Dobson said he never planned to devote last year to living like Jesus.

But more than a year ago, Cornerstone’s vice president for Spiritual Formation was inspired to take his walk deeper after hearing an NPR broadcast featuring A.J. Jacobs, author of “A Year of Living Biblically.”

Dobson shared this in a university-wide chapel on March 24. He also said he could not have imagined the public reaction his choices would spark. The reaction Dobson referred to came after his decisions to drink alcohol, witness in bars and vote for Obama — decisions which led to an article in The Grand Rapids Press and national coverage on Good Morning America and in USA Today.

Dobson was not required to sign the lifestyle statement the students, staff and faculty sign because he came to CU on a volunteer basis, but he said if he had known what was going to happen, he would have signed it.

Still, Dobson did not dwell on his choices or their outcomes on March 24.

He chose instead to share with the hundreds of intently listening students the truths he learned from his past year— things he never thought he would experience.

As part of his yearlong commitment, Dobson said he made three main choices: To live more “Jewishly,” to read through all four Gospels every week and to obey the commands of Jesus.

In regards to his first decision, Dobson discovered the kosher lifestyle is a far more holistic choice than it often appears to be.

“One of the most compelling lessons I learned was that it’s not about what you eat,” he said. “It’s about your heart.”

Case in point: During his first week of eating kosher, Dobson caught himself scrutinizing his options at Wendy’s so closely, trying not to mix milk and meat in the same meal, that he ordered a bowl of meat chili without cheese, but then proceeded to smear his baked potato with sour cream and butter.

Dobson—and his audience— laughed at the memory, and he indicated he has since learned kosher living is not about legalism.

His second decision, to read the four Gospels every week, was an experience Dobson said changed him deeply.

“It was almost like I entered into the story of Jesus Himself,” he said.

Through his readings, he came to understand the centrality of the Bible to his daily living.

“Everything I did was driven by my commitment to the Gospels,” he said. Holding up his Bible, Dobson said, “I believe this book is the inspired, inerrant Word of God.”

He recalled when he was a college freshman, his father dropped him off at Bob Jones University and offered words of wisdom he has never forgotten: “Son, don’t you believe a word they tell you here unless you can prove it from the Bible.”

From that moment, Dobson said he has carried those words in his heart.

The last thing he shared with students from his year of living like Jesus was perhaps the most difficult for him to do. He made a commitment to obey Jesus.

“Most of us who claim to follow Jesus pay very little attention to what he tells us to do,” he said.

The command “Give to him who asks of you” was a test Dobson experienced almost right away. He said he was sitting at home one night when a disheveled African-American veteran came to his door and asked for bus fare to get to his doctor appointment.

“He had asked me,” Dobson said. “My obligation was to give.” And so he gave, despite his doubts the man was telling the truth.

The man came back the next month and asked for money again.

“Again Jesus’s words came to me,” he said. “Give to him who asks of you. Whatever you have, give.”

And this was only one of the uncomfortable things Dobson was called to do during his yearlong commitment.

After Dobson spoke, freshman Jordan Skinner, said he was encouraged by what he heard, especially when “thinking in terms of Christianity as a following of Jesus, and not of constraints.”

“I’d like to hear more of this idea of living in the ways of Jesus,” Skinner said.

When Skinner heard about the controversy Dobson’s choices stirred up during Christmas break, he said he mostly just admired Dobson’s commitment.

“I’m not saying everything Ed Dobson did was just like Jesus, but Jesus got in trouble, and to truly live like Jesus, you will too.”