Down front means the center of the Amphitheatre.
He's teaching Hebrew to a group of a 100 or so and ... I'm on the back row with a group of friends drinking Rum and Coke in Styrofoam cups ... my greatest contribution to the pronunciation of Hebrew.
It's a lot easier to pronounce if you're a little high ... or "Closer to God" as we used to say in Seminary.
Hebrew is written from right to left ... rather than left to right ... only has 200 characters ... meaning combinations of letters ... there are no vowels ... so "Wheel of Fortune" is a purely "Christian" endeavor ... so to replace vowels ... Scribes used "Dots" and "Dashes."
You ever tried to read ... or pronounce a "Dot" or a "Dash" or speak a word with no vowels?
It'll drive you to drinking.
Grabbing my Hebrew Lexicon and Styrofoam Cup, I make the long trek to the front of the class completely prepared for the worst.
Throwing his arms around my head and whispering in my ear, smelling the Rum on my breath, he asks, "So you have a daughter?"
I nod because I'm completely overwhelmed by the moment.
"She is Jeremiah's brother?"
Jeremiah is the greatest prophet as far as he's taught us ... the one daring to talk back to God ... call Him names ...be carted off to another land ... and die a horrible death because he believes in his friend anyway ... God.
"Jeremy," I stutter.
"Same thing in Hebrew," he wetly whispers in my ear.
"What's your daughter's name?"
"Kristen," I answer.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," Dr. Owens proclaims from on High, looking like an Old Testament Prophet.
"Rev. Elliott has a daughter. In the Old Testament you make sacrifices over such Holy events so ... he is going to be excused from today's class ... and as a gift ... he may take whoever he chooses to go with him."
I'm crying ... standing there in front of a 100 or so ... really wanting to go home and hold my baby.
"Well?" Dr. Owen asks with a grin I've never seen.
Holding up the Styrofoam Cup, the entire back row follows me out the door.
In the hallway we laugh and hug and then ... I rush to work as a waiter ... to make a little more money ... because we have none ... and the girl can drink milk ... not her Mother's ... the store bought kind.
$1.27/can.
Around midnight, I hold her in my arms, give him his bottle and we fall asleep together.
