A Lasting Lesson

Ten days ago my stepdad, Bob May, was killed when he fell from a light pole he was working on. Bob was an electrician and general handyman who never went to college, never read the great books, and never entered into the defining intellectual debates of our time. Nevertheless, he taught me countless lessons since he entered our family when I was ten years old. Many of them are personal, but one seems worth sharing in this forum, as it offers a needed reminder for those in the academy who seek to take faith seriously.

Growing up, my family talked endlessly about religion. We debated theology, explored Christian apologetics, and argued about the cultural implications of faith. Bob did not say much in these discussions, as his background did not give him a whole lot of insight on the intellectual issues that occupied our attention. But one on one, the story was different. Whenever I returned home from college or law school, one of the first questions he would ask was "Rob, how have you seen God in your life recently?" The question would take me aback -- I was perfectly comfortable talking about faith as an abstract concept, much less comfortable articulating my personal life of faith. Eventually, though, I came to see Bob's question as the centerpiece of any discussion that presumes to take faith seriously. We must never lose sight of the fact that, for the truth of faith to matter on the cultural, political, or legal stages, the truth of faith must matter to our daily existence. If we can't articulate that aspect of the faith, the big-picture debates are meaningless sideshows.

A couple of days after Bob died, I was cleaning out his truck and found his old, beat-up lunch cooler. Inside the cooler's lid, he had taped a piece of paper on which he had written the word "PRAY" in big letters. Whenever he opened the cooler, he saw that sign. Bob would not have had much to add to the discussions on Mirror of Justice, but his hand-lettered sign looms large as I contemplate the integration of faith with my intellectual pursuits. If I'm simply trying to sound more clever than the next person or using my God-given ability to grasp for more and more academic prestige, I've missed the point. The intellectual exploration of faith cannot be mistaken for the life of faith. Thanks, Bob.

Rob