Time to talk on 'time'

"The church that takes seriously the fact that Jesus is Lord of all time will not just celebrate quietly every time we write the date on a document or letter, will not just set aside Sunday as far as humanly and socially possible as a celebration of God's new creation (and will point out the folly of the seven-day working week), will not just seek to order its own life in an appropriate rhythm of worship and work. Such a church will also seek to bring wisdom, and freshly humanizing order, to the rhythms of work in offices and shops, in local government, in civic holidays, and in the shaping of public life. These things cannot be taken for granted. . . The reclaiming of time as God's good gift (as opposed to time simply a commmodity to be spent for one's own benefit, which often means fresh forms of slavery for others) is not an extra to the church's mission. It is central."
-N.T. Wright (Surprised by Hope, 266)

May the next 40 days be a living out of the great redemption we have in Christ (and, of course, the 40 after...and after...)!

Syria-sly?

Recursive protests: anti-Syrian government protesters were shot at by government authorities while mourning their dead, which will likely only lead to more protests and outrage among the very same people-- raising the question, "where does the string of violence end?"

also see: Syrian army attack town of Deraa

This morning, I ran over Seth Greenberg...

...or, I ALMOST did, anyway.

Actually, he was jogging along Washington Street in Blacksburg, Virginia, where he resides and works as Virginia Tech's basketball coach, as I drove by in my Honda-CRV. You might remember him from such episodes as "ACC Coach of the Year, 2005".

That famous run-in led me to ask the question:

"What run-in's with famous people have you had?"


Other famous run-in's of mine:
* I saw Jeremy Shapp, sports writer and ESPN personality, in a Minneapolis airport.
I doubt that he was there to see...

* ... author of Crazy Love and The Forgotten God, Francis Chan, who was in line in front of me in the same airport at the same time. He'd likely hate that he is referred to as a "famous person," however.

The Waste Land

A ponderence on transformation
http://www.thelyric.com/events/?ID=1038

I'm excited to see how this film portrays "the transformative power of art and the beauty of the human spirit" as an artists strives to create art using the very materials that people in a landfill in Brazil are using to support themselves: recycled trash. (quote from www.IMDB.com)

I look forward to seeing if the "transformation" this film presents is actually one that impacts the people in a real way-- how to truly reconcile our need for social reclamation with the truly transformative power of the gospel of Christ. If this film truly deals with "the human spirit," then I'm sure these aspects will be dealt with, even if unintentionally.

$6.00 Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (April 15-17);
$5.00 Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (April 18-20)

all @ the Lyric theatre in downtown Blacksburg, VA!

Huge deal!

It's no small thing when any two parties agree on a compromise when there's $38 billion between them unresolved.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ap_on_re_us/us_spending_showdown

Make sure to enjoy Shenandoah National Park even more this weekend!

The River internship: April Update-- We are not Professionals

"We pastors are being killed by the professionalizing of the pastoral ministry. . . professionalism has nothing to do with the essence and heart of the Christian ministry. The more professional we long to be, the more spiritual death we will leave in our wake. For there is no professional childlikeness, there is no professional tenderheartedness. There is no professional panting after God."
-John Piper, from Brothers, we are not Professionals


On Thursday, we rested together.

Several pastors and staff from various churches and ministries around the Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Radford area gathered in the Crosspointe Conference Center in Riner, VA to share with one another about what it is that the Lord has done in their lives and ministries of late. At first, I felt somewhat strange about the idea of a half-day retreat with a bunch of pastors in and around Virginia.
"Will this be a worthwhile endeavor?" I wondered as we arrived, skeptical as to the need and the worth of such a meeting as this.

Much to the folly of my own skepticism, though, I ended up enjoying the four hours that we spent together very well. We didn't speak about denominations, public policy, money, or political wrangling, as I thought might come up between men from such positions of service and diverse backgrounds as these; but instead we worshiped God in song, prayed together, and heard about a ministry in the Blacksburg area called "The Pregnancy Resource Center" that supports and guides women medically and emotionally on how to handle having a baby, providing services such as sonograms and counseling for women and their partners.

After a time of prayer with the administrators of the PRC, we shared life stories about how God had brought us to the point where we were, working to minister to the people of Blacksburg. It was such a clear encouragement to my heart and mind just to hear the stories of these dozen-or-so people who have chosen to work their careers and engage the world in professional ministry. I am humbled to have been around so many men and women who have lived their lives for God in both the professional realms as teachers, professors, restaurateurs, and soldiers, but now find themselves head-long in a calling to minister the Gospel to the people around them. It was clear: God had brought each and every man and woman in that room from a place complete darkness into a redeemed, reconciled relationship with himself-- in each case and through incredibly diverse circumstances, it was accomplished through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Good-bye, Bud.

This is an article about Dr. James I. "Bud" Robertson, Jr., who is retiring this year after 43 years of work at VPI.

From the article (written by Jean Elliott of Virginia Tech):

"Robertson said, “A good professor is as young as his students. I’ve kept on teaching long after I should retire because I love the kids.” The 22,000 Hokies who have taken Robertson’s class probably all remember a statement similar to this, “If you don’t understand the emotions, you won’t understand the war. You have to come to know them,” Robertson said, “and then you get to understand history.”