40 years ago … today.  A young, over-confident, cocky college freshman walked into the WBFJ offices.  He had a few years of radio experience under his belt but was relocating to the Twin City and needed a closer gig.  After a tour of the meager facilities and an interview with the owner and manager, the kid was offered an opportunity.  Yes, it was a job – but in God’s impeccable plan, it was more than a job – it was an opportunity.

Humility was to be learned.  Coming into a 1kw AM daytime station after being with a 100-thousand-watt flame thrower was actually a step in the right direction. Even today, the testimony is what God can do with a little, not what man does with much.

The Body was to be loved and appreciated.  A much broader perspective of the church was new territory for an 18-year-old who knew nothing more than a small contingency of the heavenly congregation.  Until you walk a path that intersects a variety of Kingdom citizens, you cannot appreciate such holy diversity.  I have prayed with, prayed for and been prayed for with saints that would rarely come together on this side of eternity.  Here’s to the other side!

Grace was to be acclimated.  Four decades later, I’m still grasping this one.  God’s grace I get.  Don’t always understand it but I know it flows deeply from who He is.  But, the grace of God as extended thru mankind as stewards of such power – makes no sense, goes beyond reason and is nearly impossible to replicate.  Yet, this is what has been repeatedly offered to myself and a myriad of coworkers through the years. I only wish to come close…

Much is to be said of “40” in Scripture. Forty is synonymous with “a long time”: 40 days of fasting, 40 days of flooding, 40 days on the mountain, 40 days for Nineveh to repent, 40 years of wandering.  40: A time of probation.  A time of preparation.  The length of time to see a new generation.  Hhhhmmm…

There are not many people in this world smarter than a college freshman.  I am grateful to those that saw beyond and to a God Who goes beyond.  There is still much to be learned.  Today, we raise an Ebenezer of testimony not only to what the Lord has done, but also to what remains.  To God Be The Glory!

• Wally