Mentor

Learning your words gives wisdom
    and understanding for the foolish.

Psalm 119:130 

 

Remember the movie, The Karate Kid?  The original one?  The handyman, Mr. Miyagi, was a humble and quiet man who chose to mentor Daniel-san in the ways of Karate.  Daniel was ready to learn how to beat up his bully, but Miyagi wanted Daniel to learn the true was of karate so Daniel had to do seemingly pointless (and endless) chores.  Finally, Daniel was shown what he had unwittingly learned from Miyagi's methods and went on to become quite the student.

 

Mentors have a way of teaching without being obvious.  They teach by letting the student discover the truth with only a little prompting.  Mentors have a way that keeps learning interesting and instills a desire to learn more.  However, true mentors have become a rarity it seems.

 

I had a professor in college who informed our class that he would be happy to mentor any of us throughout the term.  I was intrigued and met with him after class.  His idea of mentoring?  Reading five chapters each day from the King James Bible and write an essay explaining what it said.  Not only did I find that burdensome, but had no desire to learn anything from him.  Oh, I did try. I spent hours in the library trying my best to interpret the archaic dialect.  By chance, one of the theology teaching assistants happened to be at the next table and saw me struggling.  He came over and asked me, "Do you have any idea what this is saying?"  I closed the tome and told him, "Not a clue.  It just doesn't make sense to me."  To which this teaching assistant told me something I have never forgotten: "In Jesus' time, He talked to people in ways THEY could understand.  We have complicated that message over the centuries until it is almost indiscernible. So let's try something, try reading that passage from this version."  He handed me his copy of the New Living Translation, and suddenly things began to make sense.  He became my mentor!

 

One of the other things he taught me was history, because "The scripture doesn't REALLY make sense until you understand the context of what's going on in the area at the time, the customs of the time, and how it all fits together."  The more I learned, the more I wanted to learn!  THAT is the mark of a true mentor!

 

Do you have a mentor?  Doesn't have to be a Bible mentor, how about a mentor in your job?  A mentor who helps with the issues you run into in your daily life?  How about becoming a mentor to someone?