Auburn Grads
Ok, I get it, I have a built in bias, but it doesn't change my observation.
Auburn alumni, that I know personally, tend to significantly outperform their peers who have similar educational and experiential backgrounds.
Just a few examples...
My friend Brent. He gets ministry, like very few I've been around. I've been a very active member of 6 different churches in my life and he would be in the Top 10% of all ministry staff I've observed through the entire process. As a youth pastor, he invested in his teens - compared to most of the peers I've observed who play with them.
I know 6 Auburn men in my town. Five own there own businesses that range from $5 million to $100 million. All are of strong character, good Dads, and 5 of the 6 are strong leaders in this community - actively serving on boards and making AU proud.
My wife and I were discussing this the other day and trying to figure out why? We think it might have something to do with the Creed. Could a simple creed have that much impact?
You be the judge:
I believe that this is a practical world and that I can count only on what I earn.
Therefore, I believe in work, hard work.
I believe in education, which gives me the knowledge to work wisely and trains my mind and my hands to work skillfully.
I believe in honesty and truthfulness, without which I cannot win the respect and confidence of my fellow men.
I believe in a sound mind, in a sound body and a spirit that is not afraid, and in clean sports that develop these qualities.
I believe in obedience to law because it protects the rights of all.
I believe in the human touch, which cultivates sympathy with my fellow men and mutual helpfulness and brings happiness for all.
I believe in my Country, because it is a land of freedom and because it is my own home, and that I can best serve that country by "doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with my God." And because Auburn men and women believe in these things,
I believe in Auburn and love it.
posted by Hollywood at 11:56 AM
1 Comments:
Thanks for the kind words. Interestingly, I see myself on the lower rungs of church staff that I've worked with when I compare their lives. I often aspire to be what others around me are.
Anyway, there's something to that Auburn Creed. It hangs in my office, words overlaying a photo of Sanford Hall's clock tower.
The only thing I'd change in it is the first sentence. If I were to re-write it (how's THAT for being presumptuous?!), it'd read: I believe this to be a temporal world and therefore must take advantage of every opportunity...
The reason is that I don't think I can count very much at all on what I earn...and by my observation, the world is not predictably practical. But other than that, I'm all over the Creed.
However, I do have Micah 6:8 tattooed on my left forearm--which is where that sentence about walking humbly with God comes from. My little tribute to that part of my life that combines the current one.
Anyway, David Housel said, "What is Auburn?
Far be it from me to try to answer that question. There are as many definitions of Auburn as there are Auburn men and women.
It would be safe to say, however, that Auburn is much more than a football game. It is much more than winning and losing.
It is a spirit. It is an attitude. It is a way of looking at life and at one another. It is, almost, a way of living. Unless you have expreineced it, you will never know what it is; you will never understand it. Once you have experienced it, you will never be the same. A part of you will, forevermore, be an Auburn man or an Auburn woman."
He wrote that in a book that he wrote that examines the Auburn Creed...a nice little summer read for anyone in the Auburn Family.
6:05 AM
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