Phillip A. Bishop
Kinesiology, University of Alabama
When you were a student, who impacted you? Most likely you were influenced by someone who spent time with you.
Many of the students sitting in our classes have parents that are too busy to spend time with their own kids. Spending a few minutes of our personal time would most likely make an impact, because very few profs do that.
If I Still Call Them
The students I most try to reach are those that aren’t even on my campus anymore; they are the students who have graduated. While they are in school they know I am obligated to work with them, but once they are gone, if I call, it has to be because I care.
I can now call long-distance at no additional cost. I can email for free. I don’t call them all, just those with whom I have had a connection.
Many of them are in their first few years of work and are realizing that the information that they thought of as irrelevant in college they really need now that they are in the workplace.
I have discussed research, teaching, grants, and even Bloom’s taxonomy. But I have also discussed failures, family and frustrations. Having a positive impact is similar to many investments; it takes discipline and the payoff may not appear for a long time.
For the first time in my career, one of my former students is in a post-doc at a Christian university. I have been on the phone with him because it encourages me and because I want to encourage him to prepare himself for service on a secular campus.
Another student expressed his disinterest in Christianity early in our relationship. I was shocked when we chatted a couple years later and he told me about the church he was attending.
A Modicum Of Patience
We talked again last week about his job. I’m still not sure he is a believer, but he has to know by now that I am interested not just in his career, but in his spiritual life as well.
Jesus was patient with his disciples, God is patient with me, can’t I have a modicum of patience too?
Unlike most of us, Jesus didn’t seem to be in a great hurry through life. He was content to minister to people, even when it meant overlooking His own needs. Do I really think I can improve on that?
© 2006 Phillip A. Bishop