People are Important

People are important.

Last night, November 3, Arletta and I went out to the Johnsons in Wamego to attend a reception for Klint and Amanda Janulis. The reason for the occasion was the safe return of Klint from combat in Iraq. Klint's parents, Alex and Margaret Janulis, are special friends. We participated in Klint and Amanda's wedding last December. Now we could share in the safe return of Klint. However, others were there, a lot of others. Paul Mueller and his new wife came down from Lincoln, Nebraska. Major General Tom Romig (retired), now Dean of the Washburn Law School, and his wife Pam were there. Mike Schilling and Glen Evans among others. We had a great time of visiting with all of these people. We are thankful that we were invited to the party. Good food, good fellowship and good beer (although I did not sample any).

On Friday November 2, I received a call from Roy Utah. The person on the other end was Dennis Whisler. Dennis was among the students that I taught at Intermountain Bible College over a 17-year span. Dennis had returned from Vietnam in the military and was an older student even when he started. Nevertheless, from the beginning it was obvious that Dennis had a big heart. During the time that Dennis was with us, he referred to Arletta all the time as Mom although he was not much younger than she was. During that time, Arletta suffered a miscarriage. As a good husband, I went to the hospital several times during the day and then returned to my responsibilities as a teacher. But Dennis just stayed and shed tears. Anyone going by would have assumed that Dennis was the husband. Later, when Dennis found the girl he wanted to marry, she asked me if Dennis was genuine or was his sweet spirit just a façade. I told her the story about his visits to me wife in the hospital and assured her that Dennis was genuine. The next summer they were married.

Dennis moved to Roy Utah to continue in a ministry that had been started a few years earlier. Dennis has been there for over 30 years. He has done a good job in difficult circumstances and been continually found faithful to the Lord.

When I told Arletta that Dennis had called, she reminded me that there were others out there that we had trained and disciple while were at Intermountain Bible College. The school was always underfunded and we went without paychecks for months at a time. We were never accredited by any accrediting organization, but our graduates went on to get advanced degrees at places like Fort Hays, Lincoln Christian Seminary, Denver Seminary, and Cincinnati Bible Seminary. There are still several hundred of them still very active in the kingdom of God. They made excellent missionaries, planted churches, started youth camps, and won souls to Jesus. The school closed in 1985. Accreditation and money finally overwhelmed it. The library was sold to pay the faculty's back salaries and all of us moved on.

Twenty-two years have passed since the school closed, but the legacy is already extended into the next generation. Thanks, Dennis, for the call. You are one very special person.