The Big Harry Deal

Poker tables sometimes remind us of the old TV comedy Barney Miller.  They can be filled with interesting characters.  We learned this weekend one of our most memorable characters from the Georgia era of this blog has died.

Harry Brooks never seemed to have the most glamorous jobs.  But when he walked into a poker tournament, he had everyone's respect.  He played the game well, talking and acting out bluffs at times to his advantage.  He made a lot more final tables than we did, during our time in Georgia.

"Big Harry" had some health problems in recent years.  We went to see him in the hospital at one point, and asked here for prayers on his behalf.

But here's the saddest part of all for us -- Harry Brooks died in June 2014.  We never knew about his passing until this weekend, more than 11 months later.  One of his relatives took over his Facebook account (something we don't think Facebook allows), and posted a picture of a gravestone which apparently was only finalized in recent days.

We're assuming that gravestone picture sent Harry to the top of our Facebook timeline.  But to be honest (and yes, we know we're getting off the poker theme here), this explains one of our biggest frustrations with Facebook. What used to be a "timeline" has become so jumbled and random that we probably miss most of the posts by our friends.

But we also must be honest with ourselves, and take some of the blame for the lack of knowledge. We get so busy that days can go by without a single Facebook check -- and we've never really made a habit of reading newspaper obituary pages, especially in places where we don't live anymore.

So we can draw several lessons from the life and death of Big Harry:

1. If you really have "friends," spend time with them.  We've heard ministers challenge church congregations about how many "Facebook friends" they really know.  Are they merely online connections - or is there personal contact?

The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.... - Exodus 33:11

Of course, this was long before Facebook or telephones.  But God had conversations with Moses, when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt.

Some poker players prefer to gather in their own groups for games, because that's who their closest friends are.  We can understand that, in a "home game" situation.  But we can also understand why some people don't think that's fair when it comes to tournaments, because it appears the group is stacking the odds in their favor.

NOTE: Our thoughts on the death of Big Harry will continue in our next post.