What’s Your Excuse?

This post may appear a bit boastful. Forgive me if it does. Trust me…this is not the intention. 

As I write this, I am currently in Wichita Falls, TX, spending a few days with extended family that we do not get to see often. We are spending a few days here before we drive to Fort Worth on Wednesday. The purpose of traveling to Fort Worth is to attend graduation at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS). Why would I travel from my home in TN to attend graduation at SWBTS? I will be receiving my Doctor of Educational Ministry in Biblical Counseling (DEdMin). This is both personal and important to me for many reasons.

I grew up in a relatively large family. Youngest of 6 children. I have no hard evidence for this, but I am quite certain that I have the lowest IQ among my siblings. That is not a statement of humility. Just offered to provide some context. My parents were both hard workers, although not overly educated. Of my siblings, I am the only one with a college degree. I was not the first to attend college, but the first to finish. In fact, this will be the fourth degree I have earned. Here’s why this is all important…

 I graduated from Norwood High School in Norwood, OH, in 1988. My high school didn’t have superlatives, but if they did, I would have been voted “most likely to have heard, ‘You were in my class?’” I was relatively popular, but not overly so. I was a decent athlete, so that gave me a community. Other than that, I did nothing to set myself apart. I was quiet and shy. Never enjoyed being the center of attention (and still don’t). I could blend in with the best of them.

Academically, nothing special there either. If academics were graded like the economy, I would have been extremely middle-class. Not a troublemaker, but nowhere near a scholar either. My graduating class had 218 students. I came in at 103. My Grade Point Average (GPA) was a solid 2.18. Not even considered a hard C.

Then came college. Nothing earth-shattering about those years either. At least not from an academic standpoint. I went away to college. Cumberland University (CU) in Lebanon, TN. Roughly 5 hours from home. I went to CU because I had the opportunity to keep playing baseball. Honestly, I wasn’t that great a player either, but my brother was, and he played for the same coach at CU 7 years before I did. It was mostly a favor to my family that I got to be on the team.

Academically, not much had changed. I chose the easiest degree so that I could get in and out of college quickly. It took me 5 years. I was on academic probation much of my undergraduate career. I graduated from CU in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education and a 2.56 GPA. Just enough to stay eligible. But then a shift began in my life. It’s too long a story to tell here, but my academic journey began to become more important to me.

After a year off from school, I applied and was accepted into the graduate program at CU in the fall of 1994. The GPA requirement for Grad school was 2.50. (Busted the doors wide open!) Two years later, in 1996, I graduated from graduate school with a Master of Arts in Education (MAE) and a 3.80 GPA. After teaching school and coaching for 4 years, I left my teaching career and surrendered to full-time vocational ministry. I was called to serve as the Student Pastor at Immanuel Baptist Church in Lebanon, TN, in 1999. Within a year, I was back in school…again!

Seminary was a long (and difficult) journey for me. But eventually, I graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) with a Master of Theological Studies (MTS) and a 3.29 GPA. Then, as if I hadn’t had enough, I applied and was surprisingly accepted to the Doctoral program at SWBTS. And here I am today. On Friday, May 1st, 2026, I will graduate with my DEdMin.

None of this is to impress you with my accomplishments. I don’t even want to prove that with hard work and dedication, you can accomplish anything. (Although I do believe that to be true). My purpose is to show that with God, all things truly are possible. Don’t misunderstand me or take any of my words or the Words from Scripture out of context. When Jesus states in Matthew 19:26 that “with God all things are possible”, He is not implying that if you believe in God, you can receive anything you want. That is simply not biblical. What I mean is that if God calls you, He will make it possible. Your talents, while important and useful, will not determine what God can do in and through you. All that He requires is a willing and submissive heart. Yes, you will need determination. It requires determination to live life! But most importantly, the call of God on your life and your obedience to follow His call will determine just how far you will go.

If you have made it this far in your reading, thank you. (Or perhaps you should get a life and find a hobby!). I never intended for this post to be this lengthy. I also never intended for it to take me this long to complete it. My truest intention is to reveal that when God calls you to what seems like an impossible task, take comfort in the fact that He is with you through it all.

LIFE UPDATE:

On Friday, May 1st, 2026, I did indeed graduate with a Doctor of Educational Ministry in Biblical Counseling (DEdMin). As you can clearly see above, I had a lot of excuses to keep me from being able to type this post. But that’s what they were…excuses. So let me ask you: What’s Your Excuse??