Sometimes, Facebook is Really Useful

With Dick Schroeder at the Grand

I love it when friends come into town.  A few weeks ago my friend Dick Schroeder, who travels all over the country speaking at colleges and retreats, posted on his Facebook profile that he was going on a trip that included my city.  We were able to meet for a little while to talk and pray together.  The time was a sweet gift.

Dick is--and shall remain--a pivotal figure in my life.  I met him at a retreat in Ontario, Canada in February 1997.  Back then he taught, as he still does, on the father heart of God and how God loves us as his very own dear children.  In the months leading up the retreat, God had been teaching me several lessons about the importance of forgiveness in the Christian life.  Dick's teaching was a summit in that season. One of the portions of the retreat dealt with examining relationships where forgiveness was needed, and Dick's genuine loving kindness in all his interactions made an impression on me.  Just over a year later, instead of applying to Ph.D. programs, I applied to work with Dick and his college ministry staff at Montana State University.

In May 1999, after a school year of rich lessons lessons, I said goodbye to Big Sky country. I last saw Dick and his wife Joy on the porch of their home in Bozeman on a Saturday morning.  I was heading south for a dream deferred: graduate school in Texas.