One of the many blessings God has given me was to have had Bill Craig as my first philosohical mentor. That was in 1971. I'd just become a follower of Jesus while at Northern Illinois University. Bill was one of the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ at NIU, of which I was now a part.
Shortly after I'd given my life over to Christ I changed my undergrad major from music theory to philosophy. Philosophy, to me, was where the big questions of life were being asked. That's where I wanted to park my soul. NIU's philosophy department was amazing. I was deeply influenced by studying with Michael Gelven, E.W. Van Steenburgh, and Harold I. Brown. Thanks to these people for being such excellent teachers. In fact, I was so influenced by Gelven's ability to impart knowledge (he could actually teach!) that my teaching today still owes much to him.
Bill Craig was very interested in what I was learning. He and I and others talked a lot about philosophical ideas as they especially related to our faith in Jesus. True philosophy is done around a cup of coffee, and much valuable philosophizing was my portion in those early years. When I see how God has used Bill's sheer brilliance to argue for the reasonableness of theism and Christianity I am thankful for how he influenced me years ago and set me off on a course that's lasted a lifetime.
