Robert Scott Weston 1951-2025
I’m at the cabin. It’s October 17 and I’m up at 6 o’clock in the morning to listen and read. I have witnessed a magnificent sunrise and spent some time reading my book, God Stays Near, Faith and Flight. I’m thinking about writing something to honor Scott Weston, and the good and beautiful friend he was. I’ve intended to do so as a blog on my laptop, resisting the slower paper and ink method, but now a pen seems the better option. I’m asking the Spirit to help me.
I love Scott Weston. It took a while, because we were quite different in many ways. But we were alike in a few ways—the things we valued most and the things that really matter. He was a regional bank president, living in a world of three-piece suits, board meetings, and business relationships involving millions of dollars. I was an airline pilot and a military pilot who valued time off with family, and in the outdoors with cows, chainsaws, canoes, four wheelers and such.
My amazing friend and valued mentor, Charles Angel, ten years my senior always said, “The Holy Spirit establishes relationships. Just be looking for them and sensitive and embrace them when they come.”
I don’t recall first meeting Scott, or how we met. I’ll have to ask my wife. But I do remember Scott and Katherine appeared to be radical/normal Christians and wanted to live in a community of the same type folks with the same goals of following Christ. They weren’t raised in Christian homes and became believers in their early marriage after the birth of two of their four children. One unusual synchronicity that caused us to end up in the same community was that they enjoyed listening to a Christian recording artist named Craig Smith before moving from Missouri to Arkansas. Unbeknown to them, Craig happened to be a pastor at our church.
We loved that Scott and Katherine loved the Lord, loved their family, and seemed to be fun-loving people. They learned that we had acquired some acres just out of town and had a small cattle farm. They told us they wanted to do the same thing, asking if we would consider selling them some of our land. We told them we weren’t interested in selling any of our property, but in the spirit of hospitality, care, and genuine Christian community, we would help them look for a place.
I love to see people pursue their dreams and help if I can, but I never thought that was a good idea for these city folks. While wishing them well, smiling, I tried to dissuade them from this dream—mainly of Katherine’s but supported by Scott—telling them about the realities, the cost, and the commitment required of farm animals. But we kept looking with them.
One day I heard in the Spirit, “You should sell Scott and Katherine part of your land.” This was the opposite of everything I thought was wise and wanted to do, so I decided to sit on it a while and seek more confirmation. Yet I suspected it was from the Lord. That very afternoon, Elizabeth came home and said, “I had the craziest thought today, that we should sell Scott and Katherine part of our land.” Well! It gets even better. Before the dust settled on that conversation, and I told Elizabeth what I had heard earlier in the day, the phone rang and Scott asked if he and Katherine could drop by for a visit. “Of course.”
An hour later, there was a knock on our door. They came inside and sat on our couch across the room from us. I said, “You all called this meeting, what’s going on?” They looked at each other, then they looked at us and Scott said, “We just want to ask you one more time if you would consider selling us some of your land?” I looked at Elizabeth, then back at them before saying, “How much land do you want? Where do you want it? And how much do you want to pay for it?”
Before their visit, Elizabeth and I had discussed the obvious synchronicity of what we’d heard that day in our in our thoughts. We both still didn’t want to sell, but both felt God was wanting us to do it. So we briefly discussed that if they asked again, we’d probably sell up to ten acres, and would probably prefer it to be on the west side of our property, and at whatever price they offered. We both knew the land had been given to us supernaturally, and it belonged to the Lord. We were only the happy stewards of it. Scott quickly and quietly answered my questions in a business- like, humble manner, “We’d like ten acres on the west side of your forty acres where the road comes in. And we’d like to pay a little more than market value for it” quoting a price.
We became neighbors that day and for the next several years our friendship grew and we experienced “life together.” Of course I haven’t the need to tell all of it, nor could I, but three things stand out to me now that point to the beauty and depth of our friendship—coffee time, a European vacation, and a wrecked four wheeler.
The Gift of Friendship and Coffee Time
Scott was one of the busiest, scheduled-up friends I’ve ever had. But nine out of ten times I called to see if he wanted to get coffee he’d say, “When and where?” I thought I was doing him a favor by getting him out of the office to breathe air, but looking back, he was doing me the favor of valuing time together and offering his friendship. His sacrifice and honoring me in this way taught me about friendship in practical, touching ways that still bring me joy and a heartfelt smile.
European Vacation
Both of our 25th wedding anniversaries were coming up when my wife came to me saying, “Why don’t we celebrate our special day with the Westons in London or Paris?” Shocked and amused by the idea coming from her, I responded with a smile, “Aren’t you supposed to spend your anniversary with your spouse?” “Well yes, but Katherine and I were talking, and they’ve never been to Europe, except when Scott was stationed in England in the Air Force, and we think it would be fun.”
Scott liked the idea. I was flying to London or Paris weekly with American Airlines, so I could plan the trip, and off we went! It was a beautiful time of sharing lives and adventures with a few days in London, a Chunnel ride, and a few days in Paris, where Katherine almost got us kicked out of the Louvre. Our friendship grew and the Westons started making trips to Europe on their own with their children. We all grew from it together, and with the Lord, experiencing adventure, some challenges, and GRACE.
[“GRACE & Scott Weston” to be continued in the following blog. An additional Scott Weston story is recorded in God Stays Near, Faith and Flight, Chapter 4, page 37]
