Monday Morning Manna: God's Great Gift of Memory

Steve and I sat in the Bar B-Que Restaurant for three hours.? Everyone else had come and gone, but we were enjoying one of God’s greatest gifts – the gift of memory.? We were reminiscing. Five decades previous, I had gone to The University of Texas as the Director of Baptist Student Ministry. ?I had spent the previous nine years serving in the same capacity on two other campuses – campuses where the students were eager to be led and seldom questioned anything I ever said.? But U.T. was different.? Students were different. ?Everything taught was challenged, questioned, often dis-allowed.? I had very few friends during my first year there.? It even seemed that I was a poor fit for the job I had been given.? Steve was the student President of our organization, but more than that he was my friend. I’m not sure he believed in everything I said, but he followed, and he led.? And now, fifty years later – after “many dangers, toils and snares” in each of our lives, we sat at the Bar B Que table for three hours. We talked about old times, old friends, old church memberships, old struggles, and of course, baseball. When we finally left, he said he enjoyed “every minute” of our time together.? I enjoyed the fact that he enjoyed every minute. Michael W. Smith sang, “Friends are friends forever if the Lord's the Lord of them.” ?Give thanks today for memories and for friends with whom you can share it. “The?memory?of the righteous?is?blessed” (Proverbs 10:7).

Dr. Dan R. Crawford, Senior Professor, Chair of Prayer Emeritus; Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas. Former Head of Task Force for the Teaching of Prayer in Theological Education for America’s National Prayer Committee.? Administrative Consultant for the Valley Baptist Missions Education Center. President of Disciple All Nations, Inc.

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