The #iMentor Initiative was started to honor the investment of mentors all over the world, and to encourage potential mentors to take the initiative in starting an intentional relationship with a college student today.
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Sometime around the age of 13 a friend entered my life. This individual intentionally chose me, though at the time I did not know it. His name was Bruce.
Bruce’s investment in my life seemed inconspicuous. He was, after all, the Youth Superintendent for the Friends churches in the Pacific Northwest. He was paid to do this!
Bruce and I began meeting regularly as I was just entering high school. It seemed to me he had the ability to discern one’s entire life story by simply looking them in the eye. And his eye contact was unbroken, steady, warm, and welcoming. I found myself compelled to divulge my life as he listened for Christ’s movement in my words, my body language, my expressions.
He was, as I reflect on it now, especially capable of discerning the movement of Christ in my life. His poignant insight, carefully chosen words, and undivided attention have taught and formed me in intricate ways. Yet I don’t believe this is the most meaningful memory I have of Bruce.
No, the most meaningful memory is of Bruce, mop in hand, standing in the midst of – how can I say it – my “overflowing organic matter.”
I was in 8th or 9th grade, attending a leadership conference for Quaker youth. We had gathered in Idaho at a small church that had one bathroom. My “distinct odor” and lengthy bathroom visits were often the butt of friend’s jokes – and so I was a bit timid to use this common bathroom. It was late one night, after lights had been extinguished and all of us were attempting to settle down for the night that I suddenly had the urge to “go.”
I’ll spare more details than this – whether a defect of the toilet or merely “one of those times” when supply outweighs demand, my covert mission into an empty bathroom turned quickly into an open invitation to a pool party.
Gripped by fear – more afraid that others would find out than of anything else – and uncertain of what to do, (run, hide, pretend I found it that way?) I was paralyzed. Though I can’t quite remember if Bruce found me or if I went and found him, I do clearly remember his response – “Go to bed. I’ll take care of it.” I gladly did as he said, but not before I saw him begin the process, mop in hand, of cleaning up my mess.
I believe that Bruce has done the work of Christ for many, many people throughout his life. I believe that many of those people on the receiving end of his ministry have had a deep mystery revealed to them – how Christ makes himself present today. This was, for me, one of those moments. It didn’t come as well-timed piece of advice, a gentle correction of unrighteous behavior, or a subtle rebuke of doctrinal error.
It came with a mop in hand and a simple phrase – “Go to bed. I’ll take care of it.”
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Mentors are just ordinary people, who avail themselves to being used by God — in the life of another — in extraordinary ways. Check out the #iMentor page and consider how God might want to intentionally use you in the life of another. I bet you’ve got a story to share!
