beside the store. When we punctured the can the beer was hot and most of it spewed all over us. My first drink was awful but I persevered and was determined to be a drinker. Beer was my choice, and I could always find people to buy me beer and I slipped easily into bars and clubs with a fake I.D.
One night after heavy drinking at a party, I was on my way home in my family's l957 Plymouth (with the big tail fins on the back). Feeling bold and agressive I sped past the Beaver Lake golf course and as I approached a turn in the road at Spooks Branch, I lost control of the car.
My guardian Angel was with me that night. I hit the brakes and the wheels locked and the steering wheel jerked out of my hands. The car did a 360 in the middle of that narrow two lane road. The force of that turn threw me across the seat into the passenger door.
I felt like the Hand of God turned the car around in the middle of the road. The engine stalled but I was able to start it up again and pull off the road. I put my head on the steering wheel and knew I had faced death or serious injury. This event started started some reflection on the meaning of life.
That week, people commented on the tire marks at that turn. I never told anyone about this, and was truly thankful that no other car had been coming in that direction.
Another wake-up call at the end of elventh grade was when my father took me behind the garage and confronted me about my lifestyle. He suggested that I quit school and join the Marines. I had greatly respected the men in our neighborhood who had served in World War II in the Marines, but didn't think I was quite ready for that. High school dropouts do not qualify anyway.
Another change came during school when fellow students would talk about college, careers, goals and ambitions, modeling future endeavors and life goals. Things began to change and I began to see life and its opportunities.
I used up my space and will try to create more infofmation using the announcement section . Alan ,Butch
School
MMarriage: "Love is blind, but marriage restores its sight. Marriage is our last,best chance to grow up." Jane and I had one date in high school. She was not interested in seeing me again. As students at UNC-A, we began to renew our friendship. She would get me dates with girls she knew from out of town. Wow--that was great. But we began to go out some and after our first kiss, I thought this is the one for me. I did not ask about values, goals, preferences, money, dislikes or likes; or, did she ask me. We were in love. I went to E.T.S.U. in Johnson City my junior year, and she went to Western Carolina. Soon after, we decided we wanted to be married.I still liked living on the edge and breaking traditional values. We created shock waves in our families when they learned of our marriage. Jane transferred to E.T.S.U. and we rented a rather cheap, dark, dirty efficiency apartment near campus. We were having to grow up fast--no money, full course loads for both of us, and four months later expecting our first child. Jane had never learned to cook and I was totally ignorant about such things. My mother was an awesome cook, and we would travel to Asheville every weekend from Johnson City, so that my mother could teach Jane some culinary skills, and I could nourish myself on Mom's cooking and make it through another week. When Barry was born, I remember standing by his crib in shock and fear--I did not know what to say. Just writing this brings tears to my eyes. I only stayed about 5 minutes at Mission Hospital. I had to spend time thinking about by burdens and responsibilities. Her doctor was Dr. Rathbun, and he agreed to let me pay the bill weekly. I worked two jobs to save money for our last year in college and pay the doctor and hospital. I heard that the doctor was indeed impressed when he was paid in full. I was taking responsiblity, but both of us had alot to learn about marriage and maturity. That senior year was challenging, again with little money and full course loads. I enjoyed all my courses but accounting. I failed it twice because it took so much time. I made straight A's in Statistics because I was good in Math. Jane made good grades in our Secondary Education Degree. I had the gift of adventure and wanted to see the world but now I was giving my son a bath and changing diapers. Jane went to class in the morning and I would go in the afternoon. We did not have much time to spend together. Jane graduated in the Spring, and I had to go back for two quarters to graduate. She stayed with my family and I went back by myself to finish. I found a boarding house with around 100 students, and the lady who ran the house was affectionately called Momma Cat, because if you crossed her she would cuss you out. I worked a deal with her and I kept the furnace going, swept the floors, and cleaned the toliets for room and board. A good dose of humility is good for growing up. I was a perseverer. I had been taught to never give up. My Dad was a model--he learned this from a difficult time in the Depression years of the l930's. In March 1966 I finished college and headed back to Asheville. I was ready to get on with life, establish my career, make lots of money, and have fun. But my greatest need was to work on me and my marriage. On a recent personality test, my strongest trait was adventure. I had lots of job offers but they were far from Asheville. I wanted to see the world but was fearful about leaving my roots. I found a job in Asheville and we rented a two bedroom duplex with a cement floor and concrete walls.That winter was cold. We had no washing machine and very little furniture. I wanted a job in sales and marketing. My first job did not work out that first year, and I found another job in sales. I loved the company car, bonuses, and travel all over western N.C. I loved the freedom to drive and be in a new place daily, meeting new people. (Continued in College Section).Alan ( Butch )
College
( continue from military section )The Adventure, January, 1972, to December, 2006: Several months into my new Christian experience I sensed the need to trust God with everything I owned. God was beginning to be the first love of my life and my desire was to follow Him wherever He lead. What He wanted for my life, I wanted--I did not want to miss His purpose and plan for my life. One day in prayer I signed over to Him everything--money, job, house, family, future. And I began to desire a ministry with university students. We connected with Campus Crusade for Christ--a ministry to students. It began with Dr. Bill Bright and his wife at UCLA in the mid 1950's. I sensed God directing our lives this way, calling us into full-time missionary work here and in the world. I resigned from my sales job in January, 1972, and went for some basic training in San Bernardino, Calif. We were assigned to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., but first we had to raise up investors to finance our living, medical, ministry expenses. I took a 30 per cent salary cut and God raised up all that we needed in four months. We sold our home in Asheville and rented a home in Blacksburg. Our staff team was 8 singles and we were the only married couple, with two kids. My spiritual gifts were evangelism (sharing how to know Christ personally), and faith to trust God in all things. We also emphasized discipleship. The ministry was large with around 500 students in discipleship groups. We ministered to sports teams, fraternities, sororities. I spent alot of time in dorms and off campus housing. Seeing students come to Christ and grow in that relationship was a joy. Some were not interested and that was disappointing because I wanted everyone to know the Lord, but that is all up to God. After two years at Tech, we sensed a call to Western Europe, specifically to Irish people. After 3 months a cross-cultural training, we packed up and moved to the Republic of Ireland. Eve...Expand for more
n though Ireland is a religious country of Protestants and Catholics, knowing Christ personally is more than just belonging to a religious group. We arrived at Shannon Airport in the west of Ireland on a cold, icy, damp February morning. Irish people were reserved at first, thinking we were a cult, but began to warm up when they began to see the love of Christ in our hearts for them. The existentialism of Sartre was influencing Irish students and we were able to show how Biblical Truth answers the real needs of man. The students were open to the message of new life in Christ and many began to respond to the true Truth. The next 8 years we helped start ministries in Galway, Dublin, Cork, and Belfast. We saw about 20 new Irish staff join full time with us. We made new staff friends from Finland, Germany, England, France, Spain, Switzerland. We traveled to every country except Sweden and Norway. (I will have to find another space to continue the story of my life, as I am running out of space.)After our time in Ireland, we moved to Portland, Or., and finished Masters in Divinity and Pastoral Counseling. We worked with students and churches in the Northwest, then moved to Manila Philippines and then back to Oregon and on to Lawrenceville, Ga., and from there I worked in Eastern and Western Europe, S. America, Asia. After 34 years of service in God's Kingdom work, I am thankful for the life that God has given me. He drew me to Christ and the Cross where my sins were forgiven.His Holy Spirit continues to give me strength to change and grow, but when the day of death comes, I will be completely delivered from this fleshly body and world of darkness. Pray for me to be a light and witness for His Truth, and that God will always be the first love of my life. Look forward to hearing the stories of your lives. Alan (Butch) Brock. There are more experiences I would like to share but maybe I can communicate of this under the picture section.
Workplace
I like the beach, but the mountains inspired me. Remember, I like adventure, but a strength can also be a weakness. I would work hard all week and stay up late on Friday nights, filling sales reports, take them to the P.O., get in bed by two, then up at 4 am to meet fishing buddies and stay gone all day can come home late. I met a school teacher who knew every creek from Murphy to Spruce Pine. I learned alot from him--he was a great fisherman and true mountain man. Once Jane dropped us off on a Friday. We sneaked onto private property off the Blueridge Parkway, walked through the woods, slept on the ground Friday night, then fished this beautiful stream all day Saturday, catching native speckled trout, and slept under a rock cliff that night. We fished Sunday morning, then crawled and climbed our way back to the Blueridge Parkway. I have never been so exhausted. Jane then picked us up with all our fish. Some weekends I went off with my friend and played poker until 2am, got up at 5am, fished till noon, then played 18-36 holes of golf. He knew lots of people at different golf courses and many times we got in for free. I have never met anyone with such energy, and he smoked two packs of cigarettes per day. But of course I needed to be home working on my marriage and bonding with my two sons. David was born in 1968. We bought some lots in south Asheville and made plans to build our first home. Our families were impressed as we had been out of college only 3 years and already plannning to move into this new home. Life was improving materially but problems were surfacing in our marriage. We needed help in our personal lives and marriage. The reason I share this is that life is a journey and for me an adventure. I made lots of mistakes but the key is to learn, make adjustments, and grow in maturity.This journey has a past, present, future. This is about me. Jane will share her own story. A healthy marriage is like a love bank--if I make positive deposits, intimacy and closeness will increase. And if I make negative deposits, our love bank will be getting close to empty. We found ourselves going separate ways--friends, hobbies, times spent away from each other. Arguments were increasing, blaming each other for small issues,experiencing apathy, coldness, and disinterest in each other's needs. I was building a wall of distrust, my biggest weakness being not listening and robbing ourselves from emotional closeness which grows couples close together. I was disillusioned, I began asking myself if we were going to spend the rest of our lives this way. Divorce came across my mind, but I was a perseverer; I knew Jane and the two boys needed me. Surely, there were answers to our problems. Our children were beginning to show some dysfunctionalism. This was not the happy, satisfied marriage I had always dreamed about. Maybe I was a big part of the problem. Did we both want to come out of the denial and change? Alot of my problems came from ignorance about how to grow a healty marriage. We had never had premarital counseling or mentoring by a mature couple or counselor. We had not thought too much about our personal strenghts and weaknesses, our expectations, our differences in personality. We had no training in raising children, dealing with conflict, spending money, sharing responsibility. A big issue was communication and building each other up. I was weak in listening skills. I just wanted to solve our problem and move on. I was weak in demonstrating compassion and empathy--giving feedback so Jane knew I cared and was listening. We had brought both the positive and negative we had learned in our families. My father did not like conflict and avoided it at all cost. I learned that dealing with conflict is very healthy. At this point I began to think about purpose, meaning in life, death and eternity. I began to sense an emptiness inside that friends,education,money,marriage,sports,fun,children (will con't).
Military
(Con't)..sports, could not satisfy. I could see the selfishness, jealousy, greed, envy, deceit, manipulation of people; and I was right in the middle of all this. I was becoming a broken man; it hurts to admit one is wrong, but pain and difficulties can also bring healing. Spirituallly, I was living in darkness, self autonomy--but in my agnosticism, I was beginning to be a seeker of God and Truth. I could see the despair of living in a closed worldview without a supernatural reality. Was there something beyond what I could see?My philosophy of life was broken and I remember that February of 1968 at Groce Funeral Home standing before the casket of Paul Jensen who had given his life in Viet Nam. No one was there at that moment--the lights were dim with only two small lights shining on the closed casket, draped in the American Flag. My thoughts were that he was so young, yet that brought the reality of death home. I had no peace about my death. Was death the end? Why all this striving if that was the case?One day driving to a sales appointment, I was sensing much despair and disillusionment with humanism. I drove on to the Blue Ridge Parkway and at one of the pull offs, I prayed a prayer and asked God that if He were there to give me a message, guidance in knowing Him and Truth. I met a businessman after that who met me for coffee and would discuss his new faith in Christ and the Bible. I could see the changes that Christ was making in his life. I liked what I saw, but still resisted. The teaching from Christ and His Scripture came together for me one weekend. I realized Who Jesus is and how Scripture was God's special message to me. I saw God as the Creator, and how man and woman fell from God's presence into sin, but also God's plan to bring man back to Himself through Jesus Christ, and how His death and resurrection answered my need for restoration. I bowed my head in prayer. My sins were many. I asked for forgiveness and asked Him to enter my life and restore me to fellowship as He promised to do in His Word. The earth did not shake but in the days and weeks to come, I began to see a spiritual connection I had never known. Through studying Scripture and through prayer, I became aware of His presence and He was making subjective changes in my thinking, attitudes, and habits. I began to sense a new identity and that identity was Christ in me. He was setting me free from fear of failure, rejection. My faith was giving me more confidence, security, more love for God, others and myself. I realized that He had created me with certain talents and abilities. I was more open and vulnerable, willing to take constructive criticism. I began dealing with bondages of the past and giving me a new desire to please Him. I was in Miami for a sales mtg., and there were 10 of us. Five wanted to go to a strip club, so I asked who wanted to go out for steak and bowling. Three guys went with me and we had a great time.As a new Christian that year, I had the best sales increase in my division. I had new motivation to serve customers and a new excitement about life. I began to find healing and restoration in my marriage through some counseling and reading and a better understanding of my wife. I began to put more love in our bank and was learning to listen and work through disagreements. I began to stay home on weekends and enjoy my boys and enjoy the view from our home and relax. I was not ashamed of calling myself a follower of Christ. For the first time I felt like a real man. The greatest miracle was this new life in Christ was by His Grace--Grace that is His free gift to me; I don't deserve it and can't earn it. Through Grace, He gave me a new life in Christ and a new heart, mind and will. Two Biblical truths I began to see was that He would be with me all through life, and that when I die, I will spend eternity with Him, freed from this old body and freed from the sin nature. I began to learn that humility and giving(con't sch.sect)
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