WILL YOU MARRY ME?

It did not take very long after meeting Mary, that I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. It must have been when we were at my home in Iowa at Thanksgiving that I bought a ring for her. I tried to keep it a secret but I guess she looked in my checkbook. I suppose a check to the jewler there was a give away. On December 4, 1966, I set out to ask Mary's parents for permission to marry their daughter. For hours on that Sunday afternoon I waited for a good opening while Mary took a nap. That opening never came, so I finally just had to blurt it out. I received their blessing and gave Mary the ring after her folks left for church. We showed up a little later and Mary surprised her folks showing them the ring. I was engaged to that girl I had prayed for so many years. I was one happy guy!

MY FIRST YEAR AT CCHS

I entered my first year of teaching with a lot of enthusiasm. Probably more enthusiasm than good sense. I took the responsibility of being dorm dad to about a dozen high school boys. I taught a number of math, science and Bible courses. I didn't have my teaching certificate, so I took night courses at Wichita State University and practice taught in McPherson High School. Mary and I directed the senior class play. And then there was the time I spent getting to know Mary. What a year that was!

I was very enthused about the Lord and about spiritual things and was disappointed that I didn't find that kind of heart in many of the students. On the other hand, I was excited to be able to start classes with prayer and talk about things of the Lord. I know God was beginning to show me the importance of education that is Christian. God was preparing me cocerning the education of our children He would bring into our lives.

CONCERNING INTERRUPTIONS

Over the last several months, I have experienced an interruption to my project, but I am determined to get back to the project of Journaling My Journey. I have found in my life that whenever you set out to do something consistently, there are often interruptions. A good exercise program might be interrupted by sickness or injury. A devotional life may be interrupted by unexpected circumstances. It seems to me that Satan will try to interrupt the things in a Christian's life. I have learned that it is important to get back at it. If it was worth starting, it is certainly worth continuing and finishing. God has used thoughts in V. Raymond Edman's devotional on the discipline of determination to encourage me on in times of need. He wrote, "Transfer if you must; catch another wave-length; change your level to a higher one, but don't quit-- it is always too soon to quit."
God has put a desire in my heart to share my journey with those who come after me so I am getting back to the task.

THEN I MET MARY

As a young person, I had heard Billy Graham speak of an experience with his daughter of eight years of age. "Daddy, does God know who I am going to marry some day?" Her dad replied, "God knows everything, let's pray for him right now." That struck a chord in my heart and I began regularly praying for that girl God knew I would marry. I did some dating after my time in Wheaton, but I always kept their names out of that prayer that belonged to God's choice. By the time I headed to Hutchinson, I was quite disillusioned with the girls I had dated. Then I met Mary.

When I arrived at Central Christian in Hutchinson, there she was waiting to meet me.(she told me that later on) I was immediately interested in this Mary Tucker. She played me in tetherball at a school picnic a couple of days later and won my heart by shinning up the pole to clobber the ball so I would not win. This was some girl.

At the opening school service where we gave testimonies, I sat in the row behind her. She had a date and that really troubled me. I did not understand it because I barely knew her, but in my spirit I just knew she should not be with him.

It was not many days until I realized the girl I was praying for and Mary were the same person. The more I saw her, the more I realized that this girl was all that I was looking for in one to spend my life with.

Mary went home to Salina on weekends. It was probably the middle of September when I called and asked if I could come and sit with her in the evening service at Salina Bible Church. I sat there that night during the service and visualized what our wedding would be like. When Mary and I were saying our vows at our wedding nine months later, my thoughts flashed back to the first time sitting with Mary and visualizing that day. God had graciously led me to Hutchinson to meet the girl of my dreams. Mary, I found I was soon very much in love with you and now 42 years later I love you even so much more.

ON TO TRINITY

I had felt for years that I wanted to do something in math and the ministry. After receiving my BA with a major in math and a minor in physics, I felt God led me to Trinity Divinity School in the Chicago area. I received some wonderful instruction from the staff at Trinity. After a year there, I felt very unsettled about what God had for me in days to come. As I prayed about direction during the summer after that first year of seminary, I received a phone call from Francis Grubbs. Will you come to Hutchinson to teach math and Bible at Central Christian? It seemed right and I felt confirmation from Ezekiel 3:22, "Arise, go forth into the plain and I will there talk with thee." So it was off to the plains of Kansas and all that God had prepared for me and I had no idea how much God had to say.

LESSONS AT USD

As I look back, I realize God was teaching me some important lessons concerning the future.

---The Importance of Intercession - My senior year went really well day to day. One day near the end of the year things changed. I later learned that a chemistry professor, Dr. Coker, was praying for me every day.(I was president of University Christian Fellowship) When we elected a president for the following year, Dr. Coker switched his praying to that student. It made a marked difference in how my days went.

---Spiritual Regions - I often went home on weekends. I noticed every time I left the city limits of Vermilion, S.D., a cloud of darkness lifted. When I returned on Sunday evening, it seemed I came back under that cloud at the city limits. I didn't know much about spiritual warfare in those days, but I was beginning to learn that Satan had different works in different regions.

---MPD - Looking back, I realize now that God was showing me an example of a fragmented person. My German professor was antagonistic against me for sharing my testimony with him. He was a drinker and very crude in most classes. He was raised in Poland and was no doubt abused. Some days he would come to class in a totally different personality. Once he even shared the Gospel in class. From what I have see in later years, it now makes sense.

---God's Desire and Power to Restore - I had a very unusual time with the Lord on a Sunday evening after returning to the university. I thought I needed to study for a German test, but God had something else in mind. I finally gave into the Lord and got on my knees with my Bible. All day I had been pondering an illustration given to me how that our life was like a piece of land and if Satan had some area of that land he then had right to have access through the Lord's territory. My Bible opened to a passage in Joel 2:18 that I had previously underlined. "Then will the Lord be jealous for His land and pity His people." For most of the night, I was in the Lord's presence as He spoke to me out of the book of Joel. I saw how the Lord's people's sin had opened the land to the enemy and much destruction, God's desire for repentance and then spiritual cleansing. Joel 2:25 stood out in a great way. "And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten. . ." Little did I know that the Lord was giving me a message for the many years of spiritual cleansing ministry. God was building into my life a basis for helping people to rebuild their lives. God clearly showed me His power and desire to restore years of loss to Satan's power.
There was much that I missed that I had enjoyed at Wheaton, but my years at USD were great times of evangelism and preparation for future ministry.

ON TO USD

God began to lead in various ways to make a change in my second year at Wheaton. At semester, I transferred to the University of South Dakota at Vermillion, SD. It was difficult to leave chapels and Christian teachers and students behind. However, I felt clear about God's leading. It was quite a culture shock to rarely ever see someone pray at meals and to have an ungodly roommate.
God did some very special things in my time at USD. Through getting acquainted with Frances Grubbs, my way led to Hutchinson and my lifelong mate, Mary and a ministry that awaited me. God used a number of transfer Christian students in those days to bring many students to Christ. My last two years I roomed with a transfer student from Morningside College in Sioux City, Daryl Anderson, who has become a lifetime buddy in the faith. God was doing exciting things on this secular university. It is so important to follow the leadings of God.