Dr. John K. Green originated as a character in a novella I wrote in my mid-childhood years, as a corporate-office manager with the title “Professor” John K. Green. (I was about 10 years old when I first created this character. Nowadays, I still roll my eyes at having a Professor role in a corporate-office environment. I’m not sure what kind of job such a one would do, but I believe I was thinking of manager.) Nonetheless, his name naturally came to mind when I needed to borrow a name from the archives for the role of counselor at the Place.
In a bit of a disclosure, there was in fact a real-life “Dr.
John” who founded the counseling center I went to. He was a man whose presence
was larger than life, and while I never once had a session with him of any kind
(individual or group), I looked at him in a similar manner that the woman with
12 years of internal bleeding looked at Jesus to heal her.
[To be clear, I understood that the real-life “Dr. John”
wasn’t Jesus, but I felt like the Lord’s presence Himself was with “Dr. John”
in such a pronounced way. To this point, toward the end of his life (he passed
away in 2015) a bunch of us had come to in a sense say goodbye to him as he was
stepping away from his role as counselor and owner of the counseling center. As
we were saying goodbye, there was a moment where one of my fellow participants
asked him what he wanted his legacy to be. This was not a man who was typically
at a loss for words, but here he probably took about 2 whole minutes before
responding. Finally, he said: “I want people to know that I loved the Lord
Jesus.”]
Even though I never once had a session with him, I still
miss the real-life “Dr. John” and am grateful for his faithfulness and
obedience to God for opening a place for people to really heal from their
emotional and psychological wounds. I needed it. My counselor, who was also his
business counterpart, has been at the Place since its founding and through its
regeneration as a psychological services center under a different name (I’m
still calling it the Place, though). For the rest of this post, I will still
refer to my counselor as Dr. John, minus the quotes.
I first met my counselor for an individual screening for a
retreat (which I passed) after having gone to a celebration upon the invitation
of a fellow member of my Bible study who had gone on a previous weekend and
shared his healing testimony. I went on my first retreat six months after the
screening, scared as scared could be. Along with Max, Dr. John K. Green helped
me feel a bit more at ease as I tried to settle in and participate in the
various healing activities.
A couple months after the weekend, I called Dr. John out of
desperation after being in a very low place. I won’t share what all went into
my being at that very low place, but I will share that this gift of desperation
(caution was thrown to the wind regarding the cost) got me started on the
healing journey, which I needed. Even now, I look back on the year 2012, when I
made that phone call, as the year I finally did something different in my life.
I did have to swallow my pride and accept the fact that, even though I really
wanted to push into adulthood and carve out a life for myself, I was simply not
ready. For the short-term, I needed to tear down all assumptions that I had at
that time and re-start from scratch. Dr. John played a big role in helping me
start over.
Over the years, as things in my life gradually changed (and
sometimes suddenly as well), as I grew and changed and made more mistakes and
(hopefully) learned from them, he was one of several steadying forces in my
life. Whether it was job changes or career changes or changes of residence,
whether it was professional disappointments or personal disappointments or
relational disappointments, or even whether it was COVID, he has remained through
it all, advising me and even staying with me even when I didn’t follow his
advice at times (which has happened more often than I selfishly want to admit).
Many times He delivered them; But they rebelled in their counsel, And were brought low for their iniquity. Psalm 106:43, NKJV
Listen to counsel and receive instruction, That you may be wise in your latter days. There are many plans in a man’s heart, Nevertheless the Lord’s counsel—that will stand. Proverbs 19:20-21, NKJV
Even now, as my love and I are navigating unexpectedly bumpy
waters with our wedding looming next year, Dr. John has made himself available,
alongside others, to counsel both of us as we once again try to figure out the
next juncture in life, together. To that end, I am grateful to God for him,
both for his presence in my life the last 12 years (almost), as well as for his
continued support as my love and I experience new things in life and figure out
how we will handle them.
Where there is no counsel, the people fall; But in the multitude of counselors there is safety. Proverbs 11:14, NKJV
Without counsel, plans go awry, But in the multitude of counselors they are established. Proverbs 15:22, NKJV
For by wise counsel you will wage your own war, And in a multitude of counselors there is safety. Proverbs 24:6, NKJV
