Anthrocide

Richard Yoder was a devout Christian man. For some 45 years Richard Yoder was a gospel preacher. He was never a big-name preacher, even in the small community of churches where he was known. I doubt he ever ministered in a church of more than 50 people. Though he offered literally thousands of invitations in his ministerial life he never had Billy-Graham-like responses where an entire football field is filled with converts. In fact, in the 3+ years I regularly attended the church where he preached so tirelessly I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of conversions that resulted. But there was one that was of particular significance to me: my own.

You see, back in the spring of 1968 I became smitten, as they used to say, by a gorgeous little blue-eyed blond named Rebecca (Becki). She was two years behind me in high school and she was also a preacher’s daughter. She was Richard Yoder’s daughter. Now, sometimes preachers’ kids become notoriously rebellious, but not so with Becki. She was a devoted daughter and a devoted Christian. Me? I was an atheist. As we started “dating” (as much as her dad would allow) Becki never demanded that I convert to Christ or even attend church. However, I did attend because that’s where she was so often.

I wasn’t there to listen, I was there to pass notes and spend time with her. But eventually things started to happen. One was that I began to observe the love within her family and to realize that it was the influence of their–especially the parents’–belief in Christ that made it what every family should be. I also realized that part of what made me love Becki was Jesus in her. I also began to actually pay attention to those sermons her dad kept preaching. After some months had passed I began to realize that what this man was saying made sense. In fact, it made sense of the world, of life itself. Eventually I realized that the gospel of Jesus was true. It had to be; it was the only logical, coherent, rational explanation for what life is all about.

On Sunday, January 5, 1969, Richard Yoder called me over to his study and asked me if I was ready to act upon what I’d been hearing. That evening he baptized me into Christ. On July 7, 1973 he became my father-in-law as I married that wonderful little gal that I’m thrilled to say remains my wife after 36+ years. Richard, along with Becki’s mom, Mary, continued to be wonderful Christian influences, wonderful in-laws, and wonderful grandparents to our sons Paul and Scott.

Richard Yoder was not famous or even a gifted speaker. But he was dearly loved by a great number of people and exuded Jesus in all of his life. While he may not have legions of converts to show for his faithful service, his influence for Christ was deep and far-reaching nonetheless.

And among those he did help bring into the Kingdom of God, there’s me. Richard Yoder was more than my father-in-law, Richard Yoder was my father in the faith. For that I am literally eternally grateful. He passed the baton of salvation to me. My prayer is that I will successfully pass it on as well.

On December 18, 2009, at 90 years of age Richard Yoder went to be with the Lord he had served so faithfully. Thanks, Dad. I shudder to think where I might be had it not been for you.

- Your loving son in the faith, Don.

I shall be brief. To handle software development projects for the State of Missouri where I work, one must have completed a Missouri certification course in project management. A few years ago I went through the course and am Missouri-certified. During and since that training many have alluded to the more prestigious–and more difficult to attain–international credential from the Project Management Institute. The certification is as a Project Management Professional or PMP. I have shrugged at the PMP since I had achieved enough to do my job and saw no need to go through the grueling process required to get the more noteworthy credential. Then, a few months ago, a co-worker told my boss that there was a special lower-cost opportunity to take a “boot camp” preparatory course designed to help one pass the PMP exam, all paid-for by the State. So my boss enthusiastically signed-up and strongly urged me to do so. When I balked he insisted that this was something I really, really needed to do. Since he was the boss and it was free, I caved-in and signed-up. Not long after, my boss resigned!

I went ahead and took the course (and so did he). But naturally, there’s no value in taking an Exam Prep course and investing 4 full days of my life in it and not taking the exam. So, I also arranged to take it Saturday, June 23. The course instructor was a PhD meaning he had taken plenty of tests in his life and he said this was the toughest he’d ever taken. As it turned out, what the course taught was only directly applicable to about a third of the 200 questions on the exam. The rest was part deduction and part guesswork.

Bottom line: I did not ace the test, but I did pass it. So now I am a credentialed Project Management Professional. That means that, if I want, I can put the letters PMP after my name. However, that looks too much like a word for a very different occupation so I won’t be doing that.