Memory is a funny thing. When one goes through any given experience, one tends to maximize the positive, and minimize the negative. We do this with everything from past boyfriends or girlfriends, job situations (unless it was so fantastic or so miserable that is all we remember), or our schooling.
So it is with me.
I spent the better part of a week looking through drawers, boxes, tubs and more looking for my alumni pin from the Moody Bible Institute. (I got my BA in Pastoral Ministry there in 1991, and that was preceded by completing the Adult Open Bible Studies Certificate in 1990, after working on that since 1986 as a sailor.)
In and of itself, the pin has little value. It’s not much larger than a nickle, and was given to me upon graduating. (I have a second pin, with the old MBI logo, that is slightly older). It’s what the pin represents.
It represents, inasmuch as the degree I hold, three-plus years of hard work. (I took some classes over a summer, plus two correspondence courses--hence the “plus.”) Were those years perfect? Were they miserable?
No to both.
Oh, there were good times. My second and third year roommate and I got along famously. (Well, at least I thought we did.) Most of my brother floormates and I had some great times. The missus and I had our ups and downs there. I dated (?) two of my fellow students--and while those ended badly, I have long wished them both well and forgiven them (and pray that maybe someday, they’ll forgive me). There were lots of laughs, good times, and a lot of learning. Sometimes, I learned what was being taught in the classes, and sometimes...well, sometimes I learned a lot about myself.
Good times: trips all over Chicago. Eating at DB Kaplan’s Deli, Giordano’s Pizza, Mr. G’s, and yes, the late night Taco Bell and/or White Hen Pantry runs. Soda and snack runs on 2nd floor Culby. Shopping at Water Tower Place. Catching baseball games at Wrigley Field and the old Comiskey Park. Sunday church services at Covenant Presbyterian Church, followed by dinner in the Student Dining Room. Praying in Broman Chapel. Going to Founder’s Week was a treat.
There were bad times, too. All the breakups led to some unhappy, miserable, lonely days. I failed my first class--Theology 300, taught by Dr. Marvin E. Meyer--at Moody. Going to Founder’s Week was a chore. (You sit for three to four hours a day on wooden theatre seats in dress clothes and I defy you to tell me your buns aren’t sore.) I got used to being humiliated there. I almost took a swing at a fellow student there--it took several alert classmates to notice and keep me from completing what I started. I wanted to brain my first year roommate. (We have since made nice, and I hear from him on occasion.) I did take a swing at what I thought was drywall, only to discover that it was rebar reinforced concrete. I busted the knuckle on my pinky finger as a result, and learned that anger is much better managed than let loose. I had to take both PE and English again, even though I had taken them both at Los Medanos College, and passed with flying colors. I was 2100 miles from home, and in a totally different world. Planet? Heck, sometimes I felt like I was in a different galaxy! Many of my fellow students could go home on weekends or certain holidays. I was sort of stuck there on campus, along with many of our international students. In fact, sometimes I felt like an international student.
I wanted to quit at least once a semester. I was a transfer student that had successfully completed Navy “A” school and an A.A. I didn’t need to take this stuff. I certainly didn’t need an artificial curfew! (That was taken care of my final year there.) I didn’t care if Moody was the West Point of Christian Service; this was asinine and I didn’t need it.
The truth be told...was that I did. I needed it very much, more than I ever knew. Deep down, I knew if I could handle MBI and graduate with my faith and sanity intact, I could survive anything.
I needed the discipline, the education, the building of my faith and outright dedication to the Lord that was infused into me there. I have used the discipline to continue working on my third doctorate at home. The dedication to the Lord served me well when things went sour in my very first church position, and when things went south job-wise almost a year ago. My faith is what carries me in hard times, and helps me to celebrate the good times. The education has been built on...but it is the education I received there that I draw on.
As a student, then as an alum, I’ve bought many a book from Moody Press (now Moody Publishing). I listen to their radio feed; their praise and worship channel runs often on the Mac at home, often at work when I’m at my other job, and I’ll look for live feed in the car when I travel. (I enjoy Mike Kellogg and “Music Through The Night.”)
Is MBI for everyone? No. Not even close.
It’s not for the faint of heart or weak of constitution. It was sheer stubbornness--both mine and the wonderful woman who is now my wife--that got me through my time there. (Well, okay. That and the Hand of God pushing me along.) It’s not for people that want easy grades or straight “A’s”--although you can get them if you are diligent. Do I recommend people to go there? You bet. The education--both about God, Jesus, and the Bible as well as about myself--will serve me to the end of my days.
Oh, yes--I finally did locate my Alumni pin. It’s in a safe place now, where I can get to it and wear it on those occasions that warrant it.
Enough for now.
(Posted 5/18/09)
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