"No Regerts"

Perhaps you have seen the tattoo, "NO REGERTS!".

The old Chinese saying proves true, "We become too soon old, and too late smart". I am clearly old, having been retired since Jul 1, 2017, I do have some regrets. Probably, working with profs through Faculty Commons gives me more opportunities to reflect and identify things I could have done during my tenure as a teacher.

I wish I had carried a Bible to class, at least a few times per semester. It's a book, The BOOK, but still a book. I did it as a High School student, why not as a prof?

I wish I had kept a bowl of candy in my office. This attracts folks to chat.

I wish I had offered to pray with students, faculty and staff.

I wish I had taken more people to lunch, and invited small groups of students to lunch.

I wish I had been more aggressive in sharing the gospel. I have it down to 10 words. Who can complain about 10 words? Well, we now they can, but why not do it anyway?

I wish I had written a guide for Grad Students. They know how to be great as undergrads, but Grad School is a different animal.

I wish I had mentioned to my students about those occasions when I heard directly from G^D. Yes, it happened, and happens still.

I wish I had offered a student Bible study to previous students.  They volunteer, so who can complain.

I wish I had offered them books after the final exam and placed a box of good evangelistic books outside the door.

I wish I had gotten to know my undergrads better. I did pretty good with grad students, but I could have done better with the undergrads.

I wish I had put together more talks for students on family and marriage, and other issues of intense interest to them.

I wish I had made a bigger deal over office hours for things besides just my class. 

I wish I had reached out to more internationals, particularly over the holidays, and particularly after my own children began to leave the nest.

I wish I had done more to encourage my Christian students to keep at it, to use college as an opportunity to grow in their faith.

I wish I had written a short letter to my A+ students and to my F students. 

I have come to recognize more clearly the eternal nature of all mankind. My students and friends are all eternal creatures with only one of two eternal destinations. I might not be able to impact them all, but I can impact a few.

We did some things that were good in inviting students to our home each term. I made a lot of Cru Mission trips and I spoke for Cru after some international professional conferences. I identified myself as a Christian the first day of class, and if anyone visited my office I always made time for them. I practiced the ministry of presence. I led our campus Christian group in posting Christian adverts in the campus newspaper with names of Christian faculty and staff volunteers. I put together a talk on "Evidence of G^d in Human Physiology." I talked about following Christ with some of my grad students and tried to engage my Ph.D. students in ministry.

And, perhaps that is the way of all things. We can always look back and identify things we wish we had done. But take note, if you are not yet retired, there may be some things you can do now, to cut down on the number of your regrets. Think about it.