Continuing Ed

"All of my training has prepared me for this moment."

Rhino the Hamster, Bolt

My education began at my mother's side while she patiently taught me my numbers and letters and shapes and colors.  I suppose that's how most kids start their learning.  There were many life lessons to be learned in those early days, too.  Some were taught by instruction; others by correction; and still others by experience.  Lessons like:  Don't put the industrial magnet on the front of Mom's new avocado green refrigerator; it won't come off.  Unless you slide it, which you also shouldn't do because of the grooves it leaves in the avocado green pain.  And don't then try to dispose of said industrial magnet outside in the dark when you don't know who might be standing out there.  I honestly didn't know Dad was in the exact spot in the ditch where I tossed the magnet.  Come to think of it, what was Dad doing in the ditch in the dark?  I never thought to ask as I was running for my life, and I guess it's far too late now.  The man's been in heaven twenty years, and it never occurred to me to ask until just now.

Anyway, my education began with my parents.  They instilled in me from my earliest recollection an unwavering love for God and His Word.  They taught me to pray.  They told me I needed to have Jesus in my life as my personal savior.  They showed me how to live the righteous life.  They demonstrated faithfulness and dedication to the Lord my entire life, which translated as faithfulness and dedication in every area of life.  They corrected bad behavior--like lying, stealing, throwing rocks, and drowning cats--so that I would know not to do those things again.  And all that was before I went to school, where I learned other things.

I had good educators in my life.  Sharon Britten accepted the precocious Kindergarten evangelist with a gentle if not-always-sure-about-this smile.  Patty Campbell kept me busy with learning cursive when I already knew what she was teaching everyone else.  Vicki Maupin Stephenson and Karla Howell taught me to love reading books of every kind...starting with The Enormous Egg and Where the Red Fern Grows.  Caren Kensing encouraged my creativity and gave me the greatest appreciation for history.  Kay May challenged me to know what I believed; I hope that she appreciates now how I've stood by my convictions.  Brenda Dahl and Scott Murray and Betty Armstrong proved to me that math could be fun.  Kent Hargis and Randy Robertson demonstrated that faith didn't have to compromise with science.  Sharon Stiles and Darlene Birkes and Harvielee Moore and Dick Wilkins molded the young writer in me.  Coaches Terry Cox and Windy Williams knew how to involve me through my strengths rather than prey on my weaknesses.  Jean Smith and Joan Swanson guided me through a lot of teenage angst.  Harry Carson taught me to love music.  To mention Harry and Joan again, they helped me come out of a rather reserved shell and use my talents.  Robert Matheny left a lasting positive impression on me, though I cannot for the life of me remember why.  Gene Brown gave me a deeper love for the word of God.  Leroy Bartel gave me a deeper appreciation for the presence of God.  Delmar Guynes gave me a deeper understanding of the ways of God.  Dan Langston gave me the tools to properly interpret Scripture that I still use every day in the ministry.  Amy Alexander encouraged me to keep writing.  And of course, I am forever indebted to Nancy Warr, that professor of everything I fundamentally oppose, the antithesis of who I am and what I believe, who was unwittingly used by God to set me on the right path.  

As for my spiritual education, I had the best pastors in Gene Allen, Bill Smith, Chris Snidow, and my own dad Bryan Stafford.  Along with many others who poured into my life and contributed to my development as a man and as a minister, these always have been and continue to be mentors of the highest caliber.

Without boasting too much, let me say here that I was always smart, sometimes too much for my own good.  I learned quickly and always wanted to know more.  Once I started reading, there was no stopping me.  I read everything that caught my interest, sometimes reading things that were far beyond my capacity to comprehend.  I have to admit, I read things that I shouldn't have, and probably passed up reading things that I should have.  I graduated high school in the top 5% of my class; I'll confess now that I never wanted to work hard enough to be First, or even Second.  Kim & Devri & Jennifer & Kim deserved those spots, who not only were highly intelligent but also far more diligent than me.

I went to University on a full academic scholarship, but gave it up because I wasn't in the will of God there.  There were probably less than a handful of people who truly understood and supported my decision to leave, but I knew it was divinely directed.  In retrospect, I have long lamented the fact that I was running from the call of God on my life during my late teens.  I wasn't backslidden, but I wasn't exactly obedient either.  Until God started redirecting my path.  I'm thankful that I had learned from my parents early on that there is always a way back into the will of God!  Perhaps I should have gone to Bible School (as we used to call what is now Southwestern Assemblies of God University) to start with, but I didn't.  I experienced a lot of confusion and pain that might have all been unnecessary had I surrendered earlier to the call.  Nevertheless, when I finally agreed with the Lord to pursue ministry as my calling and vocation, He made the way, put me in the right place at the right time with the right people to get exactly what He needed me to have.

My stay at SAGU was one semester long.  When I went home for Christmas, my Dad's youth pastor resigned and everyone recognized the need for me to stay and do the job, most of all me.  I had always known I would work with my Dad in ministry.  The moment we heard that Jimmy wasn't coming back, I knew it was God's will for me to stay.  The powers that be at SAGU didn't understand, and certainly didn't agree with my decision to leave without finishing my education.  What they didn't know is that I received at SAGU that which God had needed to give me, if He could just get me in position to receive.  There were multiple spiritual experiences in those short four months that completely revolutionized my life.  If I may speak of the anointing without going into a deep theological study, that mark of God's presence and call and gifting and approval upon my life was all I needed to make me the man He wanted me to be.  I completed the course work through correspondence classes that were required for my credentialing as an Assemblies of God minister, but even though I've often considered it, I have never returned the classroom of formal education.

I value education.  Today, 24 years after I left the University, I continue to learn.  I continue to read and study.  I continue to seek out those who can teach me something I do not know, or reinforce that which I think I do.  I continue to evaluate the path I have walked--the successes, the failures, the crises, the conflicts, the decisions, and the mistakes--to learn from my experiences and the experiences of others.  I continue to be mentored and guided by those who have been at this far longer than me, because education never stops.  If you stop learning, you stop growing, and soon become irrelevant and inept.  I absolutely value education, I just recognize that there is far more to it than book learning and paper writing and earning degrees.  I could have all the degrees academia could offer, but I believe I would still be right where I am doing what I'm doing.  Because far more important than knowing stuff is knowing that you are in the will of God for your life.

And as I sit here today, I know that all of my training has prepared me for this.  Whatever God wants me to do in my present stage in life and place on this planet, I am ready.  2018, bring it on!  I am ready.  And when I don't know what else to say or do, I am confident that the God whose Son has saved me and whose Spirit has filled me is more than able to teach me everything else I need to know.  It may be in His word; it may be in a book; it may be through a person; it may be through an experience.  But God will see me through today and prepare me for tomorrow if I will just stay teachable and learn from Him!