I met him at a little, 100 year-old stone house on NW 6th St. where he and his wife, Rev. Janet, had founded Seraphim Center*—a dream dating to their marriage, and named for the Seraphim Angels who sit next to God.
"Back from my ten-week Christmas pilgrimage to Meherabad, I was eager to join the first members of an Alliance of Divine Love ministerial ordination class beginning in April, attracted by its motto of 'The Greatest Degree of Love'"*
There was another of Bob’s groups I attended—A Course in Miracles—where he repeated his stories, my favorite being the question-story of the “Red Lobster.”
The Red Lobster, on the opposite side of Gainesville from Seraphim Center, is a well-known restaurant. Rev. Bob would ask, “How do I get from the Red Lobster to Seraphim Center? A hand would go up and the person would begin with “W. Newberry St. that becomes University Ave. and then proceed up 13th St to 23rd Ave to 6th St.” Meanwhile, Rev. Bob would be primed to give his reply that took me by surprise, I admit, the first time.
"What if," he said, "you took I-75 South to Orlando and at the airport, got on a plane to (here he paused) Hong Kong, then went to Europe"… until he had us back to the Gainesville Regional Airport and a short taxi ride to 6th St. What did he want us to learn?—there is more than one way to approach a situation, and, as students, we are to be open.
My realization is, "When in the presence of a great teacher, truth may come in a story so simple as to seem not worthy of remembering—yet years later it remains a vital teaching."
*Rev. Dr. Bob Estling passed away on December 30, 2011
*"An open, diverse fellowship—spiritually and metaphysically motivated—to explore one’s own divine wisdom and unlimited potential…" www.seraphimcenter.org
*A Flower for God