When I was a sophomore at Norfolk State University, I told my Religion professor that I was called to the ministry.
She said, “That’s great! That’s wonderful! Now we have to get you ready for seminary.”
I said, “Seminary? I’m not going to seminary.”
She said, “If you’re not going to seminary, what do you plan on doing?”
I said, “I’m just going to get up and start preaching.”
After she finished looking at me with disgust, she said, “If you had to go into surgery, would you want a surgeon who hadn’t been to school? Would you want a surgeon who just got up and decided they were going to be a surgeon?”
I said, “I never thought about that. . . . Probably not.”
She said, “Just like you deserve a surgeon who’s prepared himself, so your future church deserves a preacher who’s prepared himself. . . . How are you going to guide people to grow spiritually if you don’t care enough to prepare yourself?”
I said, “I never thought about it.” Then I told her, “Doctor, I can’t go to seminary. When I graduate, I want a job, so I can make some money. If I go to seminary, then I have to wait even longer before I can make some money.”
As she walked to her car, she turned around and yelled, “Don’t worry about it, Brother Larry! God will make a way! He always does!”
That conversation took place twenty-two years ago.
Today, I am a witness that regardless of what it looks like, God will make a way. God always does.