It is Two Degrees!

How many times does something need to happen before we get it? Why are we surprised when what we have experienced before happens once again? Well . . . when what is happening goes against the norm; when what we are experiencing reminds us that we live in world -- not of chance and randomness, but one of purpose and design -- where things that appear to just happen actually happen to remind us that we all are quite closely connected -- it can be surprising, but even more, it should awake us to the wonder of life.

It was the words of Francis Schaeffer that so vividly impressed upon my mind the difference between viewing life as a matter of chance and randomness and viewing it as an expression of purpose and design. In his book and the accompanying video series, How Shall We Then Live, Schaeffer shows how music, film and art all attempted to embody a world of chance and randomness during what he called the "Age of Fragmentation." But, even in these attempts, "the universe that is" kept coming through. A universe of purpose and design that neither Jackson Pollack nor his comrades could overcome.

I was reminded of that very purpose and design this weekend when I attended a lecture by one of my new colleagues, Prof. Heinz Schoenhoff. I was intrigued to learn from Heinz that after leaving his professional counseling practice in Canada in 1975, he and his wife, Elsie, moved to Switzerland where they became a part of the L'Abri community founded by Francis and Edith Schaeffer. There they frequently attended small group gatherings in the home of Udo and Debbie Middelmann, the Schaeffer's daughter and son-in-law.

I was even more fascinated to learn during a conversation with Heinz following his lecture, that among the other members of the L'Abri community at the time he and Elsie were there was Jerram Barrs. Jerram was one of my professors during my studies at Covenant Seminary in St. Louis. What is particularly significant though, is that Jerram was one of the most influential professors on my life through not only his teachings and writings, but even more so by the life that he lives and the person that he is.

There I was again -- meeting someone who knew someone that I knew -- two degrees of separation!












From Heinz to Udo Middelmann and Jerram to me. Yes, it is a very small world, especially within the fellowship of Christ's Body. Yet, there is still something more. When I went to Heinz's lecture Saturday afternoon, I was carrying along with me a book (following the example of my Missouri Baptist University colleague, Clark Triplett -- who is never without a book in hand) to read while I was waiting for the lecture to begin.

The book was one that I had purchased from a used-book table at Covenant Seminary's library several years ago -- a volume entitled, I Knew Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Since it was a used book, it was not unusual to find that inside the front cover there was an inscription. The book had been a gift from one friend to another many years ago.

The inscription reads "To Egon at Christmas ~ love and warm regards, Ron 1989." The Egon to whom this book had been given was Egon Middelmann the brother of Udo whom my colleague Heinz had come to know at L'Abri more than thirty years ago. Such closeness of ties within the fabric of life experiences continues to amaze me. Maybe one day I will begin to view these experiences of community with less surprise, but I trust, no less wonder. May we all find greater joy in the journey, today.



"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart." (Ecclesiastes 3:11)