Dan Smick - Part II

Dan was an intellectual with a sense of humor. I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive – though I imagine there are intellectuals who are affectatious when it comes to humor, that is they kill whatever humor might be latent so as not to mar their intellectual persona.

C.S. Lewis had humor that would embarrass many (most?) American Evangelicals – he called it “bawdy”. You can make what you want of that as you sip your pint of bitter. While I don’t know that I’d hold John Riggins up as a model for life, his words to Sandra Day O’Connor (who probably didn’t deserve them), “Loosen up Sandy baby”, might be good advice for a good many churches and academic institutions.

When Dan went to meet his future in-laws for the first time he wore wax teeth – or something along that line – Dan not only had a sense of humor, he was a man of courage.

Dan’s courage extended far beyond wearing wax teeth, for the root of his courage was a life in Christ, a life which extends into eternity. Throughout his illness his focus was on others, encouraging them, challenging them, comforting them. He ministered to nurses, doctors, hospital aides, and fellow patients – but there was none of that the flowers come up in the spring kind of thing, there was Jesus.

I recall prepping for a seminary exam in which I anticipated an essay question on the philosopher Immanuel Kant. I read and read about Kant, trying to distill his approach to life, philosophy, and epistemology – but I just couldn’t get it. With exam hour rapidly approaching I called Dan and asked him to give me a primer on Kant. Within 20 or 30 minutes Dan made the elusive (to me) Kant understandable, the fragments of knowledge I had about Kant fell into place and I began the exam looking forward to meeting Mr. Kant; which I did with good result.

Of all the marketplace material I’ve read over the years, Dan’s seminal work is the best and without a doubt the most systemic. In fact, in terms of a matrix of thought and approach, I know of nothing close to it. The problem, if it can be called a problem, was that Dan spawned the concepts and pictures but had trouble filling in the wide open spaces within the constructs he created. Some of that was in his nature, ever the explorer, venturing into new lands. Perhaps some of it was a sense that he needed to break as many new trails as possible within a short life? He wrote little that I am aware of but he outlined a great deal. His Thirty Moments of Truth in the marketplace remains a valuable framework within which to consider our vocational calling.

Dan not only challenged our thinking, he challenged the way we live – something I have found lacking in much marketplace ministry – Dan wasn’t content to see Christians live good lives in the marketplace, he wanted them to live in and through the Cross – he wanted their lives to be sacrificially intentional in Christ.

Dan Smick - Part I

I’ve been thinking about Dan Smick recently so I thought I’d write about him. It has been over ten years since Dan went to be “at home with the Lord”; his funeral at Park Street Church, Boston, was packed. Haddon Robinson delivered a message in which he said (relying on memory):

Dan once said to me, “Haddon, when you’re preaching my funeral, don’t talk about the flowers coming up every spring after a long hard winter – give them the Gospel”.

And the Gospel is just what Haddon gave us. Andy Mills, chairman of The Marketplace Network, a ministry Dan founded, received a phone call after the funeral from a man who had known Dan and who heard Haddon’s message; the man said to Andy:

I get it! Now I get it. I see that Jesus Christ died for me!

Dan would have been pleased – he was all about people coming to know Jesus.

One of the most moving and instructive moments of my life was visiting Dan in the hospital during the final stages of his liver disease. As I entered his hospital room his eyes were closed and I assumed he was asleep; not wanting to disturb him I sat quietly by his bed for a few minutes. Dan opened his eyes, saw me and smiled, saying:

Oh, it’s you, Bob. I was just thinking about some new ways to share the Gospel with folks.

Here was a young man with liver failure, with a wife and two young boys, and he is thinking about others. A few weeks later when Dan, his wife Susan, and Andy Mills traveled to a hospital in Lincoln, NE in search of a liver transplant, they took literature with them about Jesus Christ. Within a week or so we received a request; Please send more material, we’ve given all we have away to the folks we’re meeting here in Lincoln.

When life doesn’t go as planned I often think of Dan Smick; he certainly didn’t plan to leave this life as soon as he did; he had hopes and dreams for his family, for sharing Christ, for making an impact in the Boston marketplace and academia and beyond; he had more insight and knowledge in him – both in depth and breath – than most of us could dream of…but he got sick…and he died. But through it all he loved Jesus and he loved others – and I got a glimpse of that for which I’ll always be thankful.

Sky Bar

Now when I say "Sky Bar" people probably think about that scene in Star Wars when Luke and Obi Wan meet Han Solo and the Wookie; but that's not the Sky Bar I'm talking about. Here is my Sky Bar:

Have you ever had one? It's been years for me, but I have verified that Necco still makes them. Four different...count 'em...four different flavors in one candy bar. I don't purchase candy bars, but if I saw Sky Bars I'd buy a few of them and eat them very slowly...they'd be my own little treasures. I wouldn't want to share - though I suppose I would just to let folks know what they've been missing - maybe...maybe I would share...and then maybe I wouldn't...I mean, since each compartment has its own distinct flavor you really have to experience the entire candy bar to appreciate the experience.

I guess it's like reading the Gospels, they are similar but they are different - each has its own flavor, and all together they make for quite the experience. 

Did I mention that when I was a kid candy bars were 5 cents? Hey, that is something isn't it - I'm in the season of life when I can say things like that :-)