Tag Archive - Harding University

The far country

June 26, 2011 in Religion with 0 Comments

It was good to be back at the University church in Conway recently. I have missed this church for over four years. Because they are in the process of looking for a new preacher, they are having guest speakers. Jim Woodruff from Harding University was speaking the Sunday we were there.

Interstate 65 - Mobile River Delta - c.1981

I had never heard him preach before, but I’m glad I was there.

The text was the Prodigal Son. When the guy read the bible text, I silently groaned. (Not because of the guy reading – he is a wonderful guy and superb guitarist).

“No,” I was thinking, “How many hundreds of sermons have I heard from this text?”

How many have you heard?

Probably many.

This time though, Jim opened up the text in ways I had not heard before. One thing I liked was his description of the far country. He said that it could mean, not only a geographical reference but also a depraved heart or a broken relationship.

I understood the text so much better because it reminded me that I’d been there too. Not that I needed reminding.

I remembered a younger guy driving off to attend college at Jacksonville State University in 1981 in a sweet 1973 Dodge Duster (with artificial snake skin roof). Because I didn’t want to leave early, I left at midnight – it is a six-hour drive. Apparently sleep was not a big need of mine back then.

Because the I-65 Bridge wasn’t completed, I had to go by Scott and International Paper Companies in Plateau, drive through Baldwin County, and follow Highway 225 north to I-65.

I arrived around seven that morning, completely exhausted.

I made a few friends and promptly went to sleep  - on a couch I think.

I missed all the advising sessions that helped you pick the right classes to take for the fall. So I advised myself.

Because of this daring move, I ended signing up for French 101, engineering 101, and a few other classes I had no business taking.

It went downhill from there.

After a year and a half in northeast Alabama, I realized that I had taken a wrong turn in life. Not because I took French and Engineering but because of some bad choices I’d made. I made a deal with God: let me transfer to Alabama Christian College in Montgomery and I’d major in Bible. I reasoned that by becoming a Bible major, that would somehow entice God to overlook the past year and a half of my life.

This was not an especially wise motivation for wanting to become a preacher.

Jim asked in his sermon, “What is it that turns on the light in the brain? What wakes someone up to his or her real situation?”

For the prodigal son, it was the sight of seeing the pig food in front of him and remembering that his father’s servants ate better than this. He was just starving to death!

Here’s the point: God accepts motivation less than noble to bring us back to him. It didn’t matter that the motivation to bring the son back was his empty stomach.

Your motivation for returning to God doesn’t matter. What matters is that he loves you and wants you back home. What matters is that you come home.

 

My Old Auburn Home

April 5, 2011 in Home with 0 Comments

I made it home from Arkansas late last night following the interview at Harding. Nice folks there – all gracious and informative about the university. They really didn’t have to sell me about their cause – I am the product of two Christian universities – well, such as I am that is. Maybe I’m not the poster-person they seek, but I am hopeful.


160.5 Bragg Ave
My Auburn Home

I spent the entire time driving back listening to Donald Miller’s book, “Blue like Jazz” on my iphone It was a good ride – opened my ears to lots of stuff so far outside all of my experiences. He lives in Portland. I was there once, with the Army. I didn’t venture far from the hotel as it (surprisingly) rained most of the time. Looking forward to reading (or listening) to more stuff from Mr. Miller.
The photo above is of a little shack where I stayed while at Auburn University while stumbling through graduate school; and finally leaving to join the Air Force – a career move that lacked the whole “thinking-it-through-first” ingredient. It was 160 1/2 Bragg Street because the main house was 160 and the little shack only counted for one-half of an address. I rented it from a sweet woman named Mr. Guthrie. Good times.

Reflections on the future

April 2, 2011 in Miscellaneous with 0 Comments

Today I am traveling to Searcy, Arkansas to interview for a teaching position at Harding University. Here are a few thoughts I had along the way:

Jesus Saves
Near Bald Knob, Arkansas
  1. 100 yards away from my house I already miss my bride and girls.
  2. Pure and unadulterated joy is seeing a sheriff’s car in your rearview mirror and notice that when it passes you it is from a distant county. Jurisdiction has its privileges.
  3. In about a month, I will be leaving active duty military status. This reserve thing sure has kept us moving and uncertain about the future the past four years.
  4. The Meadowbrook church of Christ in Jackson, MS is as just as friendly and welcoming the last time I visited – four years earlier. I love their stain glass windows also – something you just don’t see enough of in a church of Christ.
  5. I will never have enough pictures of the sunset.
  6. I listened to a guy named Donald Miller, a guy that I’d never heard of before I clicked on a link on Facebook put there byPatrick Mead. I plan on reading (listening) to a lot more of him.
  7. The 2000 Dodge Caravan needs a new fuel filter, which I purchased at an Auto-zone on the way. Thankfully, I only need to remove the engine, transmission, and gas tank during a full moon and summon the ghost of Elvis. Not sure what Elvis has to do with this, but I am pretty sure the same skill level is needed for both.
Praying the interview will go well tomorrow.