Goodbye (again)

The view from Northstar Church’s Lancaster House as Virginia Tech students and their families pack up along Washington Street

I have a love/hate time with this season of the year in Blacksburg. Even as the weather changes from winter to spring (finally!), it’s also a time of transition for students and families.

In May, both undergrads and grad students graduating and/or leaving for the summer from different schools in the area: Virginia Tech, Radford University, and the medical school. Blacksburg’s hustle and bustle will ebb to a more quiet mountain town pace over the summer. The energy level (and noise) drops dramatically, and those of us left emerge from our dens and declare “eight weeks of summer!” We’re like Punxsutawney Phil, only we’re right.

Summer in Blacksburg is several things, but let me take a stab at describing it:

• No waiting in line at Chipotle
• Free, nice furniture in every apartment dumpster in town, first-come, first-served
• Windows-down weather
• Neighbors emerge from their cocoons, and backyard cookouts scent the landscape daily.
• You can take Main Street through downtown without resorting to back roads and side streets to avoid traffic. (The stoplights are still mistimed, causing a linger wait than necessary on side streets, but just turn right.)
• Camping, hiking
• If you don’t own a bicycle or scooter, go home.
• The pace of life slows perceptibly as if the New River Valley takes a deep breath.
• You can attend newly-released movies the night of.
• Speaking of movies, the Starlite Drive-In opens in Christiansburg!
• Parking spaces? No problem.
• The New River – floating, fishing, etc.
• In some churches across the community, families meet each other for the first time in the summer as their student population exits and congregations use the summer as a time of unity-building and fellowship. (If you’re a family in the NRV looking for a church, summer is an excellent time to visit!)
• City maintenance and garbage collection workers breathe a sigh of relief. Cleanup after Thursday nights is reduced significantly.
• Daily fro-yo, no lines

For those of you familiar with summers in the NRV, what would you add?

Liddle Women: Virginia Tech softball, faith and cancer

Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women as two volumes in 1868 and 1869, but the story of the Liddle Women has more enduring power than Alcott’s book. And Liddle Women comes in three volumes: Susan, Courtney and Bailey.

I’ve been graced to witness one family’s faith fight with cancer since coming to Blacksburg. Courtney and Bailey Liddle both play softball for Virginia Tech. They are both very good at what they do. However, while they have been battling teams at first base and pitcher, their mom Susan has been battling Stage IV breast cancer. The unity and hope with which their entire family is inspirational.

Last week, ESPN wrote a feature story on the Liddle women, and I’d encourage you to read it. There’s also a nice followup on The Key Play.

Behind the scenes, it’s been a joy to see their family at our church, when they’re not playing softball or cheering the girls on. When they’re in town and are able, they’re intentionally present and amazingly gracious.

I know the family would appreciate you stopping right now and lifting up Susan in prayer – as well as the rest of the family as they all continue to show grace, joy and faith in the midst of this struggle. Here’s some pictures from Courtney’s baptism last year:

Take a free temperament test by Keirsey

The good folks at Keirsey offer a free temperament test. You can take it here, and I’d love for you to post your results in the comments below. My results this time (and I think you test slightly different depending on life situations) was an “Idealist Champion” (ENFP). Back in 2007 when I tested, my results were an “Architect Rational” (INTP).

Here is the description:

Idealists (NF), as a temperament, are passionately concerned with personal growth and development. Idealists strive to discover who they are and how they can become their best possible self — always this quest for self-knowledge and self-improvement drives their imagination. And they want to help others make the journey. Idealists are naturally drawn to working with people, and whether in education or counseling, in social services or personnel work, in journalism or the ministry, they are gifted at helping others find their way in life, often inspiring them to grow as individuals and to fulfill their potentials.

Idealists are sure that friendly cooperation is the best way for people to achieve their goals. Conflict and confrontation upset them because they seem to put up angry barriers between people. Idealists dream of creating harmonious, even caring personal relations, and they have a unique talent for helping people get along with each other and work together for the good of all. Such interpersonal harmony might be a romantic ideal, but then Idealists are incurable romantics who prefer to focus on what might be, rather than what is. The real, practical world is only a starting place for Idealists; they believe that life is filled with possibilities waiting to be realized, rich with meanings calling out to be understood. This idea of a mystical or spiritual dimension to life, the “not visible” or the “not yet” that can only be known through intuition or by a leap of faith, is far more important to Idealists than the world of material things.

Highly ethical in their actions, Idealists hold themselves to a strict standard of personal integrity. They must be true to themselves and to others, and they can be quite hard on themselves when they are dishonest, or when they are false or insincere. More often, however, Idealists are the very soul of kindness. Particularly in their personal relationships, Idealists are without question filled with love and good will. They believe in giving of themselves to help others; they cherish a few warm, sensitive friendships; they strive for a special rapport with their children; and in marriage they wish to find a “soulmate,” someone with whom they can bond emotionally and spiritually, sharing their deepest feelings and their complex inner worlds.

Idealists are relatively rare, making up no more than 15 to 20 percent of the population. But their ability to inspire people with their enthusiasm and their idealism has given them influence far beyond their numbers.

Champions (ENFP) are full of energy and can spend great amounts of time discussing ideas and possibilities with others. They always look to find meanings in the world, and are more likely to be the champion of causes rather than of individuals. Living fully in this way is extremely important to them and it is their nature. Champions observe all that is going on around them and are quick to bring peace to any unpleasant interaction. They are not afraid to speak up and defend what they think is right and correct, just, or fair.

Hear and fear

“And the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you.” (Deuteronomy 19:20 ESV)

This “hear and fear” principle is repeated in several instances of Moses’ recounting of the law to the Israelites just before they crossed over into the Promised Land.

It’s like a cramming session. It’s a law-repeat so that this new generation will remember the words of the Lord.

The punishments for transgressions – in this context, retribution against a false witness – were severe because others would “hear and fear.” This would deter people from like offenses and ingrain into their culture as a people the taboo nature of the offense.

Not acting harshly against appearances of evil numbs a people to the evil within them over time. We see it in our culture today, that in the name of “tolerance” (some attempt to call it grace, but it is a dis-grace), we allow evil to not just survive but to become the norm.

When you tolerate evil in your midst, it’s a slow contaminate. But when the whole is corrupt over time, it’s a fast road to judgment.

This principle of quickly dealing with evil is also found in the New Testament account of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. It had the desired results:

“And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things”. (Acts 5:11 ESV)

Hear and fear… think about that.

Super Center Savior launch update

First of all, what an amazing and surreal day yesterday was. Friends, family, acquaintances and even a few strangers participated in the BUY LAUNCH of Super Center Savior yesterday and the results are below. By the end of the day on Amazon (EST):

For Best Sellers:
#5 under Inspiration
#86 under Spirituality
#31 Kindle Inspiration

For Hot New Releases:
#2 under Inspiration
#8 under Spirituality
#27 under Religion & Spirituality
#88 under ALL books
#17 Kindle Spirituality
#87 Kindle�Religion & Spirituality

From texts and a cornucopia (sorry, Katniss) of social media, friends, family, acquaintances and even a few strangers participated in the BUY LAUNCH of the book. I spent quite a bit of time on the Facebook page, and I told Carolyn by the end of the day that I probably need to recant some of the nasty things I’ve said about Facebook. It does have uses, and yesterday in particular, it was truly phenomenal to receive hundreds of those little translucent window updates in real-time, announcing “likes,” comments or shares. Thank you all.

I’m surprised I have any Twitter followers after yesterday’s incessant book updates. Thanks for those of you who didn’t unfriend, unfollow or otherwise sh-un me.

The hold-your-breath part of it all is this period of time. Books are in the mail, and some of you are already reading Kindle versions. It’s not the buying of a book that impacts someone, but the reading of it. In the days and weeks to come, we’ll see if the words I’ve put on paper go beyond the eyeballs to your thoughts and from there to your heart. We’ll see if the book was only a catharsis for me – getting a project completed – or if it resonate with people – and perhaps encourage, shape and beautify our world a little.

So here are a few beyond-this-point instructions for those of you willing to hang in there with me for the next month or so:

• After you read the book, please post a review on one (or preferably copy and paste to all) of the following sites:�Amazon,�Barnes and Noble,�CrossBooks, GoodReads, LibraryThing, etc.�If you HATE the book, just be vague about it. ;)
• Finally, if you will, please post an occasional digital update on the book THIS WEEK to keep it in front of people’s eyes.

Any other ideas? Share on the book site http://www.supercentersavior.com/ or on facebook.com/supercentersavior.

The day is here! Buy “Super Center Savior”

It’s snowing and massive, blustery winds as winter descends on Blacksburg in force. We have a wedding to go to today of a great couple in our church, and it is scheduled to be outdoors. Brrrr.

In the meantime, I’d really appreciate you stopping by Amazon today and buying a copy or three of Super Center Savior. Just in time for the launch and the holidays, the Kindle version of the book also went live overnight, so it’s available as well.

Links:

• Book
• Ebook

As I said in a previous post, here are some action items to help with:

1. I�d appreciate reviews left on Amazon, B&N and CrossBooks. Anything that you leave will be helpful in generating interest.
2. If you�re on Facebook, please like�the Book Page. Leave a comment there if you�d like! I�ll be responding to as many as I can keep up with.
3. If you�re on Google+,�do the same there.
4. Please use your digital influence to spread the word.
   1. Facebook page for the book
5. I�d also welcome your ideas for how to promote it in different venues.

Also, the book’s main website is also live! It’s at www.supercentersavior.com. Swing by and check it out. If you send me a quick review via email at [jeff at supercentersavior.com], I’ll post it there. I’m working on trying to create a comment box on the site.

Buy Launch Date for Super Center Savior

We’re setting the “BUY LAUNCH” for Super Center Savior at this Saturday on Amazon.com. It’s available on other sites (including Barnes & Noble and CrossBooks), but we’re asking folks to buy it from Amazon this Saturday to help create a buzz about it and generate more interest outside our influence circles.

I’d sure appreciate your help, and I apologize for the “last minuteness” of it. I only found out that it was live in online stores yesterday! I’m new at this, can you tell?

A few other things:

• I’d appreciate reviews left on Amazon, B&N and CrossBooks. Anything that you leave will be helpful in generating interest.
• If you’re on Facebook, please like the Book Page. Leave a comment there if you’d like! I’ll be responding to as many as I can keep up with.
• If you’re on Google+, do the same there.
• Please use your digital influence to spread the word.
• I’d also welcome your ideas for how to promote it in different venues.

Thanks, everyone, for joining me on this journey! I’d love to hear your feedback and thoughts in the comments on this blog!

Christmas carol flash mob

Love the surprised expressions on people’s faces. Make sure you watch until Joseph and Mary appear during the last song:

A la carte: Death of personal blogging, political posts, book on prayer recommendation

Death of personal blogging

You know that feeling you get when you are coming to the end of an epic tale or series? You’re 50 pages away from the end of the last Harry Potter book, and it’s a sinking “I don’t want this to end” awareness. Over the past few years, I’ve had that sense about blogging. The personal blogs of friends, fellow pastors and others that I follow are like old friends that have passed away. Their URLs are quiet now, just sitting there dead in cyberspace.

It’s been a gradual death, too, which makes its reality more unsettling. It’s been like watching the plague advance across the digital landscape, .com by .com. It began with the death of linkage and continued to the pandemic we see today.

I used to look forward every few days to a full RSS feed. My Google Reader would shout “12 unread,” and in my down moments, I’d happily consume the material from these feeds, responding with a comment here or there. But now, those feeds are silent. I’ve noticed their digital deaths with an unsettling feeling that their exit from the blogosphere signals something bigger that our society has embraced.

Here’s my theory. People don’t blog any longer because they post a status update. It’s easier to blast short, content-poor updates than it is to create a paragraph with thoughtfulness. Enter Twitter and Facebook and exit personal blogging.

I, for one, think our society is poorer for it. We are aiding our own mental deaths and our inability to process current events when we turn from true writing.

If you have a blog, go now and administer KTD (keyboard to dashboard) and resuscitate it with a quick post. Any post. Then link your post below in the comments. It may be that there’s some life left in it yet.

Political posts

It’s less than two weeks from Election 2012, and many of you are celebrating the future absence from your lives of political rants and opinions. As I’ve stated before, I love politics, and I love our country. I’m so appreciative for the liberties and opportunities that our democracy give us, particularly from the perspective of a Christian leader.

If you’re interested in what I think politically, I’ve posted several times over on my Tumblr and Posterous blogs.

Praying Life

I’m almost done with Praying Life by Paul Miller, and I can’t speak highly enough about it. Come back here for a fuller review of it, but in the meantime, I can heartily recommend it.

He reminds us through personal anecdote and biblical proof that prayer is not our goal. A love relationship with God is our goal. To focus on the conversation is to miss the person. He proceeds to remind us (and I think everyone who reads this will feel more reminded than instructed) how to live daily with the Lord in prayer.

The book so far has been a huge encouragement for me, and I’m grateful for Katie Surratt who demanded that I read it. (By the way, Katie, you last blogged in March. Please administer KTD.)

Nuff said…

Thanks to volunteers

Tonight is our third annual volunteer appreciation dinner at our church. It’s not only a blast, but it’s a bonanza. You see, our church doesn’t have its own facility for worship and large gatherings in Blacksburg. Since 2003, we’ve been meeting in the Blacksburg Middle/High School (long story about name change there).

That means that for almost 10 years, volunteers and members, guests and staff have been setting up tables, chairs, music stands, children’s ministry rooms – and taking them down – 52 Sundays a year. In addition to that, it’s amazing how involved and plugged in our people are to their small groups, agencies and clubs in our community, service opportunities and other ministries.

So, once a year, we go all out to say a huge thank you to our volunteers. I’m so grateful for so many people who serve the Lord by lifting chairs, babysitting children, and a dozen other overlooked and under-appreciated ways. Tonight’s theme is The 80s, and here’s the promo video for it.

The volunteers tonight will get to eat a great meal, laugh a lot, and even see some more staff-produced videos that will hopefully bruise their funny bones and communicate to them the lengths that we’re willing to go as leaders to show them how much we care for them in their service to our Lord.

Each year, it seems that the videos get more “over the top.” Here’s last year’s promo (western theme):

Tebow Time

This weekend may be Tim Tebow’s biggest test as the quarterback of the Denver Broncos. He’ll lead his worst-to-first AFC West team (8-5) against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, the AFC East’s best team (10-3). Tebow has converted critics into fans in his astonishing 7-game winning streak that has featured six, count-’em, six 4th quarter come-backs. He is 7-1 as the Broncos qb this year.

The vitriol and venom that has been spewed about Tim Tebow has been nothing short of astonishing this season. He’s been demeaned and ridiculed for more than just his football skills. It’s his vibrant and in-your-face faith that has upset the apple cart and shown us the depths to which political correctness and inverted tolerance have infected even the sports world. In our culture’s strange way of labeling, “Tebowing” has become synonymous with praying in American slang this year.

I’ve not read a better post than Jen Engel’s Why the heck do we hate Tim Tebow?

From his advocacy of abstinence to his infamous “You will never see another team play this hard” speech at Florida, it is like he is too good to be true. He is too nice, and thereby we want him to trip up so we can feel better. We want him to be revealed as a hypocrite, and when that fails to happen, we settle for gleefully celebrating his failures on the football field. And why? Because he dares to say thanks?

She continues:

I could not figure out what was causing this onslaught of venom for a guy almost everybody claims to like, and I finally decided it is more about us. He makes us uncomfortable. He is a reminder that the blue-red, liberal-conservative fight over taking God out of everyday life is intellectually dishonest. He is too good.
Tebow is proof that God goes comfortably into whatever arena of your life you wish to take Him.

Engel notes that Christians, in Tebow’s defense this season, have often been as nasty and little as Tebow’s critics. It does not help to glorify the God that Tebow lifts up when we do not demonstrate love.

Christians, of all people, should be used to criticism. After all, the Christ we follow promised us that we would receive it if we were genuinely following Him. The problem for many of us is that we receive criticism justly. When we are maligned unjustly for living holy and authentically good lives, that is one thing. However, we ourselves malign the character of God when we act in ways that deserve criticism.

Tim Tebow is walking the walk as he’s talking the talk these days. I can’t imagine the immense amount of temptation and attack he must be under. Rather than arguing our cases about Tebow, can Christians resolve to simply pray for him and for those who are made uncomfortable by his vocal faith?

Don’t be surprised by how God can use anyone surrendered to Him. Strange things happen when ordinary people commit to live lives of faithful obedience and joyful love.

The following video is a funny look at how dramatic and surreal this season has been so far for Tim Tebow.

Another video with Tebow’s testimony:

By the way, I’m rooting for the Broncos this weekend!

Resisting terror: the VT shooting of December 8, 2011

I was at lunch with a friend when I got a text. It said simply:

“Stay at the LH – apparently there were gunshots.”

My BBQ sandwich was right in front of me, but it seemed like a slow fog descended on the table. I read the text to my friend, and then did something that has become a habit for news and information. I checked Twitter.

It was crowded with reports of a gunman on Washington Street in Blacksburg. There was one person shot. Washington Street? That is where our church’s office is located, and it’s about 150 yards from the Virginia Tech basketball collosseum.

Then my phone began vibrating with texts:

“REPORT OF GUNSHOTS NEAR COLLOSSEUM!”

“Shooting on campus.”

“Possible suspect on VT campus who fired some gun shots in Cassell parking lot..”

Lunch was over. I called Carolyn to let her know I was OK and then began trying to call Cody, our worship leader who had last been at the church office when I left. He didn’t answer his phone or the texts that I sent him. Within minutes, there were reports of a second shooting and another body.

Source: The Collegiate Times of VT

There was a fist that began clenching my insides into the size of a golfball. I said a hasty goodbye to my friend, who had driven in from Salem for lunch and headed for the church office. My imagination and scattered thoughts were running faster than Seabiscuit.

Before the day concluded, we learned with the rest of the nation that the person shot on Washington was a VT police officer. The second shooting death (at the time of this entry) had been reported by many news agencies as the suicide of the gunman.

Cody returned to the Lancaster House (office) a few minutes after I arrived to find it empty. He had left his phone in his car while running errands. We spent the afternoon inside the locked house, tying Christmas cards on candy canes for our church’s float in a local Christmas parade. We listened to the police scanner and followed the Twitter feed. At one point, a stream of police cars, marked and unmarked, as well as a SWAT van and other rescue vehicles roared past our office headed to Squires Student Center where there reports of more gunshots. (Those turned out to be false. The scanner soon buzzed with the police demanding someone to tell the VT waste disposal folks to quit emptying dumpsters. That may have been the sound folks heard.)

News outlets ran far behind Twitter, another powerful example of the website’s influence in the transformation of our information avenues. As an example, VT’s student newspaper, The Collegiate Times, saw their Twitter following grow “by more than 18,000 — to more than 20,000 from 2,000 just before the news broke. The growth shows just how Twitter can amplify a single message, or a single account, even if that account is a college newspaper without a local following.” (Source)

But it wasn’t the power of Twitter or social media that taught me another lesson today. It was the power of God’s Word. This past Sunday, I preached from the gospel of Luke in chapter 21, verses 5-38. The message title was A Bright Hope in Dark Times. (podcast and notes here) In the middle of the confusion, fear and angst of the day, it seemed that a recognizable voice reminded me of one particular verse:

“…do not be terrified…” (v9)

The context of the chapter is Jesus’ prediction of terrible times that were to come on the world and on Israel itself in the future. He urged His followers to not allow the darkness of the times to keep them out of the light.

It was easy today to get caught up in the heartache and drama of another tragedy in Blacksburg. I felt the fist in my stomach clench and release several times over the course of the afternoon. Cody and I prayed diligently for our campus and community, and for the families of those who had died.

Yet, the voice from Luke 5 beckoned quietly. It wanted my attention. It wanted my obedience. Jesus told His followers, “Do not be terrified.” It has been said that the Bible contains more than 350 commands for us to not be afraid. That’s a difficult imperative to obey in the midst of confusion, evil and death. Yet Jesus affirmed this other-worldy confidence in Matthew 10.28:

“..do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.”

I hunted down a conversation I vaguely remembered in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Rings between Frodo the hobbit and Gandolf the wizard:

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

Profound words. We all live in dark times. Sometimes the darkness and evil is much closer than our hearts can stand. At times like today, it’s just down the street. But I take great comfort in the words of Jesus, and I encourage anyone who finds their courage faltering to consider them:

“Do not be terrified.”

God will supply all we need in dark times to shame those who love the darkness. He supplies courage to face tragedy with an unconquered spirit. He also supplies the very tears we shed over the brokenness and rebellion of this evil-stained world.

Let us mourn. Let us grieve. Let us heal. But let us not fear. Fear will forever cripple those who allow it to grip them. Let those of us who have experienced the love of God gently but determinedly display it when darkness seeks to swamp our faith with fear.

VT students are gathering tonight and tomorrow in candlelight vigils around the memorial to the students killed in the infamous April 16, 2007 shooting. Their lights urge us to remember lives cut short. Their lights also are a visible rebellion against darkness.

Let us rebel with them against the darkness of fear and the war it wages on our spirits.

“Perfect love casts out fear.” (1 John 4.18)

Guy on a Buffalo

Wow. Sometimes, you’re just amazed at the time people have to waste… and how grateful you are for it.

Here’s the first in a series of shorts called Guy on a Buffalo.

The scenes are taken from a movie made in 1978, titled appropriately, Buffalo Rider. Here’s the entire 1978 movie. You can thank me later.

Chasing the wind

Our last guest blogger for the week is Shawn Barnard, pastor of Crossgate Church in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Shawn and I have been friends since college, and then we both went to the same seminary. He and I have brainstormed about countless projects together and done, well, none. We’re dreamers, and when we get together, the church’s problems are solved in three minutes or less. We can laugh at anything, and at times, we cringe at our own irreverence.

Our lives intersected in a wonderful way when he became our pastor at Second Baptist Church in Monticello, Arkansas. I was the BCM Director at UAM then, and after having served as the interim pastor at Second for several months, we were elated when the church voted to call Shawn as pastor. Those were great days of being so near one another. He was a huge blessing and support when Carolyn and I related that we sensed God calling us to start a new church in Monticello.

Shawn blogs once a year at shawnbarnard.com. ;) Here’s Shawn’s take on “5 Things I Didn’t Learn in College:”

It’s hard to believe that 24 years have passed since my freshman year in college.� Even as I type this my daughter is sitting in a college class, and I wonder if she is thinking that perhaps years from now someone will ask her to blog about five things she didn’t learn in college. �And, if so, I wonder if such a thought will give her pause in how she might live differently tomorrow than today.

Maybe such a thought will give you pause as well, and in doing so will encourage you to live with much purpose and clarity of vision.

1. �I didn’t learn that you couldn’t catch the wind.

Contrary to what you hear at high school commencements and from best selling self-help books, you can’t grasp the stars they tell you to reach for in life.� And if, by chance, you could they’d burn out . . . that’s what stars do.� They fade out.� In the same way, all the things that this world has to offer will fade as well.� To pursue what never satisfies or brings ultimate joy is like chasing the wind.� But don’t take my word for it.� Listen to a guy whose wisdom is Scripture worthy:� “And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.”� Ecclesiastes 2:10,11

(On a side note:� I’ve often wondered what it might look like if I were to run in a field trying to catch the wind.� I’m sure it would become a YouTube sensation and start a movement as meaningful as planking.)

Be careful to consider what you are chasing after and seeking to embrace.� Which leads to the second thing I didn’t learn in college . . .

2.� I didn’t learn how to discern the significant from the insignificant.

Learn to pursue what really matters.� In college everything seems significant, at least in the moment.� But the truth of the matter is that what has the illusion of being significant often times is a distorted caricature of what is really significant.� I’ve come to understand that there are two things that are truly significant in this life:� loving God, and loving people.� Sounds simplistic, I know.� But when asked “what’s the greatest commandment?. . .what’s the main thing? . . . what’s most significant?” (I’m paraphrasing, of course) Jesus claimed that it was for us to love God with everything we have, and to love people.� That is significant living because it goes beyond this life and touches eternity.

3.� I didn’t learn that there is a difference between existing and living.

Perhaps a snapshot of your life looks like this: You wake up, get ready for the day ahead, eat breakfast, go to class, come home, get on Facebook, Tweet your friends, watch T.V., go to bed, and then it begins all over again in the morning. And that’s your life. It’s what you do, and you go through the motions . . . and exist.

But isn’t there more to life than just existing? Absolutely. The longing inside to really live, and not just exist, is in every person. The question is how do you get there? I believe that you and I were created for the purpose of living, not existing.� And because I believe that God is the Creator, living can’t happen apart from knowing God through His Son, Jesus. The Bible affirms that truth: “Whoever has the Son (Jesus), has life; whoever rejects the Son, rejects life.” (1 John 5:12) Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life and have it to the fullest.”� (John 10:10) �

So my encouragement to you is this:� Refuse to exist and choose to live.

4.� I didn’t learn the power of a moment savored.�

Learn to savor the moments God puts before you.� There is no savoring without slowing.� We are far too busy, and much too hurried in our culture. � Listen to God’s voice when He says, “Be still and know that I’m God.”� And take David’s advice when he says, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!”� Hurriedness is the enemy of delighting in God.� And when there is no delighting in God, there is no flavor in the moments of life.

5.� I didn’t learn that I need people in my life who aren’t impressed with me, and love me enough to hold me accountable.�

Let other godly people whom you trust sharpen your life by holding you accountable.� In other words, press your life against those who love you enough to speak into the places of your life that you can’t see or just don’t want to see.� God’s word says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”� (Proverbs 27:17)

Some food for thought:� A masterpiece sculpture isn’t created without a sharp chisel and skilled hands.

As a free treat for you all, I thought I’d include a fun little project I made for a birthday party for Shawn back in 2004 that we shared with the folks at Second Baptist. I know Shawn will be grateful that I still have the image.

Never Say Never

Say welcome to Carolyn Noble, my BFF and FFB (forever favorite bride) of 21ish years. Carolyn and I met in college. I was smitten with her from early on, but I had no idea she’d not only be my bride but also my hero. We’ve been through a lot together. I feel sometimes like we’ve lived three lifetimes together with all the challenges and experiences we’ve had. (You can read Our Story here.)

Caro blogs occasionally with Kristy Hales over at itsneitherherenorthere.com. She tweets as journeygal. I was delighted when she agreed to write an entry for this Back 2 School series. Enjoy!

After reading Amy’s entry about Dear Freshman Amy, I couldn’t really focus on what I wanted to say. Her words were powerful and sincere. I want to print off her letter to herself and save it for my kids. It was priceless.

I thought long and hard to find things that college did not teach me and I really could not find one thing. What I did find was that there were many things I learned in college that were not found in a textbook. I would like to share those.

1. Laundry stinks! I hate laundry. It is a weekly struggle for me. I always tease that I want a laundry maid but we are in the wrong profession for that. I got to thinking that is something I surely did not learn in college. No one taught me that I would have to deal with laundry the rest of my life and deal with the severity of how much I hate it. Then it was like deja vu. I think the same white laundry basket I have now was the one I had in college. The clothes are still piled high and unfolded. They are clean though. Just like in college. Some things never change.
2. Nothing beats a home-cooked meal. I remember my days at Ouachita Baptist University where hours were spent at “Walt’s” cafeteria. It really wasn’t named that but that is what we called it. There was a big, jovial man that ran the cafeteria for years. The food was not the best but it was where much socializing happened. It was the hang out. I can not remember what we actually ate there but I do remember the homemade meals I had at professors’ homes with their families. There was nothing like it. There really wasn’t anything better than a home-cooked meal. That is still true to me today. I love to go out to eat, don’t get me wrong. What I really love is fellowshipping around a table with food that only comes from a loved-one’s kitchen.
3. Church is important for all ages. I hear statistics of how young people drop out of church at college age. I didn’t and I am so grateful. I plugged right in to a church there in Arkadelphia. It was actually where I met Jeff and helped him with his youth group. It wasn’t exactly like my home church that was many miles away, but it was still the body of Christ that I longed to be a part of. No one sat down with me and told me to go to church. It was a longing. I am so thankful that I went while I was in college. I learned so much.
4. Cancer is a text book. That is one text book I got at college I sure did not want to read. I can say now that the lessons I learned from it then have totally impacted my view of life now. It still amazes me how God worked while I was sick at college. My friends, family, doctors and professors rallied around me like a hurricane. I learned the importance of community and how God can work out the smallest of details. I am telling you it was by the grace of God alone I was able to deal with the treatments of cancer, stay at college many miles from home, graduate from college and get married all in one year. Mostly, it drove me to be totally dependent on Him. For that I am grateful.
5. Never say never. No, not Justin Bieber, he wasn’t around then. College taught me to never say those words again. Period. I said I would never marry a preacher man like my high school friends predicted for me. I said I would never date Jeff Noble during my freshman year when he was galavanting around campus with a different date each night. Now look where I am now. What happened? Never say never. OK? It’s not worth the torment. Seriously though, I am so thankful for Jeff Noble. I promise he was NOT in the ministry when we were dating. I can still remember the night he told me he felt called to full time ministry. I think it was at night so he didn’t see my face. All I could think about after he said those words were all the words I was about to eat. Now, 20 years later, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I am beyond blessed. I am glad God is in control and that we don’t always get our own ways and plans.

God does know the plans for us. He is in control. I would do it all over again, the same way, even though there were some rough spots. What I learned in college was not only found in the many text books. It was the people and experiences God set out for me. I wouldn’t trade that education for anything.

5 more things…

Welcome Jeremy Woodall to Back 2 School Week! Jeremy and I have quite a bit of history together, beginning with Carolyn and me being youth camp sponsors for his church’s youth group when Jeremy was in the 7th grade. He was like a gerbil on steroids then. Now he’s a hamster on HGH…

Jeremy has so much life experience, having served as an Army Ranger in Afganistan before returning to Arkansas to serve with us at Journey Church in Monticello on our leadership team and as worship leader. He then served as an Assistant Director for Baptist Collegiate Ministry at UAM under Tracy Reed. He’s now serving at First Baptist Church of Star City, Arkansas as youth minister.

Our family is grateful for his and Becca’s friendship. He’s just one of those guys who is a constant encouragement. Oh, and he blogs at jeremywoodall.com.

And now… heeeeere’s Jeremy:

Journeyguy, thanks for the opportunity to guest blog for you this week! What an honor. College was a great time for me. I learned how to be a disciple of Jesus as well as being a disciple maker. I could go on all day about the things I learned in college but what about the things I didn’t learn? Well here is five things that I did not learn in college, for your reading pleasure ;)

Gold and Mr. Alexander

Neal Nelson is the�Baptist Collegiate Minister�at�Henderson State University�in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. He has served there since 1997. Neal is a great communicator, but his passion is to see lives truly transformed. Whether it’s hunting, sports, or simply spending time at a coffee shop, I love how Neal invests his life into college students, seeking to lead them to an authentic love relationship with Jesus Christ.

We’ve been friends since about 1996, and Neal was one of the first to take me hunting in Arkansas. It consisted of sticking me up in a deer stand and leaving me alone in the dark. There were no other real instructions.

I never saw a deer that day, and when we were leaving, he asked if I enjoyed it. I said it was nice except that I finally had to get down from the stand to relieve my coffee-laden bladder. I still remember the sudden, quizzical look on his face when he asked, “Where did you pee?”

“At the bottom of the tree. Why?”

He shook his hand in exasperation, and I don’t think he took me deer hunting again…

Here’s Neal’s entry:

#5 – I didn’t learn why Mr. Alexander expressed such anger about being asked if gold was going to be on the test in college.

Walking to science class in the eighth grade somebody told me to ask Mr. Alexander if gold was going to be on the test. I confess my birth happened at night but it wasn’t the previous night. So instead of asking myself, I got the guy sitting beside me in the class to ask for me. Mr. “A” as we called him – our normally mild-mannered and well liked teacher – screamed at the unsuspecting student to go to the office and wait on him. Of course, the student immediately identified me as the real mastermind behind the diabolical plot. Mr. Alexander screamed louder at me. I received several hard hits with a paddle, which today would constitute abuse. I still don’t know why asking if gold was going to be on the test made Mr. Alexander so angry. The mysterious reason still creates a void in my soul. I had hope “higher” education would reveal the answer but I was disappointed.

#4 – I didn’t learn how to spell in college.  

I am hooked on phonics but words must sound different in Arkansas because I still can’t spell. Without spell check my writing would probably be on a sixth grade level. The same is true about math. How is that possible?

#3 – I didn’t learn how to handle conflict in college, at least not in class.

Relational conflict is no respecter of person. The rich along with the rest of us experience conflict daily. I have decided after forty-two winters have passed that the ability to handle conflict well is one of the best indicators of happiness. One of my regrets in college was moving into a small apartment by myself my sophomore year. I shared a house with two friends from high-school my freshmen year and while it was fun there was constant conflict over the usual stuff.(bills, cleanliness, noise) I decided living on my own would help me be a better student and it probably did help my GPA. However, in the grand scheme of life learning to resolve conflict in a healthy manner then rather than later in marriage would have been a better choice. A college degree may help in attaining a job or more likely acceptance into a program for another degree but it will not prepare people to get along with one another. I wonder if we all had to choose between making a three digit salary with constant conflict or living below the poverty line in peace what would we would choose? (Prov. 17:1)

#2 – I didn’t learn the meaning of life in college.

One would think that after spending a small fortune on tuition and books one would learn the point of life. Honestly I am still not about the point of college.

#1 – I didn’t learn the secret of being content in college.

Being content (not complacent) has been one of the great struggles of my life. Content people are as rare as “normal” professors. Culture sends an extremely confusing message about contentment. On one hand there is the message that everyone is ok as they are. On the other hand we see thousands of images that suggest if we only bought a particular shampoo, gum, or cleaning product, we could be happy and beautiful. American culture seems to owe its existence (or at least its economy) to discontent people. And yet contentment is a major theme in the New Testament. Paul told young Timothy that “contentment with godliness is great gain.” (I Tim. 6:6) He told the believers at Philippi that living life in Christ was the secret to being content. (Phil. 4:10-13) I hope that you will seek contentment in Christ and through his strength in you this semester.

Dear Freshman Amy…

Today’s guest blogger for Back 2 School week is Amy Lawson. She’s a good friend of both Carolyn and me from our Ouachita Baptist University days. She was Amy Ables then. Amy’s blog is�Snoodlings, and she�is one of my favorite bloggers. She’s an amazing writer, able to combine being both profound and whimsical. (I wonder if that’s why her Twitter ID is whimzie? Never thought to ask.)

It’s been fun keeping in touch with her digitally. I’ve also included – free for your enjoyment – a picture of our Sadie Hawkins date from OBU days. It was from TWIRP week (The Woman Is Responsible for Paying – and asking), which was every OBU guy’s opportunity to leave his wallet at home.

For guests from Snoodlings, thanks for stopping by! Enjoy!

I graduated from college twenty years ago. Two decades. One score. Many bad hairstyles ago.

Thanks, Jeff, for the assignment. Writing it made me wonder how I might have done things differently if I’d known then what I know now. I decided to write a letter to freshman me.

Dear Amy,

Look at you packing up your monogrammed towels that someone gave you as a graduation gift! You’ll be using those to wash the dog in twenty years, by the way.

You’re all packed and ready to embark on one of the greatest adventures of your life. I know you’re expecting to change and learn a lot over the next four years, and you will, but I think you’d be surprised at just how much you aren’t going to learn in college.

Besides how to fold a fitted sheet. Which you still haven’t mastered.

So what else won’t you learn in college?

First, and you’re probably not going to want to hear this, but you’re not going to learn that it’s perfectly okay to graduate before you meet Mr. Right.

I hate to break it to you, but you’re not going to leave college with the man of your dreams. You will have several false alarms. You are going to be sure I was wrong about this, but trust me, it’s not going to happen just yet.

Every time one of your college friends comes back to the dorm with a sparkly ring finger you’re going to panic just a little. And you’re going to graduate feeling like maybe you’ve missed your chance. But it’s going to be okay. I promise. He’s out there, and although you think you are, you’re just not ready for him yet. I wish I could tell you to quit worrying about which corner he’s going to be around and start enjoying this opportunity to make friendships with some really great guys who may not be Mr. Right, but are perfectly fine Mr. Right Nows.

Speaking of relationships, you won’t know until after it’s done that making and maintaining friendships during the next four years will be easier than it ever has or ever will be again.

All night “study sessions” fueled by Domino’s and Coke will turn into marathon discussions with your girlfriends about life, love, and the pursuit of the perfect hairstyle (which you’re still pursuing, by the way). This will be the last time you’ll have as many guy friends as you have girl friends and you will benefit greatly from their different slant on how the world works. Your friends will challenge you to grow deeper in your relationship with God and you will learn what it means to really intercede for others in prayer.You don’t know it now, but it’s hard to make and maintain friends after you graduate from college. Life gets busier with work, marriage and kids. I’m not trying to depress you, I just want you to take advantage of this chance to make deep and lasting relationships.

Along those same lines, the third thing you won’t learn in college is that underneath their labels, the cool kids, jocks, nerds, and Cru crew are pretty much the same.

Some may seem to have life figured out and some may actually believe that they have it all together, but inside, we all have similar questions, struggles, and desires.

I didn’t learn that in college. I learned it on MySpace. (Don’t ask. It’s a future time waster and it’s pretty much dead now anyway.) One day I accepted a friend request from this guy who graduated from college with me. We didn’t run in the same circles. He was a “wild boy” who was a part of “that” fraternity, the one that was always getting in trouble. In the process of catching up on our lives after college, we both recognized that neither of us is the label we wore in college. Life has a way of leveling those kind of things out. Now we both love our spouses and our kids and we are busy trying to be the people God made us to be. I can’t help but wonder if we’d have been friends earlier if I hadn’t assumed I knew who he was because of the group he was in.

Keeping people in boxes we’ve created for them reminds me of the fourth thing you’re not going to learn in college. You are not going to learn all there is to know about God.

Even though you’re at a Christian school and you think you have a pretty good idea of who God is, let me just warn you, He is going to continually blow your mind. He refuses to stay in the boxes you keep building for Him. The longer I know Him, the more I realize how little I know.

You think your parents and your pastor and your professors have God figured out. You’re going to get caught up in the idea that what you’ve always been told is always right. You are going to feel very uncomfortable with the idea that people you love, respect, and trust aren’t always right about everything, but then you’re going to learn that although people are fallible and will let you down, you can always trust in God. Even when trusting is the very hardest thing to do.

Remember the not-so-pleasant places in Dr. Seuss’s Oh, the Places You’ll Go? In a Lurch, in a Slump, the Waiting Place, Alone? Oh, wait. You can’t remember because that book won’t be published until your junior year. Anyway, just trust me, you have yet to go to some places you won’t want to be. I’m not going to go into details because it’s some scary stuff, but you need to know life isn’t always easy. And as hard as it is for you to believe right now, there will come a day where you will question everything you have ever believed. You will learn then that “unshakeable faith is faith that has been shaken,” because your faith will be shaken to its very core. Trust me when I tell you what you believe about God is going to fail you but God will never fail you. I’m still trying to figure that one out myself, but just know that God is so much bigger than you know right now.

God won’t the be the only one you don’t have figured out by the time you graduate. The fifth thing you won’t learn is that God made you special and He loves you very much. For one thing, the Veggie Tales haven’t been invented yet so you have no idea who Bob the Tomato is, much less the motto he uses in every video. Sure, you’ve sung “Jesus Loves Me” and your relationship with Jesus is based on your knowledge that He loved you enough to die for you, but you are going to continue to struggle with the idea that He loves you just as you are.

I know you struggle with the idea that anyone loves you just like you are. That’s why you’re always trying to make everyone happy. You’re going to choose your major and your church home and your friends and almost everything else based on what you think would please the majority of the people. And it’s going to make you miserable because you’re going to always feel like you’re either “too much” or “not enough.” You’re sure you’re too wordy, too needy, too indecisive. You think you’re not organized enough, not Godly enough, not pretty or sweet enough.

It’s going to take you many years and tears to figure out that God loves you unconditionally. You will have to learn, like the psalmist says in Psalm 45, that God your King is “enthralled with your beauty.” Oh, how He loves you! You just have no idea.

It’s going to sound strange coming from your older self who is now a parent and should be stressing the importance of hitting the books and excelling scholastically, but don’t get so caught up in the academia that you miss this chance to learn about life and who you are. Sure, I want you to make good grades, and you will, but I also want you to learn how to make a life.

You’ve got a great one ahead of you. Love, Amy

Guest clogger?

Our second entry in the Back 2 School Guest Bloggers’ Week is from Darrell Cook. Darrell is the director of the Baptist Collegiate Ministry at Virginia Tech and has been in campus ministry for like, 32 years. I can’t remember how old he is even though I wrote a birthday tribute to him this year. He’s a great friend, a co-mastermind behind churchplanting123.com and interacts redemptively with collegians on a daily basis.

After several misunderstandings (“Guest clogger? That’s not exactly my style of dance.”, “Guest logger? I don’t have a lumberjack shirt.”), I agreed to be a guest blogger on Jeff Noble’s often-acclaimed and sometimes read “Notes from the Trail.” Seriously, I’m happy to do it because I love my pastor, look up to him, and learn from him regularly. So here they are, “Five Things I Didn’t Learn in College.” Jeff’s keyboard, enjoy the time off.

1. Women and men communicate differently – Okay, I did know this a little bit back then, but most of my knowledge in this area has come post-college. The four females who live in my house continue to teach me daily how to communicate.
2. The Redskins are a bad football team – Didn’t learn that in college, because they were good back then. Since they have never seen it, my kids don’t believe that the Redskins were ever good. They really were good a long time ago. Honest.
3. The Church is more resilient than I can imagine – Two churches that I have gone to don’t exist anymore. My father (a former pastor) warned me before I left for seminary that I might be heading in the wrong direction because, “the church is full of hypocrites.” I have seen good people treated badly by church leaders on several occasions. But despite all of that, I have time and again seen the radiant Church rise out of the ashes of a bad situation. The Church is at her best when people understand the ministry of reconciliation, when her people embrace the gospel, savor the freedom Christ brings, and spread the word to others of the goodness and faithfulness of the Father.
4. Knowing what to pay attention to and what to ignore is pretty important – I used to think that absorbing as much info and experience as possible would help me along the way, but many things that seem useful are just distractions. Finding the still small voice can make every other sound, no matter how seemingly helpful, take its place as just background noise.
5. Don’t take it personally – There are countless opportunities in life to be offended by the words, actions, or lack of action of others. Too often I have taken offense when it would be much wiser to assume the best and extend grace. Colossians 3:12-13 speaks loudly to me here, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

Five things I didn’t learn in college

Our first entry of the week is from Almost an M, the author behind almostm.com: Thinking • Unthinking • Rethinking – Making Disciples in a Post-Christian Context.  He’s a great friend who has served overseas and may wind up back there some day. Now, he and his family are living missionally in Dallas, TX. I’m grateful for his perspective and creative thinking about the church.

Thanks, JourneyGuy, for letting me have some fun with this. I loved me some college days and all that came out of that, but here are 5 things I didn’t learn while at university.

1. How to tell a difference in “flavors” of ramen noodles – in spite of a good, collegiate try, I never acquired this skill. I could see the differences in color, but the taste was always some similar salty, noodly combination. Perhaps you can do better in this area, but I hope you have a little less frequent opportunity in this area than I had. (BTW – I did learn that 4 ramen meals in one day has some pretty negative side effects.)
2. How to dance – if by dance one means moving to the beat and / or in some graceful way, this is something I did not learn to do back then–or since.
3. How to count – of course this skill I mastered in kindergarten.
4. What to expect when parenting offspring – this didn’t even cross my mind.
5. How to drink coffee – needed to do this. Wanted to. Tried many times, but it was just too bitter. Have since gone to a couple cups a day, but it was not a part of my academic regimen. That ate uptake may have cost me a tenth or more of a point on my GPA.
6. How normal and weird a transformed life could be – while at university, I am sad to write, churched people were both more likely and comfortable to be around me than were those that were not regular church-goers. Since those days I have done away with a good measure of piety and really begun to seek out those that are without Christ. This seems to be so much more in keeping with the life of Christ, but a little bit awkward for some that would prescribe a life of retreat from the world.