I lived for several decades of my life in Maryland.

It's where I grew up and where we raised our kids.

And for almost 20 years, I was a volunteer every spring in a project to study the world's

smallest and probably the world's rarest turtle, the bog turtle.

We were trying to identify the small wetland habitats where they lived. And every spring we would go out and do surveys.

We would look for them in different habitats.

If we found them, we would measure and mark them.

Sometimes we would put radio tracking devices on them.

One day I was volunteering with a group of

people I'd never met before. We were trudging up to our thighs and muck. We were crawling around

on our hands and knees and tall grass, feeling around in the muck for these little turtles.

And I remember I was in the muck with a biologist from North Carolina.

I've forgotten her name.

But as we were talking, she assumed I was another biology professor.

And she said, where do you teach?

And I realized what she'd assumed.

So I said, well, actually, I'm not a professor.

I'm a pastor.

And she was so shocked.

What are you doing out here?

She said.

And I explained to her that my spiritual commitments

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