I was at recess, playing with my friends in the 6th grade among the huge South Georgia Longleaf pines which dotted the landscape of the Junior High School in Tifton, Ga. Boys being boys playing with their pocket knives by trying to stick them in a pine tree from abut ten feet. Sometimes we did and most of the times we didn’t. It was a fun game one cannot play at school in these days. We were careful, knowing that a knife would hurt someone if not used carefully. My mind was fully occupied by the task of trying to hit a particular spot on the bark of the pine. We were talking and laughing, cutting the crazy, when suddenly I saw a boy walk by talking to a young lady. He was oblivious to us but I wondered who he was. I asked one of my friends if they knew who this person was and they said that he was R.L. Duckworth and that he was in the ninth grade.
I had heard this young man’s name a number of times before because almost everyone in Tifton knew of his family. His father was a barber with a shop right next to Cohen’s Department store on Main Street in Tifton. Our family knew the Duckworth family as did a large number of people in Tift County. Many men went to Mr. Duckworth’s barber shop. I remember where their family farm was out north of the town. They were well known. So, when told the young man’s name, I immediately knew who my friend was talking about. R. L. Duckworth and his family go way back in the history of Tift County Georgia. Over the years, we lost contact and as we got older, we focused on our own maturing lives. We lost each other.
When I came to Augusta in 1981 to become the Pastor of Abilene Baptist Church, we had a music minister named Tom Albright. Tom was a very talented music minister who was fastidious in his dress and appearance. He had a very nice head of hair and it was always cut and combed beautifully. God graced me with a full head of hair as well and, from my earliest youth, my mother and grandmother made sure that my hair was neatly combed. So, a few days after coming to Abilene on January 18, 1981, I asked Tom who cut his hair. He told me that a man by the name of R. L. Duckworth was his barber. I was shocked! I said….”R.L. Duckworth! There ain’t but ONE of those creatures on the whole earth!” Tom said: “He is from Tifton and he said that he knows you.” I couldn’t believe it.
So, a few days later, I went down to the barber shop where R.L. worked to get my hair cut. It was about the first of February 1981. When I walked into the shop both barbers had someone in their chair. When he caw me come in, R.L. looked over the top of the customer’s head and said: “Bill Harrell what are you doing in here?” I told him that, of course, I had come in for him to cut my hair. So began a renewed relationship that began a forty-three year relationship between a barber and a customer; between a preacher and a dedicated layman; between two men who had not seen each other since the late fifties. For many years we were separated by geography and the circumstances of life. But now two friends discovered each other again and that earthly friendship lasted until the Lord took him home to be with him. His son, Steve, left me a brief message Thursday night, Jan. 4th. It said: “He left us at 10:17.” My heart sank. My emotions exploded. He had cut my hair only a few days before and we had a great time as we always did when I visited him every two weeks to get my “locks” trimmed. My friend was gone.
An experienced and trusted preacher friend told me many years ago that if a person had even two or three real friends in life, they were very fortunate and that those true friends were A Rarity in Life. I have found that was a very true and profound statement. Many people are friends, but only a few have a heart that beats like yours. Only a few are like family to a person. Only a few make the grade and R.L. did. He and I are also part of a greater family; The Family of God. R.L. Duckworth was a dedicated Christian who believed God about who Jesus is and he trusted in Jesus for his salvation. We discussed all the Biblical statements about being saved plus the additional doctrines that are part of all that God did and said about His Son and Redemption. R.L. believed right and there is a great reward for that: Salvation and eternal life with Jesus in heaven.
I know I will see my dear old friend in heaven one day…no doubt about it! According to Luke 16:19-31, we will know people in heaven and they will know us. I also believe that the Lord will greet a Christian when they enter the gates of heaven. I also believe that those we have known and loved will be in the welcoming group. When I get there, I will be greeted by loved ones long gone before me and in that group, I will be looking for R.L. Duckworth. What a grand reunion it will be! There won’t be any need for haircuts there nor anything else of this earth. It is all left behind and we will all spend eternity gathered around the Throne of God praising Him for his wonderful provision for us in Jesus Christ.
Death and the separation it brings are only temporary things. We will be reunited in Heaven. Sadness my be our present experience but as the Lord says in His Word: “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” I’m looking forward to that morning as is every true Christian.
William F. Harrell….Jan. 6, 2024
