Words

Howdy Folks,

I noticed today that it has been over two weeks since my last post, so I thought that I had better step up to the plate and post something.

Life has continued these past 16 days in much the same manner as the 16 previous to that. I'm trying to make slow steady progress on my research, with varied levels of success, and trying to do my best to stay balanced in other spheres of existence as well. In the midst of this, I find my thoughts turning more and more to what awaits me in life after college - whenever that comes. Not much about that is in focus yet, but I continue to pray and ponder.

I've also been spurred on in my thinking by the MIQRA class on Philippians - especially passages like:

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Phil 1:20-21

or

"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Phil 3:7-14

One can't read stuff like this without being forced to do a little introspection as to the degree to which my life, values, priorities and passions fall in line with what is described there. Definitely convicting and challenging stuff.

Thanks for listening.

JJ

Ketchup

I had a great time at the Main Event the weekend before last. I am glad that I went. It was fun to see many old friends, to experience intense fellowship, and to be challenged from the Word. I particularly enjoyed the missions emphasis this year. I plan to spend some time in prayer over the next few weeks and months over what my place in world missions should be. We'll see where that leads.

One thing that the conference brought home to me is how much I miss being actively involved in campus ministry. I have felt a bit out of the loop this semester: not teaching, not leading prayer team, and not doing staff stuff, but I had also gotten used to my new routine and responsibilities, so I was starting to forget how much I missed certain things. Its actually been a bit hard getting back to the old routine since then, but I'll manage.

Since I've been back, I've been frantically playing catch-up on all the things that I didn't get done the three days I was gone. I'm close to back on top of the pile now, but it will probably take until Monday for me to get completely caught up.

Last weekend was the MIQRA quarterly seminar on the book of Acts. It was great. I won't even try to summarize the content now, as it was four hours of stuff, but I was particularly intrigued by some ideas shared on "intertextuality" - meaning taking our cue on Biblical interpretation from how the Bible interprets itself. We looked at a fairly thourough list of all the places where the book of Acts quotes of alludes the the OT, and how the reference reflected the NT authors understanding of the OT passage. If you ever have the opportunity to go to one these, I recomend it. The $45 dollar and 4 hour investment is well worth it.

Anyhow, I'd appreciate it if y'all would pray for my research and my efforts to discern God's will for my future beyond this year. Research had been going better, but I am at a crossroads in the process. I am also hating putting together all the resources and materials for an academic job search. The process itself is annoying, but beyond that, the reality is that I am just not very excited about the prospect of getting that sort of a job. My heart is really not in it. I read the job listings and try to picture myself doing the job described, and I think Yuck! I don't want to do that. its perplexing to say the least.

Thanks for listening (reading?) my rant.