Charlie Peacock, 10th grade math, the role of teachers: wrestling with the margins

A member of the church I pastored years ago was visiting. 
 "Remind me of how you became a Christian," I asked.

His answer floored me.

He said something like, 
               "One day you told me I was awesome....like you actually believed it."

A day I had forgotten became the day a high school student found his life.
(this is one reason I don't feel called to the seduction of the 22nd-pew churches anymore).

My tenth grade math teacher in Liverpool, New York, told me I had good taste in music.

I didn't expect to remember Mr. Johnson, or my 1975 self (click yearboook page for a good laugh@ me...but just so you know, that homeroom photo reminds me of one of the loneliest places I have ever been in, having moved midyear from California to a new school and state) today, but:
























...today I found,tucked in the middle of Dwight Ozard's review of a classic CD which most of you have (Charlie Peacock's "Lie Down in the Grass"), Dwight Ozard tells a story about one of his teachers:

More than any professor I’ve had—in Bible College, University, or Grad School—John encouraged me to wrestle with the margins, to resist the temptation to settle, and to nurture restlessness and curiosity. And that challenge extended far beyond academics.
-Dwight Ozard

I love a phrase in there.

To encourage students to "wrestle with the margins, to resist the temptation to settle, and to nurture restlessness and curiosity"....isn't that what all teachers,pastors, and friends encourage?I love talking music with my students, so the rest of Ozard's story of hanging out in the music store with his professor was powerful to me..

And so, when I learned that John Stephenson, my favorite Bible College professor, would be visiting London, we arranged to meet—at Forsey’s.
Now, understand this about John. More than any professor I’ve had—in Bible College, University, or Grad School—John encouraged me to wrestle with the margins, to resist the temptation to settle, and to nurture restlessness and curiosity. And that challenge extended far beyond academics. An insatiably thoughtful student (and fan) of pop music culture, John taught me to slow down and discover how a song or film or television show could teach us about our lives of faith and the role of all things—beautiful, terrifying or godly—in those lives.
Better still, John insisted on reciprocity, inviting us to challenge and share with him the things that moved us most deeply. And so just as he helped us discover Barth, or Neibhur, we introduced him to U2, Bruce Cockburn, Midnight Oil, The Clash, and that night in 1984, Charlie Peacock’s debut: Lie Down in the Grass.
John called a week before we met to ask one question—“whatcha listening to these days?”—so that he could get a copy of the LP before we met. And after seven days of listening it was clear to both of us that no other questions would be necessary.
-Ozard, link

It reminded me of how cool I thought it was as a tenth-grader to actually see my math teacher in the record store at the mall,
let alone have him remember my name.
let alone have him treat me like a friend...and act like he believed it.
let alone have him treat me like a peer when we talked about music.
let alone have him ask me what I'd been listening to...as if I could teach him something.

I remember the details:
He commended me on the two albums (yes, records) I was buying that day
(embarrassing to admit today, but the albums are here and here..
but both albums had their moments..and give me grace, this was five years before U2).

But mostly I remember how I felt:
accepted, lifted up, affirmed, empowered.Free to "wrestle with the margins, to resist the temptation to settle, and to nurture restlessness and curiosity."


And I got in A in my hardest class.
(that wasn't due to the teacher and I being music-buds, but everything to do with him being approachable and real).
Thank you, Douglas Johnson of Liverpool High School,
(far left, top photo) wherever you are (is this you??)are?? now.

And thank you to the record store at Tri-County Mall in Baldwinsville, NY (now listed on DeadMalls.Com) wherever/whatever you are now.

And, oh, thank you to Dwight Ozard, for writing the column about your professor.
I know exactly where you are.

You were true teachers all.

Wrestle with the margins!