the voice of a curse

Two weeks ago Bev and I, along with her parents, made a trip to Clemson SC for a special graduation ceremony. After much hard work, Justin graduated from Clemson University with his PhD. An opportunity with a Danish University caused him to speed up this graduate work. Unfortunately, the Danish opportunity did not fully develop so he will stay at Clemson for the next semester working as a guest lecturer.

At the graduation ceremony, Justin mentioned that Dr. Taylor wanted to meet Bev and I. We discovered that Dr. Taylor was the head of the math department at Clemson. Immediately after the ceremony, Justin introduced us to him. We found Dr. Taylor to be an engaging gentleman, the epitome of a "southern gentleman". In our conversation converstation he expressed a bit of disappointment that the opportunity in Denmark never fully evolved for Justin. However, he was also quick to express delight that in the upcoming semester Justin would be part of the Clemson faculty. His exact words to me were "Justin is a very good teacher".

I had lots of time to ponder his words on the 500 mile trip back to Pennsylvania. My thoughts wandered back to a summer morning a number of years ago. I sat across the table from a man who had been instrumental in Justin's spiritual formation. At the time, I was concerned for my friend. I sensed him disconnecting from God. Instead of oneness with his Creator, he was choosing to find worth and fulfillment in the seduction of ministry.

We talked about Justin that morning. I mentioned that Justin wanted to teach either at the high school or college level. I was stunned beyond words when he laughed sarcastically at the mention of Justin teaching. In his opinion Justin was too excitable to teach well. I could  not believe the words I was hearing. Words directly from the enemy, words that cursed Justin and his God-given destiny and dreams. I was dumbfounded. How could a person who professed to be interested in bringing people to the place of their God-given destiny speak so negatively of Justin's heart? At that point I knew that my friend had completely disconnected from God.

As these thoughts swirled through my mind, the curse words falling empty against the voice of God heard through Dr. Taylor, two words came to mind for the voice of the enemy and the speaker of those words  - F**k you!