An Unfinished Story

Phil Bishop,
Exercise Physiology,
University of Alabama

“So what’s my story?”

That question came to mind when I was reading Donald Miller’s book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years (Nelson). I really liked the book, chiefly because its message is practical for us as faculty.

Miller uses the metaphor of editing a movie about his life to remind readers that we all write our stories with each decision we make. Although this sounds obvious, Miller points out that few of us along the way give serious consideration to this simple concept. Even as I was reading, I reflected on my own story.

My Movie

Not surprisingly, the scenes that would make my movie are really significant events:
• College
• Marrying Brenda
• The birth of our kids
• Mission trips with Christian faculty
• Conversations (mostly religious) with family members and students
• Baptizing several of my children
• Seeing a grad student go from drug dependence to Christ-likeness.

It was what would not make the list that surprised me:
• My first peer-reviewed paper
• A big NIOSH grant that got me promoted to full professor
• My first book (Only one, but it sounds more impressive this way)
• Teaching awards
• Consulting with NASA

Now maybe the latter would make it into the sequel. Still, it was surprising to realize what scenes would be left on the cutting room floor.

If you have not reached my reflective and wizened age, you have more time to evaluate your own story, because there’s still time to add new scenes. Adventure, conflict, overcoming obstacles, a valiant struggle against long odds, and self-sacrifice, are all elements of good stories. How do we faculty members bring these into our stories?

During my early years in academia I was really helped in this by Rae Mellichamp and other successful senior faculty who modeled the life of a Christian professor. They were excellent in their teaching and research, and they pursued personal ministry in the time God gave them.

A Happy Ending

A similar commitment in my own life has led to some significant ministry opportunities. I have been able to share my testimony with scores of students at home, at professional conferences and on international trips.

Don Miller suggests that stories ought to end with a celebration, and that nothing says celebration better than a wedding and a feast. Thankfully our stories all have that happy ending, the wedding and the feast, the wedding of the Lamb.

So what’s your story? What are you doing as a faculty member that will make it into your movie?

© 2010 Phillip A Bishop

Raising Doubts

Phillip A. Bishop,
Exercise Physiology,
Alabama
[March 21, 2010] —

“Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” an expert in Jewish law asked Jesus in Luke 10.

If one of your colleagues or students asked you that, what would you say? I might launch in to the Four Spiritual Laws, the Bridge illustration, or even the old Roman Road to Salvation. I would want to make sure that person knew exactly how to “get saved.”

Jesus, I notice, did not do any of these things. He asked two questions: “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”

The Terrible Evangelist?

Now Jesus’ questioner knew a LOT of Scripture, so he replied to Jesus by quoting Deut. 6:5, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” and from Lev. 19:18, “and thy neighbor as thyself.”

“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

What’s up with that? Is Jesus saying that we get to heaven by following the Law? This appears to be terrible evangelism. I once heard Peter Kreeft (Philosophy, Boston College) explain that Jesus typically answered the questioner, rather than the question. So what did Jesus perceive about this questioner?

When he talked with Jesus, that religious scholar, perhaps more than anyone, knew he could never keep the law. Once he finally recognized his own incapacity to keep the law, who would be there to tell him about grace? Jesus never seemed too worried about this possibility.

I have a colleague who used to be on our faculty. He and I were running buddies and spent hours together. He was handsome, intelligent, witty, well-traveled and a good conversationalist. He was hostile towards Christianity, so a head-on evangelistic approach wouldn’t do much good.

One day I asked him, “How do you make decisions about ‘right’ and ‘wrong’?”

“That’s simple”, he said. “I live by five moral principles.”

“Wow, five is pretty good, ” I replied. I was curious how they might compare to the 10 “moral principles” of Exodus 20, so I asked, “What are they?”

He delineated three of them. “So what are the other two?” I continued.

“I can’t remember!” he said. To his credit, he laughed at himself- his failure to recall 40% of the principles that were supposedly guiding his life.

Posing Questions

He did not come to Christ that day. But in the spirit of the great American writer Flannery O’Connor, I had raised some doubts regarding his own doubts about God.

For some people, simply posing questions will cause them to pause and reflect, and that is always good. Jewish believer Randy Newman used this recently as the basis for his book “Questioning Evangelism.”

Sometimes, as Jesus did, we can use what people know to bring them to the point of realizing what they really need.

© 2010 Phillip A. Bishop

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