The Day I was Called to the Principal’s Office

Another Way for week of August 4, 2023

The Day I was Called to the Principal’s Office

Were you ever called to the principal’s office?

Don Augsburger, the pastor who baptized me, also served as my principal at Bethany Christian High School a few years. So you can guess I was terribly chagrined when he had to call me into the principal’s office one day.

That only happened once. I was 16 and hormones were buzzing and Don got a call or message from the local hang out (restaurant right across from the school), that my boyfriend at the time had been seen with his hand on my leg under the table.

Don himself was embarrassed to have to call me in for such a thing, but we both got over it. I think he felt the owner was overly worried about students’ behavior sometimes, and Don kind of dismissed me with a half-smile knowing that I was as mortified as he was that particular day.

You see, my dad served as Don’s deacon at church, and according to Don, he became a very beloved deacon for Don. Especially because Dad talked Don into wearing a bowtie with a regular suit jacket instead of the plain-collared Mennonite suit he had been accustomed to wearing at other churches he had served. Somehow the bowtie was less “fancy” I guess than a necktie.

Don died last fall and I’m amazed at how many intersections his life had with my own, from an early age. I’ve been wanting to add my tribute regarding Don but we’ve lost so many beloved friends and family in recent years that I’ve written about, and I don’t want this column to morph into an “obituary” column. But I wanted to share a little about this pastor, friend, principal, and seminary professor.  

Don loved memorizing poems, including very long ones, and he could recall and recite them well into his 90s. In fact, one of his favorite poems, because of the power and the truths it conveys, deals with the “Death” angel being called to God’s throne who promptly sent Death to earth to bring back to heaven an older and tired woman who was very ready. The poem is titled “Go Down, Death.”

The family asked a skilled actor and poet, Helen Stoltzfus, to recite the poem at Don’s memorial service, who I knew from one of my college writing classes. Helen did not memorize the poem as Don had done over many years, but she read James Weldon Johnson’s long and powerful elegy with rich vigor and authority, accompanied by a pianist for background music. I think many in the audience felt like we were there by the side of one of our own loved ones, passing on to the afterlife: a better life, spent in eternity with God and Jesus.

Don’s brother, David Augsburger, a well-known writer, radio speaker and preacher, spoke at the funeral, reminding us that Don had prepared for his day of being taken to eternity. He checked his priorities every day, like the wise bridesmaids in the Biblical parable commonly called the “Ten Virgins,” five of whom missed a wedding because they had not brought enough oil to last through the wait for the groom to arrive. Dave said Don regularly “checked the oil” regarding his faith, so that he would be ready when the day came to be called to heaven. This meant spending ample time in prayer every day, reading the Bible, doing what he could to share and reach out to others, and focusing on God’s abiding love for us.

As I listened to this commanding poem at his memorial service, I knew that all of us will be one day called to the afterlife, and the wise ones are the those who have prepared by making sure they have followed in the footsteps of Jesus given to us in the Bible.

Don was a mentor in many ways—back in my high school days, instruction classes when I was preparing to be baptized as a young teenager, his preaching and leadership over 96 years, his mind and brain so very active, and a beautiful blessing for others. May we all follow his lead.

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So, well: Were you ever called to the principal’s office? For good or bad?

Confession is good for the soul: comments and confessions here!

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Another Way is a column by Melodie Davis, in syndication since 1987. She is the author of ten books, most recently Memoir of an Unimagined Career. Another Way columns are posted at FindingHarmonyBlog.com a week after newspaper publication.