Hurst

I found out tonight that my favorite professor, Lincoln Hurst, died. "Favorite Professor" is a title that does not even come close to the impact Professor Hurst had on my life. A favorite professor is a person that tells great stories, challenges students to greater knowledge and whatnot. I believe God placed Hurst in my life to completely turn it upside down.

I am in grad school today because God used Hurst to get me in there. I am at Texas A&M, specifically, because of him. He asked me what school I wanted to go to and I answered A&M. The next day, he overnighted his recommendation (it became lost in the mail) and made a phone call to the A&M communication graduate director to get me in. It worked.

But that's not even the most important thing Hurst did for me. Lincoln Hurst was the only Calvinist I knew at UC Davis. I wasn't a Calvinist yet but I confessed to him during our weekly visits that I had so many questions about predestination that nobody was willing to answer for me. He didn't say anything about how Calvinism answers all those questions or try to force anything on me. He simply said, "Read Romans. Then come back and tell me what you found." Well, as some of you know, I read Romans with new eyes while on a retreat in the mountains of Santa Cruz. I went up the mountain as an Arminian and came down as a Calvinist.

I told Hurst that and he just scratched his beard as he always did when he had too many thoughts and not enough words to keep up with them. We moved from talking about research at every meeting to him steering me in the right direction in my early Calvinist days. He was the only one in California that I could talk to about this new theology thing. I learned that there were other ways to think of the end times besides Dispensationalism. I learned to study God's word as a cohesive whole, and not just concentrate on random verses.

I was at his lecture on Romans and was amazed at how he stood for Christ against the students who quickly labeled him a heretic to his face. I was ready to jump on anyone who insulted him but even when the students closed in on him, he was at peace. He stood his ground and was able to answer their questions humbly and with grace. I won't forget that moment. I won't forget him. He was not just a favorite professor. He was my friend and a father in Christ to me. And now he is rejoicing with the Lord as we speak. I will see you soon my friend.

*Here is his bio on wikipedia for anyone interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Hurst *