Spiritually Speaking

Real scholars scare me. “Type A” people intimidate me. I’m not a type A. I’m more of a type C-minus. However, the Lord has blessed me with a lot of neat opportunities to teach and some of those type A scholars have come in quite handy at times.

Recently, I’ve been watching a series of videos from Dr. Bill Barrick. He is introducing the text and storyline of the Old Testament. One of the things that immediately caught my attention was his ability to field wild and wonderful questions from his students without missing a beat. From the simplistic to the profound, his students toss out questions and chase various rabbits while Dr. Barrick calmly outlines numerous points of view and narrows the field to the best bit of truth on the subject. If there is no “best bit” he will admit such while supplying ample evidence for the top two or breaking down the defenses of the least likely; all with calm demeanor and wry wit.

To put it mildly, he knows some stuff.

As a result, I’ve been forced to re-evaluate my place on the planet. Here’s what I’ve come up with (or “here is that with which I have come up”).

A young boy (Jack) goes into a magic shop. He doesn’t have much money, but he has enough to purchase an inexpensive, entry-level illusion. He is a hard worker and soon has perfected his presentation to the point that his friends and family are duly “wowed” by his presentation and showmanship. Unfortunately for Jack, they get so excited about his trick that they decide to attend a performance by Penn and Teller. Suddenly, Jack is less impressive.

Jack has two choices: whine about it in a newspaper column, or get back to studying. Perhaps he will choose both.

See you Sunday!