Minutes to Memories

(from last year's Spring Sing ad at Harding University)

I felt old today, and the words "prostate exam" never even came up. Instead, I simply checked the mail at work and noticed a postcard advertising this year's Youth in Action lineup in Birmingham, Alabama.

In Church of Christ world, Youth in Action is a mega-youth rally between Christmas and New Year's in which thousands of teens and youth workers converge to listen to great speakers, attend fun class sessions, listen to loud concerts, and flirt. Oh, and grow spiritually, too.

Anyway, I took a mess of teenagers to Birmingham for a couple of years until we hired a full-time youth minister to organize such fun. It really is a great time, and our kids in Ocean Springs are planning to attend once again this year.

But none of this involves my feeling old (so much). Instead, on the postcard, after noticing some Christian band named Skillet that's scheduled to perform, I noticed that two names were listed as keynote speakers this year. The first was Buddy Bell, a legendary speaker in CofC circles. The second was Jason Ashlock (pictured above).

I taught Jason's 7th grade geography class. Hence, feeling old.

Actually, I taught Jason's 7th grade geography class, 8th grade American History class, and 9th grade Civics class, and he also served as my stat-guy for my basketball teams (complete with impressive, colorful stat charts that he created himself). Jason was a great student and a great person, so in spite of my feeling old, I felt very proud to see where he's at today.

When Jason was in college at Harding University, I learned that he was a part of a drama group that called itself Theatron. I had the chance to see him perform on a few occasions, and he astounded me with his talent. I now see that college was just the beginning.

The profile at Youth in Action's website says that Jason is now a PhD student at Fordham University along with working as a literary agent in New York City. Pretty cool from where I sit.

I don't know that I taught Jason much of anything outside of a few basketball statistical lessons when he made his way through junior high, but it makes me feel a little bit of pride to have been a small part of his impressive life anyway.

# posted by Al Sturgeon @ 4:46 PM