Jim Chesser Is My Friend

“Jim Chesser Is My Friend”

Dr. Les Hardin

Professor of New Testament

Florida Christian College

In the final scene of the movie Dances with Wolves, the Kevin-Costner-played hero, Shumanitutonka Ob Wachi (translated “Dances with Wolves”) is leaving the Native Americans that he has come to love, the people he belongs to, the tribe he has come to know as family.  Snow covers the mountains on either side of the valley.  He rides through the ravine, making his way back to the white man’s civilization in an attempt to secure civil rights and kindnesses from the American government on behalf of his people.

As he slowly rides out, he can barely control his emotions.  There appears on the point of a cliff at the head of the valley the native who originally caused him so much consternation.  Long black hair blowing in the breeze, his name is “Wind in His Hair.”  He sits on his horse, shouting at the top of his lungs at the man he originally hated, now come to love.  As he announces his respect for his newfound brother to the whole tribe, his words echo throughout the valley:

“Shumanitutonka Ob Wachi!  I am Wind in His Hair!  Do you see that you are my friend?  Do you see that you will always be my friend?”

Over and over he shouts it, and his words fill not only the valley, but the hearts of every member of this tribe.

“I am Wind in His Hair!  And Shumanitutonka Ob Wachi is my friend!”

With these words he sums up everything that he wants to say, but for which he can find neither the vocabulary nor the courage.  No other words do justice to their friendship.  No amount of explanation can accurately describe the connection they’ve come to know—the camaraderie, the struggles, the brotherhood.

This is the way I feel about my colleague and brother, Jim Chesser.  A 30-year ministry veteran and professor at Florida Christian College, Jim Chesser loved Jesus.  He loved his wife and kids, and always spoke of them with a twinkle in his eye.  He was kind and gentle, and generous the resources the Father had placed at his disposal.  Toward the end of his career he wanted to pass on the immense knowledge he had acquired about the faith and train young people for vocational ministries.  He got to spend the last years of his life doing what he wanted, and he did so until the day he died. 

Jim Chesser will be missed by the FCC community.  Each of us will have our varying reactions.  Some will weep, others will reflect, and still others will feast and celebrate his life and accomplishments.  We find ourselves caught between the now and the not yet, knowing that we will see him again—raised, in the body—but also knowing that such a time has not yet come.

As for me, I stand on the precipice of a cliff.  As Jim Chesser makes his final passage through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I am perched on the point, shouting repeatedly in the presence of the community: 

“I am Les Hardin.  And Jim Chesser is my friend!”