A Message From My Heavenly Father

Before I post about what I have learned about integrating my faith and my law practice, I wanted to take a couple of posts to share a few of the most important lessons I learned while at Regent.

The first and most memorable lesson hit me upside the head during my anxious 2L year.

The second year of law school is generally an anxious time for every law student looking for a job or at least a summer internship. So there I was sitting in class one morning along with fifty to sixty of my job-hunting peers getting ready for one of the many courses I took with Professor Duane. Everyone was settled in and ready for the show to begin. However, before Professor Duane started into whatever announcements, behind-the-back guitar solo, or deep devotional he had for us that morning, a fellow student stood up to introduce the older, non-student sitting next to him. It was his father. He was an attorney. After he was introduced by his son, Professor Duane asked him if he had anything he could share with the class of aspiring lawyers.

He said a few things which I no longer remember and then one thing I will never forget. Looking proudly at his son, he essentially said that he was looking foward to his son's graduation, because he had a job waiting for him when he got out. While I may have considered this father-son moment sweet in any other context, I hated it at that time and in that place. My hate was a sick combination of jealousy, pride, and fear. Who was this kid who thought it was a good idea to bring his father to class? This isn't second grade or show-and-tell. This is law school. How could he be so incosiderate as to invite his dad in to flaunt his job security in front of all us?

I closed my internal diatribe and pity party by saying to myself, "It would be nice to have a father who had a job waiting for me when I got out!"

And then I heard it. That still, small, but unmistakable voice of God speaking to my heart, "Am I not your father? Do you not believe that I have a job waiting for you when you get out?"

I was stunned. All of my animosity left me as I was convicted to the core. In what felt like a split second, God exposed my heart--my lack of trust in Him and my failure to live by faith. As an anxious 2L, I needed that loving reminder from my Heavenly Father.