Whew – this is big. I am beginning a new full time position tomorrow with an incredible organization, the Scripps National Spelling Bee. While I am (with many tears) ending my term as Associate Director for the Emerging Scholars Network, InterVarsity has asked me to continue blogging for the Emerging Scholars Blog. I’ve written a very nice letter about my change, so you can read the whole thing right here.
Not me, that’s for sure. This week, I travelled up to Chicago for a Jeopardy! casting audition (that’s right – casting – they want you to be smart, but they also want contestants who look good on TV). This was the second time I auditioned, and I feel like I did much better. Who knows how it will turn out, but even if I get on, Jeopardy doesn’t really owe me anything. It’s act of grace (with a dash of capitalism) that anyone gets on and wins money.
There’s one person I hope gets chosen, though. At my audition was a family doctor from Missouri. Part of the audition process is a “faux” game of Jeopardy, complete with the little personal interview that Alex does at the end of the first commercial break. During her interview, this woman revealed that her husband’s a pastor, and she joked that winning Jeopardy would help with their church’s building campaign.
The casting director then asked, “What would you really do with the money?” Every potential contestant was asked this question. Most of them talked of travel to favorite locales or pet projects around the home. I described a dream I have to build a garden office in my backyard.
This shy doctor from Missouri, though, gave the answer of the day.
I work with a medical missions group that helps women in Ghana who are escaping slavery. And that’s how I would use the money.
This Jeopardy casting crew hears hundreds, maybe thousands, of “what I would do if I won” answers each year. You could tell that this one gave them something to think about.
Be sure to visit the Ohio State Price of Life website. This event raised awareness, money, and political support to end human trafficking around the world, in the name of Jesus and the freedom he gives. More than 300 people made commitments to follow Christ during the weeklong event.
Today I was reading one of my favorite (and most challenging) of Jesus’ teachings: do not worry.
Here is what Leon Morris has to say about Luke 12:24:
Jesus reinforces this [teaching] with an appeal to the ravens (or ‘crows’, Goodspeed, GNB), mentioned here only in the New Testament (they are the objects of God’s care in Ps. 147:9). Birds do not engage in agricultural activities, but they do not lack for all that. God feeds them. There is possibly significance in the fact that ravens were unclean (Lev. 11:15). God makes provision even for these unclean birds. And Jesus goes on to remind his hearers that they are of more value than birds (cf. v. 7)
Here is a poem I wrote about a parallel passage, Matthew 6:34:
Matthew 6:34
It’d be too easy to assume
You were talking to me, so
Who? Your disciples? They
Seemed to worry more about
Fish than God (then anyway).
The crowds, hungry and poor
And the soldiers stealing their cloaks?
Maybe. And maybe yourself,
Reminding yourself of what
You already knew: the times
Were short, the work was long
From Capernaum down to Judah, and
The coming trial must not
Darken the day too soon.
Each day has trouble enough.
Photo credit: Raven and the First Men at UBC’s Museum of Anthropology, by bRONTE dIGITAL
During the next two weeks, I am going to be in Madison, Wisconsin, for InterVarsity’s Orientation for New Staff (ONS). Though I’ve been with InterVarsity for about 2 years now, I have not yet been through my official orientation. I’m looking for to the trip, because it will be a good chance for me to get to know some other staff from around the country (mostly working with undergraduates, a key area for ESN), and also to receive some valuable training. The main InterVarsity website has posted a great article describing ONS.
Please be in prayer for safe travel, and also for a peaceful home while I’m gone for Elizabeth and the kids.
Yesterday was…
What a day!
One of my InterVarsity colleagues – Nan Thomas, our associate director for spiritual formation – also works in faculty development at Union University, where her husband is a professor. Last night, Union’s campus was hit by a tornado. According to the university’s president, 40 percent of the dorms were destroyed, and another 40 percent were severely damaged. Thankfully, no one on campus was killed. Classes have been canceled until at least February 18.
Please be in prayer for the campus, for the healing of injured students, and for the families of those killed in other tornadoes around the Southeast last night.
If you would like more information, Union has set up an emergency blog for updates and news: http://uuemergency.blogspot.com/
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January 1 marked my first day as a fulltime employee of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. It has been nearly two years since I first read about the Emerging Scholars Network on intervarsity.org and emailed Stan Wallace to get involved.
It has been a true blessing to meet so many people who are excited about the vision of ESN. I could not have gotten to this point without partners who support ESN through their prayers and financial and personal investments. Thank you!
In other news, last night I began teaching “World Religions” at Lakeside Christian Church. We’ll be meeting each week through the end of February.
My wife and I are in the middle of moving to a new house (yes, at Christmastime – perfect!). During this process, several people have handed me things (boxes, televisions, etc.), and warned, “Be careful – it’s very, very heavy!” But, when I take the item, I find that it’s not that heavy at all.
So, either, a) I’m much stronger than your average person. Or…
b) I look really puny.
A while back, a friend invited me to join him in a business opportunity to, in his words, “become financially independent.” He had seen me developing financial partners for my work with InterVarsity, relying on the generosity of others for my family’s wellbeing. I think that, in his mind, asking other people for money was a risky and insecure way of making a living.
He’s right.
My work with the Emerging Scholars Network depends on other people sharing ESN’s vision for our nation’s colleges and universities. It requires me to trust that God will lead me to the right people, and that my (often frustrating) work in contacting people, setting appointments, and making “asks” will be rewarded. There is no certainty, except the ever-present certainty of God’s promises.
In contrast, many other jobs seem secure. They have a steady income stream, a proven business model, contractual or governmental guarantees, well-funded pensions…
It’s all an illusion. Independence is an illusion. All of us are dependent on God, for both our daily needs and our eternal ones. An economic downturn, a tragic accident, a sudden scandal – sometimes, just plain bad luck – can demolish our dreams, and our dreams of financial independence will be gone like vapor.
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins. (James 4:13-17)
Tonight, we set up our Christmas tree. This will be the last Christmas for us in our current house, as we are moving the very week after!
Agatha took this picture of the ornament with her face on it. She’s a talented photographer (especially for a 4-year-old), but she has a bit of an ego.
And here’s the final product!
At Agatha’s insistence, we started a new Christmas tradition this year: gathering around the tree and singing a song (“Jingle Bells,” in this case). As our family is only four this year, and the tree is in a corner, we are glad that we selected a smallish tree this year, bought from the tree folks who normally sell out of an old RV at the putt-putt course, but this year had to move to a spot on Dixie Highway.