I'm in Colorado today.  Yesterday I saw a classmate from business school who I haven’t seen in nearly 20 years. Lee Ashby and I were very different and after graduating in 1987, we went in very different directions.

In ’87, as graduation loomed, I faced a defining moment – business or ministry? My fellow classmates have gone on to make a lot of money and wield a lot of power. But I felt the Lord leading me into ministry. I was such an odd duck in that place – so counter culture. While they were dressing up in blue suits and taking off for Wall St., I was busy raising support to change the world.

A few months ago, Lee wrote me. He’d been searching on the web and had run across our site and knew that he had to get in touch with me directly. Here is what he wrote:

“Confession: Back in school when you said that you were going to undertake a career in mission work I thought you were crazy. While everyone else was going into consulting or investment banking, your career choice was, to say the least, unorthodox. -- Now, 20 years later (I'm an incorrigibly slow learner) I finally understand and am now certain that you chose the career course that was by far the most enriching, rewarding, and fulfilling than just about anyone in our class. Good for you and praise God!”

Lee hadn’t been a Christian at school (he described himself as “an incorrigible agnostic who disdainfully regarded Christianity as just another form of ignorance”). I asked if he remembered the Bible I’d given him. He said, “Oh yes, I marked that up! I became a Christian later when I went through a personal crisis.”

Lee’s become a successful businessman, but his dream is to teach Swazi orphans to play baseball. He wants to take a bunch of bats and balls to a Swazi orphanage. This next year, I’m hoping to take him to Swaziland so he can do just that. He’s found the pearl of great price and he’s selling out to get it.