People We Like vol. 3

bobby posting:

Mobile Sobel

Adam Sobel grew up in a suburb of Chicago.  I was born in a nearby suburb of Chitown as well (Adam and my older sister were actually born in the same hospital there).  Right before adolescence hit, Sobel and his family packed their bags and moved down I-55 to Memphis.  My family hopped, skipped, and jumped to Florida, Texas, and Arizona.  Finally, at the age of 7, I moved to Little Rock, AR.  Finally, in 7th grade, Adam moved to North Little Rock.    And then, one day soon thereafter, I moved across the Arkansas River to within walking distance of a guy that remains to this day one of the best friends I’ll ever have.

Sobel and I always shared this bond that we were strangers in a strange land here in Arkansas.  Neither one of us had a foreign, I mean Southern, accent and both of us sort of resented the fact that out of all the places we’d once lived throughout our child, we somehow ended up here. Of course we were ignorant, unappreciative little snobs, but we didn’t know it at the time.  All we knew was that the other one spoke a little bit like us.

Like any great friendship, we hit our highs and lows throughout high school, including that horrible phase of best-friendedness where you  just don’t talk to each other for a long stretch of time.  It was awkward and annoying and, to be honest, a bit embarassing.  But as we rounded out high school, we were both accepted into Northwestern University.  It was there, as you transported Arkansans in a foreign land, that we came back together and reappreciated what we’d always had.

There are many, many things I appreciate about this guy.  I could make a Santa-size list, but instead I’ll narrow it down.  Here’s my Six Degrees of Sobel:

1 / Adam is terribly funny.  More than that, though, his laugh is terribly contagious.  Get him going and it’s one of those great rolling chuckles that you wish your laugh sounded like.

2 / Adam is unabashedly unshy (when he wants to be).  I had a photojournalism project where I needed to take portraits of people in “their own environment”.  I had to capture them in a setting that defined who they were.  As a screenwriter, Adam had this great idea involving one of his scripts and a projector.  As I stood there and snapped up photos, Adam didn’t do what everyone always does when you put a camera on them.  He didn’t hide and force a smile.  Instead, he really opened up and let me illustrate his world.

3 / Adam is incomparably inventive.  The same thing that makes him a great writer and filmmaker also makes him a great guy to have around.  There’s rarely a boring moment.  From Deer Hunting Without Guns (which involves chasing deer… on foot… for no apparent reason…which we actually DID in high school), to the genius list he created for my bachelor party which gave everyone there a task to be completed by night’s end (further inquiries please contact my lawyer (name and email upon request)).  Everybody has a friend like that.  He’s mine.

4 / Adam is one of the rare men still walking this Earth who understand the beautiful simplicity of simply playing catch in a back yard.  Give the two of us baseball gloves and a ball and we’re entertained and engaged in conversation like two girls getting a manicure.  Or something like that…

5 / The following photo says more on Adam than I could ever describe.  It’s of me and Amy leaving our wedding.

he's the crazy one to the left!

Somewhere near the left / forefront of the picture you’ll barely see a young man with his head tilted back screaming in pure, unadulturated, Will Ferrell-in-Elf-eque joy.  That’s Adam.  He is 100% there in the moment, 100% full of happiness for me and my new bride, and 100% wearing it on his sleeve.  He’s one of the first few I’ll call the day I (Lord willing) become a Father, because I know his response on the other end of the line will be everything I hope for and more.  He just gets it and I love that about him.

6 / Last, but certainly not least:  In the 8th grade, while shooting hoops in his driveway, Adam invited me to a church retreat called “Castle Bluff”.  It was there that I gave my life to Christ.  I am forever thankful for his invitation.  Something like that would never have happened if Adam had felt fearful or timid about living out Romans 1:16. A lot of 13-year-old boys would have avoided that conversation at all costs.  Adam didn’t.

I’m also thankful for a song he wrote called, “I Will Not Be Shaken / Psalm 16″.  I’ve taken that song that I learned in Adam’s house in 8th grade with me to Chicago, Kentucky, and back here to North Little Rock.  Everywhere it’s been sung, students and leaders have responded in worship and praise.  It’s simplicity and earnestness has touched many, and it’s been a gift to pass on to others all across the country.  Students here in Arkansas tell me they have it stuck in their heads at school and hope for us to play it on Wednesday nights.  Kids worshipping God all because Adam wrote a song a decade ago.

As for things I don’t like about Adam?  Well…the list is short and sweet.

1 / He can be very cranky in the mornings.  Never, never, never try to wake him up from a slumber.  He comes out with gritted teeth and flying fists.  I still have bruises, though I think he’s getting better about this.

In all the good, and the very, little, manageable bad, Adam is PEOPLE WE LIKE.