Sparks from the Fire

miracle, n, [L. miraculum, from miarai, to wonder at]
1. in theology, an event or effect that apparently contradicts known scientific laws and is hence thought to be due to supernatural causes, especially to an act of God.
2. a wonder or wonderful thing

Jenny Burton

The Miracle of Affirmation

affirmation, n
1. the act of affirming or asserting as true: opposed to negation or denial.
2. confirmation: ratification — antonym: grief

Jenny Burton grew up a foster child passed from family to family by four different sets of parents who all decided eventually that they just did not want her.  At the age of fourteen, flunking out of high school, verging on a life of no hope and the overwhelming obstacles of poverty in the South Bronx, she was led one Sunday to attend the small storefront church of the Reverend Josephine Richards.

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He was a man of many names. J.E., Eyerly, Black Jack, Jack, but to me he was always Mr. Eyerly.  Later on in life he asked me to call him Jack, but I could never really do it naturally.

Jack Eyerly & Peter Link at Missouri State Track Meet, University of Missouri, 1962

He was my mentor.  He was one scary dude.  He was my track coach.  He was my math teacher.  As Choral Director of Principia Upper School he oversaw my musical development for a couple of decades and fostered my talent.  I loved him then.  I do today.  He still stands as the man whom I have most respected in my life.

Mr. Eyerly walked with a discernable hitch in his purposeful stride – the result of polio at a young age and one leg about 4-6 inches shorter than the other.  This feature alone probably made him even scarier.  For a period of time he was Dean of Boys at my high school, a job that he later admitted to me that he hated.  It put him at odds with his boys.  It made him the super disciplinarian of the campus.  He was the guy who took your dating privileges away when you were caught in uncompromising circumstances with your girlfriend.  He didn’t like being the bad guy, but he was so tough and his principles were so high that he always seemed to be in that position anyway.

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