TDNT in my trunk

I have a TDNT in a box in my trunk!

I'm a little intimidated by it, to be honest. It's a gift from the first person I ever thought of as a mentor. The TDNT in my trunk represents more than its ten volumes of dense biblical scholarship. It means I made someone proud, someone who pointed me in the right direction and gave me a little shove. Someone who guided me as I unpacked my cultural baggage, dusted off the pottery sherds of the past and gave them a thorough inspection. Someone who believed in me unwaveringly even when I was little more than Midwest naivete and unpolished potential. Someone who knew I could fly before I'd even unfurled my wings.

24 years of teaching, and I'm the one with the TDNT in my trunk. I don't have words for how huge that feels. I guess I'd better live my life in such a way that I'm worth it.

And I guess I'd better go unpack that box.