The Fighting Goophers

Tonight, I am writing from Pounding Mill, Virginia, while my graduating class from Plainview Community High School celebrates our 50th reunion back in Minnesota. This was so long ago the school had not yet combined with the nearby communities of Elgin and Millville. The high school teams were still referred to as the “Fighting Gophers,” not the Bulldogs.

Unfortunately, in my final weeks of high school I was left alone in the office of the school newspaper. This was unfortunate because I suddenly realized I could use a primitive cut and paste technique – which required real scissors and paste – to change the masthead of the school paper from “Gopher Tales” to “Goopher Tales.” I cannot recall my exact logic, but for some reason it seemed like a good idea in my eighteen-year-old mind.

I can assure you that neither the superintendent of the school district nor the principal of the high school shared my opinion when the paper went to print with my small revision. After all the things I had done in my academic career, they decided my impromptu decision made me a candidate for expulsion only days before graduation. I remember surprising both by saying they were bluffing and walking out of the office. Fortunately, they were.

I did not begin high school in Plainview. I was a sophomore in Rochester, Minnesota when it was determined it would be best for me to seek “alternative educational opportunities.” If my uncle had not been on the Plainview school board at the time, I doubt I would have been allowed into that small school district. Sometimes, being an individualist can lead to life challenges.

Still, God has a way of working in our lives even when we make mistakes or sin.

While at Plainview I was introduced to J. R. R. Tolkien’s books. Even though I would have been best described as an agnostic in those years, I found something attractive in the author’s archetypes. I longed for the adventure of purpose those characters shared.

It was during high school that I began to read the Gospel of John, which led to an inexplicable hunger for God in my life. I knew I did not want to become a Christian – I had an idea they were all about rules – but there was something about Jesus which interested me.

When I finally did become a follower of Jesus, I began studying the Bible with some of my friends in Plainview. I hadn’t heard the rule in modern Christianity that you are supposed to sit on your hands until you know everything there is to know about faith. Instead, I thought if you learned something about Jesus, you should probably share it with others. The first week three other students showed up for the study. The second week, six. After about 7 weeks, 60 high school and college students were getting together to look at the Bible.

I was forced to learn as much as I could as fast as I could so I would have something to share with my fellow students. When I think about it, that is how I began in ministry. Now, all these years later, nothing has changed. I am still trying to learn as much as I can so that I have something to share with others.

I am afraid I did not allow the door of the school building to hit me in my backside when I graduated. I moved to Texas after high school and kept right on moving south after graduating from university. During my years in Latin America, I never evolved into a rules follower. I remained an organizational agnostic. Still, God allowed me to serve Him with the “who-I-am.” That experience has given me confidence that God can use each one of us with the “who-we-are-becoming.”

In Ephesians 2:10 we are told, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (NLT) God has saved us with our personalities, life experiences, skills, and limitations to serve Him. He uses our stories to do His work.

Believing that simple and yet profound truth can make a seismic difference in each of our lives. However, it seems like one of the hardest things for most people to do. Somehow, we feel God will use us for His glory if we are different, better, or more spiritual. My own experience tells me that God longs to utilize “Fighting Goophers” in His work.

If the television program The Chosen has taught us anything, it is that God uses imperfect people for His work. The God of all there is still chooses to use people like us to do His work in His way.