II. The Journey of Salvation and Transformation.
Chapter 3: I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!
In the Fall of 1967, I enrolled at San Francisco City College, taking the liberal art classes. I couldn’t walk there as it was across the city. Riding the MUNI system to a new part of town was a new experience going through the Twin Peak Tunnels. I managed to maintain a 2.5 GPA by avoiding math and English literature classes.
In my two years at City College, Pastor Ben challenged us to spend a year at a Bible School so that we would be grounded in the Word. Several of our youth group members went to a one year program at Multnomah School of the Bible in Portland, Oregon.
As I considered this, I wanted to know more about the Bible. I didn’t want to hear the Bible from other ministers or teachers, I wanted to study the Bible for myself. But I didn’t have money for the tuition. Thankfully, there were scholarships available. So, I applied to the Bible School and for their scholarship. I was accepted for the Spring semester in 1970 and given a partial scholarship. It was enough for that Spring semester.
I didn’t fly to Portland, Oregon. I rode the Greyhound bus as it was the least expensive option. It was a 16 hour bus ride, departing late afternoon and arriving in the morning. The bus was filled with cigarette smoke but sitting upfront meant less smoke, so that is where I sat. I don’t recall who picked me up at the bus station, but I remember walking into my dorm room, and there I saw a familiar face, Sheldon Yee from a sister church. In our small room there was a bunk bed, a desk, a dresser, and a sink. It was more than enough for me.
I would spend hours looking up answers in the library and studying in my room. Despite my best efforts, my papers were filled with red ink the first year. I was required to take English for the Fall of 1970 for one year, but it didn’t help very much. I still didn’t understand English grammar at all. I think the professors gave up in correcting my papers. The content of classes wasn’t too difficult since Pastor Ben taught us a lot about the Bible and theology, but the field of Christian education was new and exciting to me.
As I saw the teachers and their love for the Lord, I admired Mr. Needham, Mr. Muir, and Dr. Mitchell. Especially, when I was in their classes. Quite often Mr. Needham would begin the class with his favorite song, “Spirit of the Living God fall afresh on me” and Dr. Mitchell with his tune, “Hallelujah to the Lamb.” I sense their love for God was beyond academics. One regret I have is that I never really talked to them for I was too shy to say anything beyond, “Hello” to them.
In those three and half years that I was there, God provided for my education through different jobs. I worked for the post office as a temporary worker for the Christmas holidays, a grocery store clerk for one year, a janitor on campus for two years cleaning the classrooms and hallways, at the cafeteria cleaning dishes, pots and pans. In the Summer, I worked as a janitor at Park Merced where my Dad worked at and another year as a stock boy in a small grocery store. When I graduated from Multnomah, I had many books but only a few dollars in my name.
As graduation approached, I was informed that I graduated 3rd in my class. I couldn’t believe it! Me, graduating third in my class! I don’t know how that happened. It wasn’t my intention to get A’s. I just wanted to learn more about the Bible and Jesus. I don’t know how I recalled things that I studied. It just came to me. Even though I knew Bible facts, I still had the hardest time explaining them. I struggled with finding the correct words and stringing ideas together. I dreaded essay questions on exams. I just wrote whatever came to my mind.
God used the three and half years at Multnomah School of the Bible to begin to mature my mind. The problem as I looked back was that I knew the Word in my mind, but it really didn’t penetrate my heart. My heart was still broken and hurting from my past. I could talk about Bible truths, but not about my own personal feelings.