Many people
have asked my father how in the world a school teacher from Nebraska (who is not much
of a world traveler), ended up with both his children serving God overseas.
Read this
blog at the risk of altering the course of your life (legacy
is irresistible), your children’s lives, and the lives of the kids
around you. You WILL see a world changed forever...
How do you
change the world?
Destiny
Words.
Spoken one at a time. Year in and
year out. Over and over. They get under your skin and seep into your blood.
I’ve stood
in awe of three generations of men who know how to speak the language of
destiny. I’ve seen it with my own
eyes. It’s powerful. It’s a force that
cannot be stopped.
My
grandfather was born in 1901. As a teenager,
while his brother was at boy scout camp, he’d work all summer long on a dairy farm to
earn $50. At the end of the summer, his
entire earnings went to pay for shoes for all the kids in his family.
Christian Jensen (20 years old - 1921)
One summer
he discovered that one of the cow’s milk dried up. No one could figure out why...till my
grandfather found the boa constrictor that had been drinking the cow’s milk all
summer. I’m trying not to picture that!
He was the
first among his friends to save up enough money to buy a car...a black Ford
Model T. And he was COOL! As the only dark haired Danish boy, attending
a church of blond Swedish girls...he was quite the catch.
My
grandfather married my beautiful grandmother, and he took a job with the Union
Pacific as clerk.
To me, this
is where the story gets really interesting.
Cecil B
DeMille’s film “Union Pacific” came out in 1939, and the railroad brought in
the film’s celebrities for the ”Golden Spike Days”– a 4 day event celebrating
the film’s premier. The president of the
Union Pacific asked my grandfather to put together a drum and bugle corp of the
employee’s kids for the event. It was
such a success, my grandfather was asked to continue the corp.
For many
years he passed up promotions for his clerk day job...so he could keep
directing the corp (accepting a promotion would have meant working on
Saturdays...the day of band practice, so he declined).
For over 30
years he led the corp...and became like a father to many of the kids. Kind and
generous, he mentored the boys, taking them on camping trips...where he made
cabin stew, showed them how to build fires, and spent time fathering them.
Chris Jensen (first row...far left)
To him it
wasn’t about money or titles – it was about inspiring and loving kids.
He had so much favor with the Union Pacific presidents (because their kids were in the corp), that when he stepped down, his "clerk's retirement package" somehow reflected all those promotions he refused to take.
The UP Drum and Bugle corp was a special place, not just for my grandfather, but for my parents. In fact, this is how they met...my mother was a baton twirling 14
year old and my father was the 17 year old drum major.
Paul Jensen - Drum Major
Dorothy Freeman (center) - baton twirler
The drum major and baton twirler -
almost 50 years later (they clean up good)
Which brings
me to my father.
When I’m
back in Omaha, Nebraska – invariably we will be out to eat at a restaurant with
my parents. I can’t tell you how many
hundreds of times kids have come up to my father and said,
“Hello, Mr.
Jensen, How is your day? And how are
you, Mrs. Jensen? And can I have my Bonus 2?”
Ahhh....the
famous Bonus 2. My father has been a
math teacher for 40 years this year...and he has a running deal with his
students. If they see him out in public
and can properly greet him and my mother...he will give them a math problem
that, if solved correctly, can earn them 2 bonus math points. I’m not sure exactly how far 2 bonus math
points will really take you...but I will say these kids look like they’ve won
the lottery.
Which
reminds me, a few years back Warren Buffet gave my dad $10,000 – for winning
the Alice Buffett Outstanding Teacher Award.
That’s
pittance to what my father is worth as a teacher.
Kids adore
him. He is arguably everyone’s favorite
teacher. I’m pretty sure this has little to do with the Harley Davidson songs
he makes them sing, or the endearing nick-names he gives every one of his kids
(if they haven’t received their Mr Jensen nick-name yet...they hassle him till
he comes up with something they both like), or the games they play in and out
of class.
I’ll never
forget being in my bedroom as a teenager and seeing one of his students dart
past my second story window – ready to drop a water balloon on my dad. He had some kind of contest going about who
would get soaking wet first. I’m sure
there was some kind of math problem worked in to that?
My dad and his grandgirls
For thousands
of students, he has somehow made math painless, called destiny into the lives
of every student, and left each one with a sense that they should “Not Fit in,
But Stand Out for Jesus.”
Of course
this is what my father did for my brother and I every day of our life – spoke God’s
destiny into dinner conversation and car rides. My mother whispered it into our
ears at bedtime.
My mom, brother, me and dad
(2011 trip to US was the last time we were all together)
When my
brother was applying for college, he spoke to the guidance counselor at the
University of Nebraska at Omaha. She
said, “Oh...your dad is Paul Jensen?
We’ve heard of him. So many
students have come here to study teaching because of your dad.”
And that
brings me to my brother. He’s number
three in this generational legacy.
He is a
science teacher at an international school in central asia,
attended by the children of political leaders and world shakers.
I’m sure you
can guess. He is everyone’s favorite teacher. He makes science come alive,
while he weaves in stories of freedom, sacrifice...and I’m sure you know what
I’m going to say...destiny.
One day in
Physics class he paused from the lesson and said, “Dream big for your country!”
The class respond by saying they had never had a dream for their country. He
threw the physics lessons out for the rest of the week and the kids began to
plan, write papers, and share their dreams for their country with each other.
Another time in Chemistry class, he challenged his students to finish school,
go to college, and then return to help their country. The kids responded saying
"No Mr. Jensen, security will never be good enough to live in this country.
We will finish school and leave."
Then and
there he gave them the call of a lifetime.
He told them, “I predict 2014 will be a year of peace and if I’m correct,
I challenge you to return to this place and help build a strong, solid,
country.” This was 5 years ago when no
one could have guessed that that next year would be likely to be peaceful.
At the end
of the class, nine brave students signed a contract that hangs in my
brother’s office...stating they would return under those circumstances. Many of
those students are in college now, watching to see what 2014 holds....poised
for action.
My brother in his classroom
My brother’s
students today are their nation's leaders tomorrow. The destiny of a nation has been altered. And as we all know too well...what happens
all the way around the world with heads of state...affects us all.
To those
children who know only of war, corruption and retribution...his words and
stories bring grace and freedom.
God’s destiny
– when spoken over a lost generation – is water to a thirsty soul, balm over
wounds, light in the darkest place.
As I look
down my family line, I see that the world is altered for eternity when a father
speaks destiny, life and vision....even to those children who are not his own.
Generational
Legacy has a domino effect that I am convinced, when spread out over time, will
affect hundreds of thousands of those who feel fatherless.
I have begun
to think about generational blessing in a new way.
Every night,
Karl prays for our girls, and after my children have gone to sleep, I slip into
their room and speak words of God’s blessing and destiny over their lives.
Emerson, Jensen, Adison
I tell them,
“God has put you in this family for a very special reason. There are things for you to do that no one
else in this world can do. You were born
for a very important purpose and God has given you many gifts and talents. Do
not be afraid.” The message alters, but the essential meaning remains the same.
It’s
interesting, since I started doing this several weeks ago, Jensen’s nightmares
that have plagued her for years and fears in general have totally disappeared.
Huh!
Destiny
Words spoken in the bright light of classroom or whispered in the moonlight...
matter for all eternity.
This world WILL
shake when we call our children’s God given destiny to the front!
As I heard someone recently say, “May our
ceiling be the floor our children walk on.”
