Happy Birthday P

I'll turn in the final paper of my seminary career this Friday. It's been a long hard four years (okay, five years), but we're finally here.

Over the past several months people have asked me several times about the thing I've loved most about Dallas Seminary. It's hard to answer that question because I've truly enjoyed so many aspects of my time here. But this morning in chapel we celebrated one of the things that makes Dallas Seminary truly great.

This semester on Wednesdays and Fridays I've routinely shown up for my 1:00 class about fifteen minutes early, but I'm never the first to arrive. Dr. P. beats me to class every single day. There he sits, alone in the room, for who knows how long.

Dr. P. turned 92 years old today.

Dr. P. is Dr. Dwight Pentecost. He's been teaching seminary classes for longer than my parents have been alive. He has been walking with Christ for longer than my grandparents have been alive. He "retired" several years ago, but teaches every semester. When he retired, he told Dallas Seminary he would continue to teach, but wouldn't take a paycheck. The accreditation service disagreed, so every semester Dr. P. goes to the business office and picks up his salary - a nice, crisp, one dollar bill. And then he pins it up on the wall in his apartment to spite the people who demand he be paid for what he does.

Because Dr. P. is one of the giants of dispensationalism - the system of theology that DTS is known for - many people throughout time have disagreed with his perspective. But nobody can deny that Jesus Christ oozes out of this man. And every Wednesday and Friday, Dr. P. opens his Bible and begins to teach about the life of Christ. He doesn't just know the text... he knows the Savior.

The opportunity to be surrounded every day by men who, like Dr. P. have dedicated their entire life to walking with Jesus Christ and teaching others to do the same is a one of the privileges I'll truly miss when I pull out of the parking lot for the last time. They've made me who I am. I stand on their shoulders. And I hope in seventy years to have an ounce of the impact in the lives of others that they have had in my life.

Happy birthday Dr. P.