Amy came to say good-bye to me on Monday. A WCS graduate last May, Amy Miller has enrolled in Oklahoma Christian University and was leaving for the Edmond campus several days hence. I love Amy, one of my all-time favorite students. We both are glued to CSI on Thursday nights and I failed in my goal to give her a detention before she graduated which would have been her first EVER. Mainly, Amy is just a wonderful young lady. She's added a little bit of pink to the back of her hair, a good look for her. I honor Amy each year by wearing the two ties she bestowed on me, an orange one and a yellow one, both with stripes, on the first and last days of the year. I'm going to miss her. However, since I've become a near FACEBOOK addict, we can keep in touch to some degree via the Internet.
Before she left, Amy wanted to meet Casey Lankford and asked me to make the introduction. Casey is our new junior Bible teacher/MS boys' basketball coach/associate campus minister. Amy had heard the new Bible teacher was an OCU grad and was curious. I was glad to arrange it. I've known Casey for years. We've gone on numerous mission trips together to Honduras and he knows many of my relatives from college. As soon as I made the intros, Casey took off. He began asking Amy questions and giving her advice. He told her the programs and circumstances to take advantage of and some pitfalls to avoid. He talked of things I know nothing about and in their conversation, I learned that Casey had worked as a summer recruiter for OCU along with Courtney, my nephew Ben's lovely wife. The longer he spoke, the more taken in I was and before long, I was ready to drop everything and enroll at Oklahoma Christian University in spite of the fact that I already have my BA and Masters degrees and am gainfully employed! Amy could not have received a better send off to college if Dr. Phil himself had flown into Houston for a one-on-one pep talk with this incoming college coed. All I know is that if there had been a contract, I would have signed on the dotted line without even reading the fine print.
You know, I've been to OCU several times. My nephew, Zach, and his beautiful wife, Haley, were married on campus. Many of my nieces and nephews and their cousins received their college diplomas there. My history goes back further. The only time I ever got into trouble in college (OK- serious trouble) was on a baseball trip at Oklahoma Christian. But until last week, I'd never felt any great attraction to this fine university. What changed my outlook was the enthusiasm for OCU that Casey displayed before Amy. He made me want to be a part of the campus life, the academic endeavors, the spiritual landscape. In five minutes, Casey Lankford made me want to be an Eagle! Just imagine if we had that impact on others for the Lord. Imagine if my enthusiasm for following Jesus touched others like that. Casey preached a sermon with no power point and no altar call. He preached with conviction for his Alma Mater where the awesome Amy Miller will learn much more about her Savior than I ever was able to convey in my Gospels class. It wasn't a rehearsed spiel that came out of his mouth. It was the passion of the Christ.... and Casey wasn't faking it. We can't fake it, either.
Applicable quote of the day:
"It's faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth living."
Oliver Wendell Holmes
God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
http://www.hawleybooks.com/
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com
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