Everybody needs a wizard in their life.

Bilbo had Gandalf, as did Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and a host of others in Middle-earth. We all need one.

By wizard I mean this: someone who sees things more clearly, more eternally, more profoundly than you. Someone who knows God in ways you don’t know Him, and is able to inspire you to know Him better than you do.

I was blessed enough to be introduced to the preaching of Haddon Robinson more than three decades ago. When I first heard him, it was via the tape ministry of Believers Chapel in Dallas while Robinson was teaching preaching at Dallas Theological Seminary. When he moved to Denver Seminary to become president of that institution, I went there to study him and be influenced by him.

As I wrote on my other blog, I only talked with Haddon once. But that had nothing to do with how God used him in my life. I went to Denver because I knew that Robinson knew God in ways I did not know God, and I wanted to be around him. I was not disappointed.

Haddon Robinson has been my Gandalf. The wizard’s job, it is to be remembered, is not to do the work or fighting for others, but to awaken and encourage them to do what they must. The wizard instructs and corrects, but he primarily inspires. Gandalf’s impact is seen in the likes of Faramir who, although only vaguely familiar with the wizard personally, nevertheless reminded others of the wizard.

Faramir followed in the footsteps and character of Gandalf, the angel of Eru. Hopefully, in some small but significant way I have followed Haddon Robinson as he has followed Christ.



Namárië.