It has been over twenty years now but I can, as we like to say, remember it as if it were yesterday.

Something happened in my life and that something's name was Jack.

We were both in seminary together but we were worlds apart. I was the struggling student, desperately trying to absorb the necessary data that would declare me competent. Jack was already the scholar who didn't need degrees or titles to announce his worth.

I accepted. Jack questioned.

I followed the rules. Jack ignored them.

I received high marks. Jack hardly received any.

I was confused by his actions, threatened by his self-assurance. It was only for three hours a week that I saw Jack and only for one short academic quarter but we became friends of a sort and I struggled to understand him better.

Here was someone who saw the world a little differently than I did and I was terribly intrigued to find out why.

I didn't have much of an opportunity, however. At the conclusion of the quarter, Jack left seminary or, more accurately, he was asked to leave.

It was obvious to everyone that Jack didn't belong in our distinguished school.

This was the first inkling I had of how restrictive and imprisoning our institutions and systems can be, even those deemed holy.

We have little patience with those who see things differently than we do. We don't burn them in oil anymore or put them on the witch's dunking stick but we punish them all the same.

From those few weeks with Jack over two decades ago, I know that my life changed. From that brief encounter with this bravely independent man, I became acutely aware of the dangers of arrogance and assumption.

Since Jack, my life has, quite honestly, never been the same.

He taught me tolerance. He taught me openness and the value of honest inquiry. He taught me not in that one short quarter but he planted the seeds that served to alter the course of my life.

Although I've lost touch with Jack, I am fortunate that he never lost touch with me.