You Never Know

He was a 5 feet one inch tall and weighed only 117 pounds when he came to college.  Stayed in his room mostly.  Who could guess the lad would become the first lieutenant general since Washington, be called a “butcher,”  press through the Civil War to a northern victory, and be elected president of the United States.  The student was Ulysses S. Grant.  One never knows who is in a crowd on campus. One snowy night I drove over to Duke University for our student weekly Bible Study.  The campus was a fairy land of Gothic architecture, youthful playfulness, and snow.  And only one person showed up for the meeting, a study of Biblical law.  He was a freshman named Dean. I suggested we go for hot chocolate in the commons.  And we had an hour long discussion on God’s law. A friendship developed.  And I don’t think Dean ever missed our weekly meetings. From Duke Dean went to law school at Georgetown in Washington, D.C.  Each of his years there, I’d visit.  We’d go to lunch and talk faith, Bible, theology and Jesus. Now Dean works for the state department in the federal system.  He is a “pillar of salt” as he puts it, in a secular government. Dean is the story of so many youth over the years—helped further down the road by Christian ministry.  Kids touched by the CAROLINA STUDY CENTER. Many are now teachers themselves, pilots, scientists, doctors, housewives raising children, novelists, journalists, preachers and such. They are “a pinch of salt” in a weary land, savorless and lost. And I sleep better at night knowing they are at work in the Lord where they live. —Stephen