My formal education has been engaging. My
first classroom experience occurred in 1956, on the Fort Totten Indian Reservation
near Devil’s Lake, North Dakota. My first-grade teacher, Miss Daggs, was a
black spinster from New Orleans, Louisiana. She was marvelous, beginning the
educational experience of Native American students and successfully
transitioning them from their native language to conversational English by
Thanksgiving each year. Being the only English as a first language student in
the class and the only white kid in the entire school, she was a marvel to
behold.
In January 1960, my father was transferred
to southern Florida to work with the Seminole Indians, with me in four
different grade schools, New River Junior High School and the Nova School in
Davie, Florida. 1965, we moved to the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, near
Madras, Oregon, where I graduated from high school in 1968, after also taking
several classes along the way from what was then Portland State College.
In June 1968, I received an appointment to the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado. I lasted four months before a medical discharge caused by malformed L5 vertebrae left me with a 4F draft status. I enrolled in the Oregon State University school of engineering, graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering in March 1973.
I began working for Hughes Aircraft Company
in El Segundo, California, and immediately took courses at El Camino College. Following
my conversion in 1974 and my resignation from Hughes Aircraft Company in 1975, I
attended the Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College, the Grace Graduate School of Theology,
the International Seminary, the Talbot School of Theology, and finally, the
Louisiana Baptist Theological Seminary.
I love going to school. I have always loved
going to school. While in school, I typically sat in classes I was not enrolled
in just because I found going to school stimulating. That said, though I have
had primarily wonderful teachers in the various schools I have attended, the
most important lessons I have learned and come to appreciate were discovered in
the school of life, outside the classroom.
During my ministerial musings, I was
reminded yesterday of an occurrence that took place more than forty years ago,
early on in my first pastorate.
My first best friend in the Gospel ministry was the late Jim Johnston, a Baptist pastor from whom I learned many lessons. He was old enough to be my father, having a son just about my age, but he chose to relate to me as a pastoral peer. I learned that it is okay for a pastor to be nice to people.
The specific incident that I recollect was when
he and I drove from the Imperial Valley of California to pick up a friend
flying into Los Angeles International Airport. After retrieving our friend from
Oregon, we checked into a hotel near the airport. Before we unpacked our bags,
the third preacher indicated that he needed to make a phone call.
In the days before cell phones, he picked
up the hotel phone and dialed the Baptist pastor of the church he had formerly
been a member of and greeted the church receptionist who answered the phone. He
identified himself to her, said a couple of nice things, and then asked if the
pastor was available.
When his former pastor got on the line, I
heard him identify himself to the preacher and informed him that he had just
flown into LAX and wanted the pastor to know he was in the area. Think about
that and reflect on the fact that the Los Angeles area has 15 million people.
Yet that man felt it was appropriate to inform his former pastor that he was in
the area as a matter of courtesy.
He then asked the pastor for his permission
to reach out to a couple in the church he used to be a member of. He sought the
all-clear from the pastor to contact several church members where he formerly served
God. Think about that. He checked with the pastor to make sure it was okay, not
because he was not a free American who could do whatever he wanted to do, but
to serve two purposes: First, to show respect to his former pastor. Second, to
make sure he was not creating the problem by contacting friends in his former
church.
Who does that any more? Who shows that kind
of respect? Do a word search of your Bible to see how important the word honor
is in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Please arrive at your conclusions
about whether or not that friend from Oregon was doing a necessary check-in
with his former pastor. But can you fault him for seeking to honor his former pastor?
Can you fault him for trying to make sure that he would not create a problem by
checking in with church members he used to spend a lot of time with?
That preacher from Oregon passed away
several years ago. He and I were not close friends, though we got along
amicably. But I will always appreciate him for the honor he displayed toward
his former pastor and his concern not to harm his former church.
