DOWN HOME: Lifetime blessing on ‘Forty Acres’

Some places are holy and timeless. That’s what the campus of our alma mater, Hardin-Simmons University, is for Joanna and me.

Sure, a few buildings have fallen and others have risen up to take their places in the three decades since we departed the “Forty Acres” in Abilene. But most of our old haunts remain pretty much the same—familiar and compelling.

Jo and I met in the back yard of the President’s Home the first day of our sophomore year. By Christmas, we knew we were soulmates and wanted to spend our lives together. I still feel giddy with new love when I walk underneath the pecan trees where we courted.

We returned to Hardin-Simmons this fall for homecoming. We had a wonderful time seeing the faces of folks who have been friends since we still were in our teens—classmates, professors and staff members we knew “back in the day.”

As we strolled the campus with our daughters and their husbands, I couldn’t help but recall the myriad contributions HSU made to my life.

• This was the place where I learned to love God with my mind. My parents and home churches taught me how to love God with my heart. Mother and Daddy and my public school teachers also taught me to love learning. But at HSU, that all came together. And not just in religion classes. Across the disciplines, professors revealed the handiwork of God, and my fellow students and I discovered learning is an act of worship.

• Those same professors demonstrated integrity and taught us to think critically. Learning to act according to principle and to analyze the world were vital parts of our education. Unfortunately, critical thinking and moral behavior are in short supply these days.

• Professors, staff and fellow students strengthened my life by believing in me and offering encouragement. HSU was—and is—a place where young adults grew into expanding responsibilities and opportunities. Surrounded by people who believed in and supported us, we could afford to risk failure in pursuit of possibility.

A great cloud of friends and mentors changed my life while I walked that campus, and three represent the whole—Julian Bridges in sociology, Lindell Harris in Bible and Ray Johnson in psychology. They took the myopic vision and narrow worldview of an inquisitive kid and stretched it exponentially. They taught me to see other people near and far through not only a lens of faith, but also eyes of empathy and compassion.

I loved those professors, and I knew they loved me. Still, three decades ago, I never dreamed they would shape my life every day for as long as I live. But they did, and I have been blessed beyond measure.

Well, that’s my HSU story. Texas Baptists support nine universities and two seminaries. Providing education enlightened by faith is one of our noblest and most far-reaching tasks.