The College Degrees                                                                                    November 15, 2019

 

A young man asked a very successful businessman, “What is the secret of success?”

 

“Making good decisions.” was his thoughtful reply.

 

After a thoughtful pause, the youth asked, “How do you make the good decisions?”

 

“By experience,” came the wise reply.

 

“Okay. I can understand that. But how do you get experience?”

 

The older man did not hesitate, “By making bad decisions.”

 

There is another way to gain experience and that is through education. Someone else has already made the bad decisions and you can learn from them.

 

As you know, my folks resigned from the church in Northeast Arkansas to go to Ouachita Baptist College. (See OGT Going to College the First Time.)

 

My mother and dad were to be the first people in their families to graduate from college. 

My grandparents on my dad’s side did not have a high school education. They had gone through some elementary schooling to be able to read and write and do simple math. That was it. 

 

On Mom’s side, her father had died while she was young. Grandma had raised her children without welfare and always hesitated to accept charity from the neighbors. Her garden was planted early and provided well for the family. As soon as a child got old enough, there was cotton to hoe and to pick. Somehow, as she would say, “The Lord provided.”

 

My crippled grandmother, Ma, was a wife and mother. She never had a job outside of the home. She raised gardens and canned what she raised. She loved to cook and I loved her white coconut cake that always seemed to be in the clear glass covered cake stand. 

 

Pa never held any job very long. He had a good team of horses with a stout wagon and he hauled anything and everything for the people and businesses in the little town. It provided a little income but not enough for food and rent. 

 

My dad had dropped out of school to work and support the family. When God called him into the ministry it meant going back to finish high school, the oldest in his class. 

 

So, both Mom and Pop wanted to get a college degree and, with the Lord’s leadership and provision, that was about to take place. 

 

I could tell from the excitement that something special was about to happen. My grandma had taken the train from Peach Orchard, clear the other side of the state, to be there for the big event. 

 

Dad came in carrying his purple and gold gown. I had never seen him wear a robe before. (House coats don’t count.) I wasn’t sure what it was but I knew it was something important. He polished his shoes to a bright shine. He had spent extra time in the bathroom that we shared with the neighboring apartment. He came out clean shaven and smelling like Old Spice. He dressed in his very best suit. (The only one without holes.) His tie was perfect. 

 

Mom prepared herself as well. The helpful neighbor give her a curly permanent for her brown hair. Grandma, between keeping Jerry out of trouble and the way, had ironed Mom’s dress with the electric iron. Mom had picked out a dress that would go with the colors of the robe. She sat in front of the mirror putting on makeup that I thought she didn’t need for her beauty. Mom’s gown hung in the closet door, freshly pressed by Grandma.

 

I could not figure out why Jerry and I were dressed in our “Sunday-go-to-meeting” clothes since it was not Sunday and we weren’t going to a meeting. After Grandma scrubbed behind our ears and got us dressed, we were all ready to go. 

 

Usually we’d walk the back way to the campus but this morning we loaded into the old black Chevy and drove the long way around to the brick and ivy Mitchell Hall. Mom and Dad went into a door at the back and Grandma took Jerry and I up the steps, through the lobby and into the large auditorium. We found two seats toward the back among the crowd that was gathering and Jerry sat in Grandma’s lap and I was beside her.

 

There must have been introductions, speakers, songs, marches, and all the other things that go with graduation. I didn’t notice because when I started getting restless, Grandma pulled a small toy car out of her hugh purse and handed it to me.

 

When Jerry got a little fussy, the purse produced some cereal for him. 

 

Grandma tapped me on the leg and softly said, “Look.” 

 

There was my dad, going up the stairs onto the platform. He stood there for a moment as another student walked across the stage, shook hands with the president, received a rolled up paper and walked off.

 

Then, they called my dad’s name. There he was starting across the stage. Jerry looked also.Then standing in Grandma’s lap, he shouted loud enough for everyone in the auditorium to hear, “That’s my dad.” 

 

My dad didn’t change his path across the stage. He didn’t glance at us. But the smile that swept across his face showed the joy and pride in what was taking place. To have one of his sons acknowledge just his presence was extra special. 

 

When my mother came across the stage next I expected the same reaction from Jerry, but instead, he stood up and waved. I’m sure Mom would have waved back if she had seen him doing it.

 

Those degrees were important. A few years later, my dad would be called from a small village church to a larger rural church. Then to a small town church and finally to a fairly large church in Memphis, Tennessee. The Lord, who had provided for our financial support during those years used his degree to open doors for greater ministry. Because of my mother’s degree she would be able to aid in our family support as she taught school. That element of faith that said, “We will do what God is leading us to do trusting him to provide” was rewarded many times over by God’s continuous provisions.

 

They set a pattern for us. Both my brother and I not only graduated from college, but we both have doctor's degrees. All six of their grandchildren have a master’s degree or higher. The great grandchildren are following along with three of the seven already graduated and three more attending college now. (One wants to make a career in the Navy and is off to a good start.)

 

June and I have felt the importance of education. In honor of my parents, we established a scholarship fund for children of Hawaii Baptist Pastors. The Lord has blessed that fund and we have seen 22 scholarships given out in the last two years (2018-19)

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(If you would like to contribute to the fund, send it to Hawaii Baptist Foundation, 1801 S. Beretania Street, Honolulu, HI 96826 and mark it for the KOKUA Scholarship Fund, in honor of J. Russell and Rhoda Alice Duffer. A big Mahalo to all of you.)

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2 Timothy 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.