My Defining
Moment (my story continues)
I
posted “My Defining Moment” yesterday and I have lost track of how many people
want to know what I was doing in Chicago. So as the
great Paul Harvey used to say, “Here is the rest of the story”.
When I
was 6 years old, God captured my heart. There
was no doubt that God had selected me to serve as a pastor.
What I
didn’t expect was, God “trains” us for service by leading us through life
experiences that are dangerous and introduces us to people that try our
patience, but each provides us with a “tool” that we will need in our service
later down the road. Nothing is wasted.
So
right out of High School in 1981, I headed to Chicago for Bible College.
I have
taken a lifetime to process what I experienced and learned in Bible
College. As I said earlier, “Nothing is
wasted”. God has a plan.
The
Bible College I attended was highly conservative and very big on rules and
regulations. They often preached from
the pulpit, sermons on the sin of men wearing pink shirts. Their position was that it was effeminate and
inappropriate for men of God.
I
experienced a few things happened at Bible College that changed my life.
First,
I learned that I don’t respond well to “rules and regulations”. When someone pushes me – my natural instinct
is to push back. This has, to say the
last, seldom served me well. Here I
learned the meaning of Philippians 1:6, “being confident of this,
that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the
day of Christ Jesus.” Lesson #1: God had to humble me before He could use me. Thus when I left Bible College in 1984, the U.S. Army was phase two of God's plan to humble me. Nothing like a Drill Sergeant to confront a stubborn young lad who struggles with "rules and regulations".
Second,
I learned the importance of friends. The
College was brutal and broke the spirit of many who couldn’t hold up under all
the rules and scrutiny. I’m not saying
the College was wrong ~ I’m just saying it was a more harsh living condition
than anything the Army threw at me.
Thus, friends were a life line that offered not only encouragement but perspective. I learned to carefully screen those that get
close to me ~ and those that do get close ~ to take their advice to heart ~ no
matter how painful. Their insight and
wisdom is often right from the throne room of Heaven and must be valued.
Third,
(I will stop with 3) I had numerous classes from a retired pastor (Les Smith)
from Atlanta. He had a “pastor’s heart”
for people. This was the first time I
witnessed both compassion and fire from a pastor’s heart. Pastor Smith was transparent with us and
often shed tears, both of compassion for the lost and pain for those who had
gone astray. Halfway through my second
year, the church in Atlanta that Pastor Smith planted and built, went through terrible
divisions that ripped the heart out of the church. I remember Pastor Smith weeping in the classroom
as he explained to us the dynamics that were devastating the church he loved
dearly. Finally, he resigned as our
professor and drove back to Atlanta to get back in the battle and try to lead
the church back to “health”. My time
under his teaching was invaluable.
Fourth,
(ok, I will stop with 4) my favorite (and most difficult) class was Greek. In
all honesty, I have no gift for languages (my deaf step daughter will attest to
this). However, to hold a Greek New
Testament and study each word in the original language was ~ an honor that
seized my soul. English is a rough
coarse language, but Greek is incredibly descriptive. One Greek word, with all the prefixes and
suffixes, can not only describe a sunset but will provide you an experience,
complete with a warm tropical breeze blowing in your face and the warm sand
between your toes. OK, I may have exaggerated
somewhat, but you get the idea. My Greek
professor gave me a deep hunger and appreciation for God’s Word. For that, I will forever be grateful.
"But he said to me,
'My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness.'
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly
about my weaknesses,
so that Christ's power may rest on me."
