Category: Spiritual Growth

Welcome back to school.

Most of you have already decided upon some compassionate response, but in case you haven’t we took an offering at our Winter Retreat for tsunami relief efforts and routed our funds through AG Relief.

If you would like to assist in any way, please let me know either via email or at our on-campus worship meeting.

Christmas Eve draws to a close and I can hear reindeer in the distance, so I’m signing off for the night.

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!’ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Luke 2, NRSV

Merry CHRISTmas. Enjoy the rest of your break–Paula and I look forward to seeing you all when Winter Quarter kicks back off! Don’t forget to pray for us at Winter Conference.

I just ran across a most remarkable online Bible study tool: the Greek New Testament browser. If you ever want to do some serious study this site will be pretty helpful. I can’t say enough good things about this site’s elegant interface and solid content.

Hat tip to the two excellent blogs who brought it to my attention: the New Testament Gateway and the Bible Software Review.

Check out the great biblical charts at threetwoone.org (scroll down a bit until you see the “religious” section).

Consider, for example, the Old Testament overview.

One disclaimer: the author seems to come from a moderate (rather than conservative or liberal) perspective on Biblical scholarship. Adjust the charts accordingly based on your convictions.

I got the problems with Discipleship By Design fixed. Now you too can learn from campus ministry legend Harvey Herman!

“There is nothing so pitiful as a young cynic because he has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing.” ~ Maya Angelou.

Tim Smith, leader of Keep Your Eye on the Ball (opens a Quicktime video).

As always, check the video blog archives for more humorous and inspirational clips.

What happens when a friend puts your nose out of joint? Find out in the latest Chi Alpha video blog — Deviated Septum (opens QuickTime movie).

As always, if you like this remember to check the video blog archives for more.

Incidentally, the guy who’s doing this blog was my spiritual mentor when I was a student. How cool!

In Food Porn, Susan Wise Bauer writes about the tendency of modern authors to critique culture without offering a viable alternative: The cover-model ideal is warped and twisted, but they can’t manage to unwarp it. I’m reminded of J. R. R. Tolkien’s orcs, who (according to the Silmarillion) were modeled on elves by the dark powers; they were fashioned “by slow arts of cruelty in envy and mockery,” because dark powers can only warp and twist, not create afresh. If you’ve never seen an elf, and you try to work backwards from an orc to its model, you’re darn well not going to end up with Orlando Bloom.

You can’t build on negation alone.

How often is our plan for being good to stop being bad? In the Biblical perspective, holiness is an addition equation, not a subtraction equation. We don’t merely seek to eradicate vices such as gossip and lying; on the contrary, we actively cultivate virtues such as love, joy, patience, and self-control.

Just some quick thoughts inspired by an absolutely brilliant Tolkien reference in an otherwise unrelated article.

Check it out–I’m the guest video blogger on ChiAlpha.com in a clip entitled “I Doubt It”! We filmed this while I was in Atlanta for the campus ministers’ conference this weekend.

Curt (the video blog king) did some major editing to make me sound more intelligent than I was in that section–I was babbling like a fool but through the miracle of iMovie I came out looking not totally stupid.

Also, they have added a video archive so that you can check out all the past video blogs.