Friday Summary Report, November 2

Today’s installment will be brief, as I am in the midst of a particularly busy day:

(1) Yesterday, Harding University (my alma mater) announced that Bruce McLarty has been selected as the next President of the school. It has been interesting to me to read the array of responses from various parties about the announcements. I think Bruce firmly grasps Harding’s identity in the context of Churches of Christ, Christian colleges, and education in general, and it is my belief that he will continue to steer Harding on the unique course which it has chosen. In general, my feeling is this: if you love what Harding is, then I think Bruce is a great choice; if you are critical of Harding, then probably he is not your ideal candidate. Personally, I am excited.

(2) Here is an outstanding post from Scott Bond on “Why Little Girls Need Their Dad.” As a fairly recent father of a little girl, the post was especially meaningful for me, but I think it’s a good read for any Christian father.

(3) Last month set an all-time record in traffic here at The Doc File. This was a pleasant surprise, as my school workload really slowed down my posting after the first few days of the month. Thanks to all who continue to read!

(4) This post on Hashtag Media has gotten some attention. If you haven’t read it yet, check out the good things that these guys are doing.

Comforting Words From An Eminent Scholar

Dr. Jack Lewis (fittingly) in the midst of research

Dr. Jack Lewis is one of the great scholars in the fellowship of Churches of Christ, and really, is a pioneer as well. At a time when none of our Christian colleges offered post-graduate education (and a time when a lot of churches viewed such education suspiciously anyway), Lewis went on to receive a Ph.D. in New Testament from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in Old Testament from Hebrew Union.

Either degree on its own would be impressive—together, it’s almost unbelievable. 

Lewis went on to teach Bible courses at Harding University and the Harding University Graduate School of Religion (now Harding School of Theology) for over 50 years, and also served on the editorial boards of multiple scholarly journals and wrote more than a dozen books.

Dr. Lewis is highly respected, not just within Churches of Christ, but within the field of biblical studies as a whole.

To be as clear as possible, I will never even approach his level of scholarship.

So it was pretty cool that yesterday I got to meet Dr. Lewis (He still hangs out at the library at Harding School of Theology, and despite his advanced age, continues to spend his time doing research). I introduced myself to him after lunch and we exchanged a few pleasantries, and then, I had the privilege of getting to talk to him some more at Bible study last night.

The fellow grad student I was with asked Dr. Lewis (who had Ph.D.’s in fields which required extensive study of Greek and Hebrew) if language study came easily to him. Dr. Lewis smiled and said, “No, not at all,” and then proceeded to describe how, when he first took Greek, it was so stressful for him that he developed shingles!

Furthermore, he informed us that he had to take Elementary Hebrew three different times. Apparently, he originally had taken a Hebrew class in college, and then when he got to graduate school he was asked by a teacher which level of Hebrew class he thought he should be placed in. Dr. Lewis wasn’t sure, so the teacher gave him a Hebrew text to read to test his ability. When Dr. Lewis didn’t understand any of what he looked at, he tried to turn the book upside down so that it would make more sense. At that point, the professor said, “It looks like Elementary Hebrew is the class for you!”

For someone who is struggling through language study, it was comforting to hear that such a world-class scholar had similar difficulties.

Wise Words I Once Heard…and Bobby Petrino

If you pay any attention to sports at all, you are likely aware that Arkansas Razorback football coach Bobby Petrino was in a serious motorcycle wreck eight days ago, and that as more details of the incident came to light, it was revealed that a female passenger on the bike turned out to be an employee with whom Petrino was having an inappropriate relationship.

The national media has been quick to pick up on this story and has been decidedly anti-Petrino (a quick Google search on ‘Bobby Petrino’ will confirm this). Perhaps neither of those facts is very surprising—our culture (and by extension, the media) is always interested in a juicy story about the misdeeds or failure of public figures, and Bobby Petrino has never been very popular with the media anyway (ESPN’s Pat Forde has been on a personal crusade against him for years).

I don’t know if Petrino will be fired or not, and I have mixed feelings about whether or not he should be. I am disappointed in him and embarrassed by his actions, but at the same time, he has been the most successful football coach that Arkansas has had in my lifetime (or at least, in my memory), and I was never under the impression that he was hired because of his reputation for upstanding character.

All of this—the initial report of the accident, the rumors flying around after that report, the revelation of Petrino’s female passenger and his relationship with her, and the response of the national media—has reminded me of some wise words I once heard from Jimmy Allen.

Jimmy Allen is well-known within Church of Christ circles as an evangelist, and additionally, within the Harding University community as a Bible professor. It’s in the latter role that I know him best, as I took his outstanding class on the Book of Romans during my time at Harding. It was in that class (I don’t remember the specific context) that he said these words which I’ll never forget:

“If I hear something bad about someone, I never believe it. If it comes to the point that I have no choice but to believe it, I do not delight in it.”

I’m not entirely sure what it is about us as humans that makes us crave and delight (cf. Proverbs 18.8) in hearing of the failings of others. It likely stems from our own insecurities, and our tendency to feel better about ourselves when we see the shortcomings of others. But that craving and delighting is all closely related to the sin of gossip, which is a topic that the Bible has an awful lot to say about.

In the case of Bobby Petrino, I’m not delighting in the story like a lot of people in the National media and fans of other programs are, but if I’m honest, a lot of the reason for that is because he’s the coach of my team, and I don’t like the ramifications of all this for me. When it comes to hearing gossip about someone I might not like as much, I don’t always do a very good job of following Dr. Allen’s words.

Instead of gleefully focusing on the failings of others, the Apostle Paul suggests an alternative course of action in Philippians 4.8:

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

Neale Pryor (1935-2011)

A week ago Sunday, Neale Pryor, a longtime preacher, scholar, and Bible professor at Harding University passed away after a lengthy illness. Originally, I hadn’t planned to write anything about him here, but as time passed, I felt that I couldn’t let the passing of such a man go unmentioned.

Dr. Pryor was one of three absolutely outstanding Bible teachers that I had at Harding, and I sat through a lot of his classes—he was my teacher in multiple college courses, I often went to his mid-week Bible study, and I sat through his Sunday morning auditorium class at the College Church of Christ for most of my time at Harding. In a Bible class setting, I would estimate that I’ve heard more lessons from Dr. Pryor than I have from any other teacher.

Of course, there were reasons that I kept coming back for more. In all my life, I don’t think I’ve ever encountered someone who simultaneously so impressed me with his biblical knowledge and scholarship and his humble spirit. As we discussed what were sometimes controversial issues in class, you could always tell that Dr. Pryor had good reasons and support for his views, but he never made anyone feel stupid for disagreeing with or not understanding him, and he was willing to admit that he didn’t have all the answers (One thing Dr. Pryor said that has always stuck with me was that he had come to suspect that when he got to heaven, he might find that more people had “made it in” than he expected. If that was the case, he assured us that he wouldn’t find a corner to sulk in—he would enjoy their company!).

In 1 Corinthians 11.1, the Apostle Paul says, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” A lot of the people that Paul was writing to in Corinth probably hadn’t known Jesus personally, so imitating the lifestyle of Paul (someone they did know personally) as he himself attempted to imitate the life of Jesus was something that was easier to grasp. I think the same thing could be said of Dr. Pryor—during his years at Harding, he gave a tangible example to countless students of what imitating Christ looked like. To me, that was what was most impressive of all about him—as good of a teacher as he was, he was an even better man.

Dr. Pryor liked to quote his favorite verse a lot: “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16.26). For him, the main priority in life was always clear, and he lived his life accordingly. Congratulations to him for finishing the course and keeping the faith, and for joining that great cloud of witnesses.

I look forward to meeting him again.

Flea Market Find

I spent most of last week in (or en route to and from) Denver, Colorado for a wedding.

One of the undoubted highlights of the trip was visiting a flea market and finding an affordable ($12) 1950 Bowman baseball card of Preacher Roe, the only Harding University alum to play in the Major Leagues.

I’ll be in town for the next several days, so hopefully that will result in a little more activity on the blogging front.

Preacher Roe (1915-2008)

I discovered yesterday that Preacher Roe had passed away on Sunday at the age of 92.

Roe was a left-handed pitcher who played in the Major Leagues in the 1940s and 50s, making five All-Star teams, leading the league in strikeouts once, and had a personal best record of 22-3 in 1951 with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

For his career, Roe accumulated 127 wins against 84 losses, a good record that likely would have been more impressive had he not missed time for service in World War II.

But the reason I know about Preacher Roe and the reason I thought all of this would be interesting to the majority of my readership is that Preacher Roe is the only Harding student to play in the Major Leagues. When I was at Harding, his old Dodgers jersey was on display in the Ganus Athletic Center, and I bet it’s still there.

Roe seems to have been an interesting character.

Born Elwin Charles Roe, he got his lifelong nickname at the age of 3 when his uncle returned from the first World War and asked his little nephew what his name was. Roe responded that his name was “Preacher” (apparently because he liked the local preacher who would take him on horse and buggy rides), and the nickname stuck.

He suffered a major setback early in his career when he was still with the Pittsburgh Pirates. In the 1945 off-season, while coaching a high school basketball game (baseball players didn’t make as much then as they do now), he suffered a skull fracture after getting into a fight with the referee. He struggled through the next few seasons.

He turned his career around in Brooklyn, however, where he began throwing the (illegal) spitball as his signature pitch, and played alongside Jackie Robinson.

In an interview later in life, Roe expressed his pride in getting to play with Robinson: “I just felt if Jackie hit a home run while I was pitching, it counted just as much for me as if Pee Wee Reese hit it or some of the other guys that were white...I’d say, ‘You never have seen a good ballplayer until you’ve seen him.’ He was that good.”

If you look closely at the picture below, the setting might be familiar to some of you…it was taken at Camp Tahkodah.

Back At Home

So I know that things have been pretty lame around The Doc File for the last couple of weeks. Sorry about that—I’ve been out of town quite a bit.

Last weekend I was in Tuscaloosa, Alabama to play at an ultimate tournament with a bunch of college friends. We played well, and I had a lot of fun, but I did pull a hamstring in the second game (out of seven) which has been somewhat of an annoyance since.

This past Sunday afternoon, I headed down to the alma mater for the Harding Lectureship, and just returned last night. It was a fun and uplifting time, but unfortunately, I returned sick.

It will be nice to stay home for a few weeks.

Frisbee Poster

For some time, I’ve been eager to learn how to use Adobe Illustrator, and over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been tinkering around with it in my spare time.

Several days ago I made the poster below to advertise a mixer that the Harding Ultimate Frisbee team was having.

I think I’ve probably only tapped into about 3% of Illustrator’s potential at this point, but so far, I’ve been pleased.

Click on the picture to see a larger version.

A Special Graduation Day

Congratulations are in order to my wife and brother, who today receive their diplomas after completing their respective graduate programs.

I’m actually in Searcy with my wife today, where she will receive a Master’s Degree in Reading from Harding University (that’s right—she has officially mastered a skill which you and I have just been dabbling in since Kindergarten).

This degree will enable her to be a licensed Reading Specialist in addition to being a licensed elementary school teacher, and will also increase her paycheck.

Caroline started the program when we were still in Searcy back in the Spring of 2006, but for the last two years, has taken graduate classes at Harding’s satellite campus in Bentonville while teaching school full-time. To say that I am proud of her is an understatement.

A lesser man than myself might feel ashamed that his wife is both more educated than him and makes more money than him, but me, well, I’m just thankful (besides, I can still dominate her in thumb wrestling and miniature golf).

As for my brother, he will (to my knowledge) become the first member of my family to earn a Ph.D. when he gets his special piece of paper from the University of Arkansas today.

It’s taken a few years for Jared to get through grad school because he’s always had a job or two (or maybe even three) at the same time, but I’m very proud of him as well, and he has been awarded for his diligence with a teaching position in Harding’s history department this fall.

Jared specializes in military history, and probably knows more about World War II than anyone you’ve ever met.

Of course, when it comes to a truly important subject like baseball history, he’s still lagging a bit behind his little brother.

Parking Spots Are Hard To Come By

Over the weekend, we headed down to Harding so Caroline could take comprehensive exams for her Master’s Degree. While I was dropping her off at the education building, I took this picture with my cell phone.

Since there’s no way the operator of this particular piece of machinery would have parked around the car, he must have gotten to the spot first. Later on, the car’s driver must have seen this semi-vacant spot and thought to herself (we’re on the female side of campus, next to the education building, so I’m making a gender assumption here), “Yeah, I can park there, no problem.”

I think that’s nuts, but I’m impressed too. I wouldn’t have had the nerve to try it with Jeeves.

Dreaming Of Passports

I planned to spend my Spring Break in 2005 in Honduras, but as I made preparations to go, I discovered that I couldn’t find my passport anywhere.

Eventually, after some expense and quite a bit of stress, I was able to get a new passport in time to make my trip, but ever since, even thinking about passports makes me slightly nervous, and I have to check now and then to make sure that I still know where mine is.

Twice recently, I’ve even dreamed about traveling and not having my passport.

In one dream, I was in Greece, and was supposed to travel with some people from there to Egypt, but at the airport, I suddenly remembered that I had left my passport at home. I had to be left behind, which was disappointing (as was the fact that my wife didn’t choose to stay with me), but I remember that my main reaction was knowing exactly where in my apartment my passport was located and being very confused as to how I had made it all the way to Greece without my passport in the first place.

In the second dream, I think I was in Russia and was returning through a security checkpoint when I realized that, once again, I was without a passport. This was confusing again, because I had somehow managed to pass through the same checkpoint without my passport right before. The prospect of being stranded in Russia was more disconcerting to me than being left in Greece, and I was starting to get upset when, in desperation, I opened my wallet to search for alternate forms of identification.

Somewhat surprisingly, but to my great relief, my expired Harding University ID was good enough, and the Russian officials let me pass on through.

I knew I was holding onto that old ID for a reason.

Another Good Report Card

While there are certainly many things that I am not good at (like swimming for example), one thing I never really had much trouble with was school.

I had friends who were always sweating it come report card time, but for me, that was never really a problem all the way from Kindergarten through college (with the notable exception of Mrs. Pharr’s AP Calculus class in 11th grade). I was always on the Honor Roll (or the “Dean’s List” as it is referred to in college), even my last semester at Harding when I was a full-time graduate student, a Graduate Assistant for the Foreign Language Department, working as an ESL teacher at an elementary school and playing my last year of college ultimate.

But any and all academic achievements I may have accomplished in the past have been dwarfed by what I found out today when I checked my Harding e-mail account for the first time in several months: I managed to make the Dean’s List this past spring semester despite the fact that I wasn’t enrolled in any classes.

Sometimes schools give out honorary Doctorate degrees. I guess this is something similar—based on past achievements, I’ve been honorarily appointed to the Dean’s List.

Here’s an excerpt from the message I got from the Vice President for Academic Affairs:

It is my pleasure to inform you that you made the Dean’s List at Harding University for the past semester. Recognition on the Dean’s List is a high honor because only students who have earned at least a 3.65 grade point average on twelve or more hours are eligible.

You should be proud of this significant achievement. We fell that Harding offers a very challenging academic program. Therefore, your academic success is one indication of your potential for success throughout your life.

I used to think that Harding was pretty challenging as well. But that was before I got straight A’s without even being aware that I was enrolled in classes.

From the Vault

I was going through my iPhoto library the other day and came across the logo for my first ultimate frisbee team, the Fighting Crackers. It is hard for me to believe that it was a little over five years ago that the team was founded…

It was at a time when a lot of schools and professional teams were getting in trouble for having mascots that were supposedly derogatory towards Native Americans, and since we were a bunch of white guys, I came up with the name “Fighting Crackers” as a parody. And I liked the idea of a scowling, pugilistic Saltine.

As a bunch of freshmen, the Fighting Crackers shocked everyone by winning the first ever intra-school ultimate tournament at Harding, and the following fall semester, we became more ethnically diverse with the addition of a half-Asian, half-Italian defensive specialist.

Overall, we were a pretty dominant team, winning two of the four tournaments we played in and finishing second in the other two, with a combined record of something like 16-3.

Some people were jealous, and others resented us (cough, Justin Bland, cough), but playing for the Fighting Crackers was my first real experience of ultimate as a team sport, and was instrumental in the later foundation of Harding’s official ultimate team.

I’m sure if I went back now and watched us play, I’d be embarrassed at how bad we were, but I miss those days.

We did wear some pretty hideous socks though.


Pictured above (L-R): Ty Gentry, Will Dockery, Mike McCubbin, Jonathan Towell, Sam Travaglini. Bent over in exhaustion (L-R): Luke Dockery, Colby Blaisdell. Not pictured: Jason Crawford, Michael Graves, Dave Pritchett, Patrick Williams.