Many high schools point with pride to sports teams, or high achievers on test scores. Our school had both.
But we had something else too: a teenaged New Testament prophet.
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His first name was John, but everyone called him "Rev." If I had known then about the old Son House blues song, I would have called him "John the Revelator" -- for he looked like he subsisted on locusts and wild honey. Tall and rangy, his unkempt hair suggested he never spent much time in front of a mirror.
He always wore a t-shirt that said, "Jesus Christ is not God, he's the Son of God." Apparently, the Rev took strong exception to the Trinity. So he was something of a heretical prophet, which always makes things a bit harder if you're trying to convince people you're preaching the gospel.
But the Rev was determined; I'll give him that.
Between classes, he would walk between the different classroom buildings at school with his homework rolled up like an impromptu megaphone. As students walked by, the Rev would draw a bead on them and shout, "Repent!" which many found startling -- especially as they were headed toward the designated smoking area.
The Rev never had any takers that I knew of, but he did come in for his share of persecution. Preaching to football players is never wise, especially if you vex them. And I seem to remember the Rev sporting a black eye more than once.
If you ask me, I think he'd have been safer just raising a John 3:16 banner in the end zone on Saturdays and holding his peace. Touting the virtues of a religious life is seldom a good idea in a locker room. All kinds of unpleasant things can happen.
But the Rev did have one saving grace, even the jocks had to admit that. He could hit a baseball a country mile. Strange to say, with such natural talent, he never went out for the baseball team. None of us ever knew why. But he sure seemed to like making athletes who had rejected his message look silly in gym class.
He took 'em deep every time he got up to bat.
Every time he did, our gym teacher -- who was also the head football coach -- who call out, "Atta boy, Rev!" and smile a knowing smile.
I think he liked the idea that even a kid who was in-your-face with the things of eternity could catch a break now and then. One thing was sure: the Rev had a sweet swing. It was effortless. And I have to say the times when he took pitchers deep were the few times I knew of when he seemed to be really happy. Mostly, it was a pretty steady fare of fire and brimstone.
But when the Rev was rounding the bases, he was running a happier race, if only for a few moments.
I guess I have to say too that the Rev did have one genuine moment as well in the prophetic sun-sort of.
1980 was the year that Senator Ted Kennedy made a bid to wrest the Democratic Party's presidential nomination from Jimmy Carter. I don't know what the Rev's political views were; he never tested the troubled waters of punditry. But he knew the television cameras would be there when Senator Kennedy spoke to an assembly at our school.
He never had gotten much press coverage, but he knew a golden opportunity when he saw one.
Not that Senator Kennedy knew what was coming. Nor did he suspect anything when he took to the rope lines to shake students' hands. But there the Rev was, waiting for him.
Sporting his t-shirt, the Rev stepped forward and shook Senator Kennedy's hand. Two pictures stand out in my mind from that moment: the expression of utter disbelief on the Senator's face (a surely-the-presidency-isn't-worth-going-through-this kind of look) -- and the sight of the Rev, post handshake, mugging for the television cameras.
For a few seconds, he was a televangelist, and his t-shirt message went global -- or at least national.
Historians have since offered many theories as to why Senator Kennedy's bid to unseat Jimmy Carter was destined to fail. They may be right for all I know. But personally, I think you can chalk it up to the one inviolate rule of politics: never try to unseat an incumbent president from your own party if you think there's even the remotest chance you might meet up with a teenaged prophet who's not square on the Trinity.
It's bad karma.
Kevin Belmonte is author D.L. Moody (Christian Encounters Series) and Defiant Joy: The Remarkable Life of GK Chesterton published by Thomas Nelson.
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