Acne reconsidered

"When a person has on the skin of his body a swelling or an eruption or a spot, and it turns into a leprous disease of the skin of his body, he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests. The priest shall examine the disease on the skin of his body... and he shall pronounce him ceremonially unclean."

(Leviticus 13:2-3)

In my senior year of high school, I was accepted into the United States Coast Guard Academy (as one of only 350 incoming cadets in the entire country). All I had to do was pass my Department of the Defense physical exam. As a varsity athlete, I figured this was no problem.

I was wrong.

I failed my physical for one reason only: acne. Yep, because I had pimples, I would not be attending college. (At least not one particular college in New London, CT).

As you might expect, I was devastated. My whole career arc, as I had planned it, was wrecked (government major --> law school --> maritime lawyer --> private practice attorney). Now what?

That summer before college, I went to a summer camp sponsored by the United Methodist Church. It was on the island of Molokai. It was there, as I was still questioning where my future would lead, that I felt God calling me to become a pastor in the United Methodist Church. I would soon enroll in the University of Hawaii, then go to grad school for seminary. That camp on Molokai was a turning point in my faith (and life's direction). I've now been an ordained minister for over 25 years.

I've told this story countless times. People are still amazed at the acne part of it. (By the way, I had some on my chest that the examining doc deemed "excessive," which might have excluded me from wearing backpacks or SCUBA gear, or so they said). Anyway, the camp was at Kalaupapa, Molokai... the "leprosy colony" from Hawaii's past. We worked on the homes of the Hanson Disease residents who still lived there.

I honestly never made the connection until TODAY... 34 years later... that I was being 'judged' the same way (but to a much lesser degree) that those with leprosy were. Skin disease = unclean. There, in a community of people deemed "unclean" by others, I (also having been deemed "unclean" by the DOD) would be called and claimed by God to be a pastor. And my life would never be the same. How did I not ever see that link?!?

God is good. All the time.