The Nice One, Class of ’88

Saturday October 18th 2025 we said, “Good by”, to a friend, a husband, a father, a grandfather, a classmate… Jeff Petit, The Nice One.

God certainly does work in mysterious ways.

Jeff had a bad heart attack that landed him in a cardiac unit in the hospital surrounded by the best care in the state… and yet his heart was too damaged, and too far gone, for any of their worldly miracles of medicine to have any affect. No pump or tubes were going to help.

And… he didn’t “qualify” for a heart transplant.

From the time he entered the hospital up to the funeral, God has had Jeff on my… heart.

And when asked if I knew him; or went to school with him; or how I would describe him, I would say, “He was always the nice one. We just always got along.”

He has a twin brother, Jerry, Jerry was, and is, a good guy too, but didn’t have the same jovial countenance that his brother had back when we went to school together.

As I was remembering “the good ol’ days” God moved me to “be prepared.”

I didn’t know what for, as his service would be held in a big Lutheran Church.

But I prepared as a Minister, just in case my friends wife would need a stand in to help.

She didn’t.

And the pastor did a very good job talking about Jeff and providing a sermon that, in my opinion, was spot on for the circumstances.

I say, “spot on”, because it lined up with the sermon I had prepared… just in case they needed one.

So, for our friends and classmates who couldn’t make it to the service I’d like to share those thoughts and verses that I wrote for Jeff.

Which, in His mysterious ways, God let me share with some classmates that got together after the service to hang out and reminisce about Jeff, “The Nice One.”

Here goes…

The Bible is quite clear that we all, not unlike Jeff, have a heart issue that no earthly medical miracle can fix.

Our hearts are described as “wicked beyond measure”, “deceitful”, and it needs to be “guarded”…

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 4:23

The pastor did a good job explaining how difficult it is preparing a service for someone you do not have a personal connection with. He relayed he studied the family pictures and talked with his wife Chris, he said, “You, his friends, and his family, have all the stories about Jeff.”

He only knew Jeff second hand, from a photo, he never spent any time sitting on a tailgate with him at a beer party; or racing with him; or working with him; or catching up with him when you would run into him at the pizza shop on main street on a Friday night.

It was at that moment that I understood what God wanted me to be prepared to do… to honor Him… and my friend and classmate Jeff Petit.

God laid on my heart, “Dave, tell Jeff’s friends and family, that they can know me personally, the same and intimate way that they know Jeff. And not second hand.”

The pastor used verses from the Book of John, Ch. 14 Verses 1-6 at Jeff’s service.

What God has shown me to share with you is found in verses 7 thru 9.

⁷ If you had known me, you would have known my Father also; henceforth you know him and have seen him.”

⁸ Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied.”

⁹ Jesus said to him,

“Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip?

Have we been with Jesus, “so long”, or “long enough” to know HIM personally, and to be able to recognize the Father, and Holy Spirit, whom he sends???

Can you, as a friend of Jeff’s, say you were with him long enough to KNOW him?

Are you a friend, and/or, an adopted brother or sister to Jesus… coming even closer to Christ… than just a friend???

Jeff, ended up being my niece’s father-in-law; and her kids, being his grand kids.

Even now, I can hear Jeff helping his grand son, after he falls down, in a gruff and growly, but loving tone, one that he would not have displayed back in high school, I can hear his voice say…

“C’mon get up. You’re ok.”

And I know Jesus well enough to pay attention when He says, “Hey Dave…”

Can you say that you are “saved”?

And not using any other definition than whats found in the Bible to define “saved”.

And knowing that you are saved… confidently state that you KNOW Jesus Christ?

As a friend; classmate; or family member of Jeff’s could you find it in your heart to take a moment and ask yourself the hard question of…

“Do I really know Jesus Christ, as well as I know Jeff?”

“Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me,______? … Dave; Joe; Patty; Gina; Kris; Chris; Eric; Mikki; Tim; Doug; Tom; Jerry; [ your name here ]

The Emerging Man… writing… to honor my friend and classmate, Jeff Petit, and… my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.