Death of a Mentor

By: John Ottley      

"...and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." (2 Timothy 2:2 ESV)

My cell phone blipped with a text message the other morning. My daughter wondered if I’d heard the sad news about a friend of mine who died while skiing in Utah. He was almost 75. He was with a group of men. They’d ski during the day and he’d teach the Bible in the evening.

He was quite a guy. He taught all kinds of courses at a Bible college for almost thirty years—Old Testament survey, creation science, apologetics, hermeneutics. All his students loved him. He led numerous trips to the Holy Land and other biblically significant places. He had recently accomplished his goal of preparing notes and messages for every book of the Bible. He constantly exhorted his colleagues to “leave a legacy.”

I’ve known him most of my adult life and had the privilege of serving with him at a summer camp in New Hampshire in the 90s. He and his wife took a genuine interest in Kathleen and me. They were a big encouragement to us as parents of young children. I asked him questions about being a dad and he gave me wise, honest answers. You could ask him anything. We had some great talks. I consider him a mentor.

Somebody came up to the camp with a new wake board during one of those summers together. That afternoon my friend and I had a chance to try it out. When my turn came I popped right up and rode around the lake. My friend didn’t fare so well. He never got up on it. From then on he took every opportunity to brag that I had out-performed him on the wake board. He delighted in this — shining the spotlight on my (meager) success in comparison to his “failure.” Everyone knew that in every other sport— golf, tennis, wind-surfing (which he tried to teach me one summer), skiing, you name it — he far excelled us all. He was jovial and accessible. He endorsed me every chance he got. Such was his Barnabas spirit.

Do you have mentors who challenge and inspire you mentally and spiritually? (You can have living mentors who actually befriend you or you can be mentored by reading great books by great authors.) Are you mentoring others? My friend made a big impact on me because he took a personal interest in me. There was room for me in his mind and heart. He let me into his life. I thank God for the privilege of knowing him. I’m richer for it.