And My Bible Teacher, Dr. Charles W. Teel, Jr.

As Juneteenth approaches, I find myself thinking about freedom. Not just political freedom. Not just the freedom celebrated when enslaved people in Texas finally learned they had been emancipated. I find myself thinking about the deeper freedom that comes when people choose truth over comfort, courage over silence, and love over fear.

My thoughts take me back to 1966 and a Bible classroom at Newbury Park Adventist Academy.

My junior and senior Bible teacher was Dr. Charles Teel, Jr.

To me, he was simply “Dr. Teel.”

Every Friday we sang choruses in class. Before the final bell, our room would be filled with music and fellowship. At the close of the week, we would often end with the Mizpah:

“The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another.”

At sixteen years old, I didn’t fully appreciate the man standing at the front of that classroom.

Years later, I learned more about him. Dr. Teel had been active in the civil rights movement. He had stood with those who believed America could become better than it was. He had challenged injustice and was willing to suffer criticism for his convictions.

But what I remember most is not his activism.

I remember his love.

My favorite Bible verse has always been John 3:16:

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

God loved.

Dr. Teel loved.

And in 1966, many of us were learning what it meant to love one another.

That sounds simple.

It isn’t.

Following Jesus has never been easy.

Loving people who agree with us is easy.

Loving people who disagree with us is harder.

Loving people who look different, vote different, worship different, or come from a different background is harder still.

Yet that is exactly what Jesus calls us to do.

One evening Dr. Teel took a small group of students, including my girlfriend and me, to see a musical based on the life of Job. Looking back, I think he was teaching us something that could never be learned from a textbook.

Life is difficult.

People suffer.

Questions are real.

Faith is tested.

And yet God remains faithful.

The generation coming of age in 1966 was asking hard questions. We watched the civil rights movement. We saw protests and marches. We witnessed people challenging systems they believed were unjust.

Some questions were wise.

Some were misguided.

But at its best, that generation believed people could help change the world for the better.

Dr. Teel believed that too.

He taught us that faith was not merely something we believed.

It was something we lived.

As I reflect on Juneteenth, I am reminded that freedom is never merely the absence of chains. Freedom is the opportunity to do what is right. It is the chance to love our neighbor. It is the responsibility to treat every human being as a child of God.

That is what I learned in Bible class in 1966.

I learned that God loved.

I learned that Charles Teel loved.

And I learned that following Jesus means accepting the challenge of loving others, even when it costs us something.

Those lessons have stayed with me far longer than any test score or report card.

And for that, I remain grateful.

— Charles Reginald Wear