RUN LIKE A CHAMPION

Building Hedges
McNair Wilson: Does there come a time when you feel like your walk with the Lord is such that a particular hedge you needed earlier in life is not so important now?
Jerry Jenkins: Sometimes. I don’t think it’s less important, but it might be easier to follow through on. It’s just not as much of a nuisance. You’re used to it. You know what the dangers are. For instance, one of the hedges is about not traveling or dining or meeting with a woman alone who is not related to me.
This is not a new one. It’s certainly not unique to me. Billy Graham has had this policy for years. Many Christian leaders have. But it becomes such a part of the fabric of how you live that it’s not like you’re always thinking about it and saying, “How are we going to maneuver and make this work?” It just becomes part of your life.
McNair Wilson: Did you have mentors, Jerry, early in life who helped you see the importance of boundaries?
Jerry: I think just knowing about Dr. Graham and his policy that was always impressive to me. From years ago, he had this policy where he never traveled alone, and there was always somebody with him to be able to say… If somebody said, “Well, I saw Mr. Graham with so-and- so,” they’d say, “No.” His traveling companion was with him. Even when his secretary would travel to the same city, they might be there for quite a while in the same hotel. They’d be on different floors. They’d never visit each other’s hotel room. You know, they had policies in place.
Then my own father. I think he didn’t have formal hedges. I don’t think he ever had them written down, but part of that was generational. That generation simply acted appropriately. They wouldn’t do anything untoward. The idea of my father driving to pick up a woman he is not related to at a bus station or a train station or an airport simply wouldn’t have happened. I don’t remember talking about it. It’s just he would take somebody with him, and it would be appropriate.