I remember it like it happened yesterday and it was almost 37 years ago. I put my hand on a door handle that would lead into a worship center. In that worship center, a crowd had gathered to see me tie the knot with a young lady, named Teresa, which I had only known for 6 months. I knew if I walked through that door I was walking into a life-long commitment of who I was going to spend the rest of my life with - for better or for worse, in sickness or in health, for richer or poorer.

Not long after that I remember another door that I opened. It was the door to my first class at seminary. I knew when I walked through that door I was walking into, not just a class of information, but also a room of transformation. That door represented the surrender of my entire life to the ministry of the g…