Out of Berkeley: "Jed The Life-Giver"

Out of Berkeley: Jed was a Berkeley grad student whose life had a viral-impact on countless people and communities for good. His compassionate heart and brilliant mind were stoked by his ever-transforming soul. Jed was more of a colleague than student in the campus community I worked with. However, there was this fun, brief season during the first year of Cal's VERITAS Fellowship when I had the privilege of mentoring Jed a bit; ...during that time he taught me much more than I taught him!

PhD students like Jed move quickly and grow exponentially. Since he left UC Berkeley in the early 2000's he's been frozen in time in my mind. Over the years I've heard wonderful secondhand reports of his contributions as a new professor here and there. But a few weeks ago I got an email update from him and this beautiful picture of his family ---that it unfroze everything for me!

Jed has not stopped growing (in any area!) A soul like Jed's can't be frozen in time nor stay static --- it's nature is dynamic; and it multiplies! Jed embodies what a Berkeley student is when they are fully alive in Jesus Christ. He is one of a growing number of "faith-full" academics in this generation who add value to the world because of their holistic approach to life and work

It was a honor to be his friend during my early years at Cal; and it brought me great joy to hear from him again. Jed's story is one of many tales of abundant life coming out of UC Berkeley. And, hopefully this marks the first in a series of reflections I'll be writing entitled: "Out of Berkeley".

Some of my fondest memories of Jed at Cal were:

1) letters from Monico Ortiz a student friend I mentored at UW/Seattle who came to grad school at Cal. He wrote about this crazy PhD student from MIT who had a beautiful passion for people of all cultures, ...and who was committed to excellence in both his faith and academics.

2) Jed's his forbearing spirit as an alpha member a new Westminster House community, his outgoing activism around campus, ...and his "Big White Van"

3) the encouraging, catalytic vision he brought to the Berkeley Postmodern Summer Project of 1999

4) this wacky after-dark People’s Park venture Jed offered himself to be in the middle of (all these undergrads out after dark - loving on the local homeless population)

5) his brilliant VERITAS Forum seminar on "Life" and his contagious spirit about molecular machines (esp viruses) that radically changed my concept of life's basic forms and design: http://www.veritas.org/media/talks/179

6) taking me up to his bio-chemistry laboratory and humbly referring to a poster up on the wall by the elevator; if I recall correctly, it was a published code he had helped discover or define, ...that could be used to find a cure for a particuliar strain of HIV

7) and his beautiful wedding and how amazed Margee and I were at this gathering of so many brilliant brains -all in one place!

Most of all, I recall with fondness the gift of his life-giving spirit; it simply overflowed from inside him. One day over espresso at Cafe Strada I happened to discover the "code" of Jed's life. It stunned me with it's simplicity and I've never gotten over it. He leaned over and drew a circle on a piece of paper -then he wrote something inside the circle.

He had written down 4 words with quotes around them that read, “to live is Christ”. I looked down at it for a minute and asked, "is that all man?". It seemed too short and childlike to be something coming from a guy like Jed, plus he had borrowed the quote from someone else’s writing! I began to protest there must be more to his personal DNA than that! He kindly stated "that's it Dan, nothing more". Given who Jed was, and and who he was becoming, his life statement was profound.

Today Jed has a growing family and a heart for kids who don't have a family of their own. He's an assistant professor and head of a research group that is doing pioneer research in the nature of molecular machines and the pathways of their physical motion. My take on Jed is that he's doing top-notch reesearch about life in its basic forms ---fueled by his vision of bringing healing and hope to the peoples of the world. Jed is a one of the life-giving students I've had the privilege of working with who has come "out of Berkeley".

Note: Please help me improve the integrity and texture of Jed's story. Send me your corrections & feedback by clicking the "comments" hyperlink below: