THE CODE 22 february 2026 www.goodnewsfl.org Good News • South florida edition “Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people” (Philemon 7 NIV). It was the 1960s. What a time to be in high school. In fact, I have always felt a tinge of sorrow for those who were not teenagers during the golden oldies days of the sixties. Those were the days of pep rallies and pompoms, glasspack mufflers and drag races, Bass Weejuns and Levi's, button-down collars and madras windbreakers, hayrides and sock hops, the Beatles, and... high school English! When it came time to do my English homework in those days, I would much rather have been where the British pop singer Petula Clark sang about: downtown, where all the lights are bright. The disciplinarian My English teacher's name was Miss Ava White. The emphasis should be placed on the "Miss," not "Mrs.," not "Ms.," but "Miss" Ava White. In those ancient days of yesteryear, she would have been referred to as a "spinster." Never married, she had devoted her entire life to teaching high school students the finer points of the English language and literature. Miss White had developed quite a reputation in my hometown for being a strict, no-nonsense disciplinarian, earning the title of the toughest teacher in the school. The first half of the semester, I never applied myself. Being overly consumed in all the extracurricular activities afforded me, I seldom studied, had a very active social life, and in my immaturity, sought to simply get by. I remember well the day Miss White announced that she wanted to see me at her desk after class was dismissed. There was no doubt in my mind that I had been caught doing something or not doing something, like homework. I assumed she was going to give me a piece of her mind for my poor conduct and grades and, most likely, hand me a pink slip with instructions to present myself at the principal's office. I knew what that would mean. I had visited there before on similar occasions. ln those days before corporal punishment was banned from public schools, I had felt the effects of the principal's paddle on my posterior. As Miss White had demanded, I approached her elevated desk after all my classmates had exited the room. She looked me square in the eyes and said, "Son, you have character. You have a bright mind and are capable of doing far better work in this class than you are doing. I believe in you and have every confidence that you could be an A student if you would just apply yourself." Wow! I could hardly believe my ears. Miss Ava White believed in me! And that simple pat on the back did more for me than I could ever put into words. She agreed to meet with me for a time a few days after school to tutor me. She taught me how to think analytically. She taught me how to outline. In no time, my grades soared from Cs to As. To this very day, decades later, every time I outline a new book or organize a new chapter, I am indebted to Miss Ava White. She believed in me, and she let me know it. She changed the way I thought about myself with one simple pat on the back. An essential element In building positive and productive interpersonal relationships, affirmation, a pat on the back is an essential element. Paul's letter to Philemon is a case study in the building of mutually beneficial relationships. In the first paragraph of his letter, following the salutation, he began with a strong word of affirmation of Philemon that opened wide the door for the request he was going to make later in a following paragraph. Try to put yourself in Philemon's place as he began to read the letter and was confronted with these words: "Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord's people" (Philemon v. 7 NIV). I imagine that he must have sat up a bit straighter; his chest must have stuck out a bit more; a smile must have appeared on his face, and he was eager to read more. A simple pat on the back can enable a person to change the way they think about themselves and others. It is a eureka moment in interpersonal relationships. Taken from The Connection Code by O.S. Hawkins. Copyright © 2023 by Dr. O.S. Hawkins. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson. O. S. Hawkins, a native of Fort Worth, Texas, is a graduate of TCU (BBA) and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MDiv, PhD). He presently serves as Chancellor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the former pastor of the historic First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, and is President Emeritus of GuideStone Financial Resources, the world’s largest Christian-screened mutual fund serving 250,000 church workers and Christian university personnel with an asset base exceeding twenty-five billion dollars, where he served as President/CEO from 19972022. Hawkins is the author of more than fifty books, including the best-selling Joshua Code and the entire Code series of devotionals published by HarperCollins/Thomas Nelson with sales of more than three million copies. Criswell: His Life and Times is the sequel to his previous book, In the Name of God: The Colliding Lives, Legends, and Legacies of J. Frank Norris and George W. Truett. He was recently inducted into the White Rose Society by Israeli President Isaac Herzog for his long-standing support of the State of Israel and the Jewish people. He is married to his wife, Susie, and has two daughters, two sonsin-law, and six grandchildren. Visit him at OSHawkins.com and follow him on X (Twitter) @OSHawkins. - Dr. O.S. Hawkins - Chancellor, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary A Pat on the Back
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