this man changed my life

The is Bob Tuttle. Robert G. Tuttle Jr. to be exact. I met him in seminary in 1980. I was 23 and he was old enough to be my Professor. He has a lot of degrees: he received an A.B. from Duke University, 1963; a B.D. from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, 1967; a M.A. from Wheaton Graduate School of Theology, 1967; and a Ph.D. from the University of Bristol in England, 1970.

All of that is very impressive, and I am not sure what all of those degrees mean, but there is something more important than that. He has shaped and changed the lives of many young men and women. I am one of them. My friends Steve Breon and Ron Watts are two more.

When I was a young judgmental, full of my self young Christian, Bob got a hold of me and taught me some things. He taught me that life was good and that Christians can be happy. He taught me to not take myself too seriously. He taught me to stop hurting people and to love them instead.  He taught me that Jesus was not stuffy, but normal. He taught me about being relevant. He saved me from what the church of my youth had made me, and prepared me for ministry.

I was so happy to find him last year and to discover that he winters in Vero Beach, where we own a retirement home. How joyful it is for me to meet him for lunch from time to time. He is a great man. HE IS A GREAT MAN. I honor him. Besides my father, no one has had such an influence on me. I am so blessed to have bumped into him in this life.

I hope that there are people in your life that you can say such things about.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.