Were I still in his class, I'd be sitting there nodding my head while raising my hand to ask, "Dr. Hinson why did God have to change mine with so many severe cases of whiplash?"
The powerful little man, strong at so many broken places, would flash that smirk he has when he's devilish, and likely say something like, "Mike it's because you always seem to be going in the wrong direction. God is merely trying to keep you on track."
Then he would move on with the lecture but let his eyes catch mine to let me know he enjoyed the question.
I took a lot of classes under Glenn, most dealing in the spiritual side of faith, the contemplative side, the place where prayer is the language and God is experienced. His ear always cocked to one side so he could hear, his jagged way of speaking, left me in wonder of the eminent power of a broken little man with the humblest of beginnings could so move me?
He led me to the great classics of seekers after mature faiths and he laughed when I wrote a paper claiming that Bruce Springsteen was one.
Reading of his life now, I find myself connecting with him again in so many different ways and he again makes me think. I've been called in and out of too many marriages (never a good thing for a minister), work as a Professional Christian, then decades spent with the sick and the poor, as an author, into a very public life, all leaving me ... standing on the beach as a seeker.
Great teachers never stop and their lessons remain in your heart, not so deeply buried. In spite of my jagged little journey, the things I learned from Glenn have served me well.
His life really has been A MIRACLE OF GRACE. Years ago I wrote a book, PARTNERS IN GRACE, and all these years later ... long after its publication and much longer since Seminary ... this miracle of a man still touches me so deeply reminding me that whiplash is merely one of God's many mysterious ways of working in my life, as a partner.
