At the end of my senior year of college, I ran into an older gentlemen who would later become my mentor for over 12 years. He and his wife had pulled up into the snowy grounds of the Young Life Frontier Camp with darts of fabric needing to be unloaded. After helping them–and learning I might see him at Pine Cove later that summer–my friends and I went about our regular work-week activities.
Come to find out, this man and I would strike up a friendship that would make its way through my engagement, wedding, first real job, first time parenting, and ultimately studying for a masters degree at Dallas Theological Seminary.
Bob McKenzie wasn’t a theologian, but he was an everyday man who possessed an uncanny ability to believe the best in people and apply Scriptures to everyday life. For the first couple of years of him mentoring me, we talked on the phone. The conversations would last for about 1 hour, and generally followed the same pattern: 30 minutes of catching up and 30 minutes of examining a passage of Scripture. This continued each week until my wife and I moved to Dallas, and then we began to meet every Monday morning at 7:00AM at the McDonalds located off MacArthur Blvd in Irving.
Bob’s aim wasn’t to make me a scholar, but to love me enough to consistently engage my life with the Scriptures. I can count on my one hand the times I had an ah-ha moment regarding some particular insight about a passage while studying with Bob, but I cannot count the myriad times Bob demonstrated that he believed in me and believed in what God was doing in my life.
What’s fascinating is that while Bob was more than twice my age, the gap never seemed to matter. He pressed in despite our differences (and there were many) to show me how to consistently give one’s self for another. I have many reasons to say thank you to Bob McKenzie, but one stands out above the rest: Bob gave me Scripture that was applicable to everyday life, and our theme verse was Proverbs 16:3. We memorized it in the Amplified Version:
“Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed.”
Proverbs 16:3
Bob’s friendship and mentorship shaped me, and this verse stands as the backdrop to that impact.
How Does This Apply To Us Today?
Don’t let…
- Age…
- Biblical knowledge…
- Time…
…keep you from consistently engaging with the next generation.
Instead…
- Pray for God to bring you one person to pour your life into…
- Initiate a regular meeting time with them…
- Consistently consider how you can lovingly apply Scripture to your and their everyday life…
- Believe in them…no matter what!