Yesterday I drove up to Joplin for the Alumni Banquet at Ozark Christian College (my alma mater). Actually, I mostly went up to see people and I got to visit with Dave and Velva (my brother and his wife), Derek and Gabriel Lauer (one of my best friends from college - whom I haven't seen in over 8 years - and his son), and a lot of other old friends. It was a good trip and a very refreshing, but short, time.

The highlight of the banquet each year is the presentation of "Outstanding Alumni" awards. This year Stephen Prophete (a native Haitian missionary), Shan Rutherford (a preacher in the Indianapolis area), and Joe Garman (best known for prison ministry around the world) were honored. All three of these men have seen God do some amazing things through their lives. They are each worthy of our respect and honor.

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Early tomorrow morning I head for Boston. I'll be officiating the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships on the weekend (you can see it on ESPN on Sunday afternoon). I will also be spending a couple of days with Tim Hawkins and his crew who are starting a new campus ministry project in the Boston area - where there are almost 300,000 students on some of our nation's most influential campuses - Harvard, MIT, Boston College, Boston University, etc. I'm looking forward to the trip - except for the flying part.

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Here are a couple of recent items regarding life on the university campus ...

Losing Their Religion: According to a recent Gallup Poll, some 17% of 18-29 year olds claim no religious affiliation, considerably more than the 10% of 30-64 year olds and only 4% of those 65 and over. 13% of men and 8% of women claimed no religion. The UCLA study on freshmen shows that while 52% of incoming freshmen say they attended religious services frequently during their last year of high school, that number drops to just 29% by their junior year in college. (as reported in CPYU #84, December 15, 2005) (abcnews.com December 6, 2005).

Uproar at Dartmouth: According to Christianity Today, the Dartmouth vice president for student life resigned immediately following a welcome address to freshman this fall when the student body president, Noah Riner, made the following remarks to the incoming class: "Character has a lot to do with sacrifice, laying our personal interests down for something bigger. The best example of this is Jesus . . . He knew the right thing to do. He knew the cost would be agonizing torture and death. He did it anyway. That's character." The VP for student life called the religious reference "reprehensible and abuse of power." (Christianity Today December 2005 p. 21)

It's been almost six weeks since I have posted anything. Life just seems to be flying by and I haven't been able to find the time (or, sometimes, energy) to post. But that will change! Just some thoughts and things going on down here ...

Today everything is shut down in NW Arkansas with five inches of snow. This is a good weekend for it, because I really don't have anything scheduled for today. I can lounge around, work on tomorrow's sermon, watch a movie or something. No real need to leave the house. Gina and Erin are still in bed (and I would bet Stacy is, also), but I'm getting too old for that. There reaches a certain point where staying in bed is counter-productive for me. My back starts hurting and I feel worse if I stay in bed more than about 8-9 hours.

If you missed it, last Sunday was "Evolution Sunday" in many churches around the nation. I just can't get my mind around the idea of having a Sunday to honor Darwin and evolution. Here is a story from the NY Times about it.

Are you watching the Winter Olympics? I don't watch much of them. I just can't relate to most of the "sports" - especially anything that has to do with ice skating. I enjoy most of the skiing events, but that's about it. It's so bad that we have even watched Dancing with the Stars and American Idol rather than watch the Olympics! How sad is that???

This semester, my preaching has been covering both the big picture of the Bible and an up-close look at Colossians. On Sundays, I'm trying to give a bird's-eye view of what God is doing in history and an overview of the Bible. Kind of looking at the Bible (and history) as a play in six acts. (The Drama of Scripture by Craig G. Bartholomew and Michael W. Goheen and The Story We Find Ourselves In by Brian McLaren are helpful resources.) It has been interesting and challenging. We have covered the first two acts (creation and the entrance and spread of sin) and will start act three tomorrow (how God initiates his plan to restore his creation). Most of the sermons are available for download at the ConC website (www.christoncampus.org). However, we have had "technical difficulties" on the last three Sunday mornings! But those will be posted before too long.

We have one less dog at our house. Some of you know Zero, our long-haired miniature dachshund - eight pounds of attitude. 99% of the time, he is great. But once in a while, he gets aggressive with Gina and the girls (even biting and drawing blood). It was to the point where we didn't trust him, especially around children. A couple of weeks ago, another family took him home for the weekend to "try things out" but returned him after one night. But another family took him home on Tuesday and he seems to be doing well. Maybe the change of scenery will be good for him. We miss him because most of the time he was fun and loving. But we're going to have a two year old with us for a few days pretty soon and we feel better about that now.

Thank you, Amanda Jean, for getting me back on the blog ...

Catching up with some random thoughts along the way ... There have been several times since Christmas that I have thought that I needed to post on here, but I could never motivate myself to get it done. That's pretty typical at the end of a semester for me. Seems I need a little time to just chill and read and not "talk." But that's over now!

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I can't imagine the roller-coaster of emotions that people have gone through in Sago, WV have gone through in the past few days. The despair, the hope, the despair. They were victims of something that I think is far too common in today's world - people jumping to conclusions, taking small bits of information without knowing all the facts and running with it. Our desire to be the first to know, to have the "inside scoop." It happens nationally and internationally, but also in our homes, schools, churches. The worst part is that once something has been said and reported, you can never really retract it. On, you can say you did. But the damage has been done and the hurt can't be removed. How much better would it have been for them - even in a tragic situation - if people would have been "quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to become angry"?

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The past week or so has been the best "bowl season" that I can remember. There were a lot of incredibly close and exciting games: Alabama-Texas Tech, Georgia-West Virginia, Florida State-Penn State. And then last night's USC-Texas game just capped it off so well! Not that as a self-respecting Razorback fan I could ever cheer for Texas, but it was a fun game to watch. And after USC put 70 on us in September, I didn't mind seeing them get beat.

USC's next game will be against the Razorbacks here in Fayetteville. Revenge time?

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It has been a while since I have read through the Bible, so I'm doing that in 2006. I'm using Today's NIV for that. The translation has drawn both praise and criticism (and if you want me to get into that, I can in a later post), so I thought I would check it out first hand.

If you have never read all of the Bible, I would encourage you to make that one of your "resolutions" for 2006. Discipleship Journal has a couple of different plans for doing that. You can find and download them here. Even better, if you use Microsoft Outlook (as I do), you can download the daily readings directly into you daily task list! Then, when you open your calendar each day, the readings are right there!

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Today is the anniversary of the death of George Washington Carver. He died in Tuskegee, AL in 1943 at the age of 81. One little known (or forgotten fact) is that he lived at one time in Ft. Scott, KS. Now, what is he most famous for studying and where can you find his "museum"?

Maybe I wasn't paying attention the last time Christmas fell on a Sunday (1994), but I don't remember the how churches handled it back then. This year, I know of congregations locally that are handling Christmas in a lot of different ways:

1) Some are having regular services as usual.

2) Some are reducing the number of services they have on Sunday, say from two services down to one.

3) Some churches are having Christmas Eve and Sunday morning services that will be identical. Others are having Christmas Eve and Sunday morning services that will be different.

4) More churches than I would have guessed are dismissing Sunday morning services all together. Some are small churches, but others are some of the largest congregations in America: Willow Creek Community Church, Southland Christian Church, Mars Hill, and Fellowship Bible Church of Little Rock among them. Many, I'm sure, will have a Christmas Eve service of some kind.

5) At least one church I know is dismissing their Sunday service but sending a DVD with a pre-recorded service on it for their families to use at home that morning. It includes time to take communion and instructions on how to go online to make a financial contribution to several different ministries.

6) And Fellowship Bible Church of NW Arkansas (one of the largest in our area with a weekend attendance of about 7,000) is actually adding two services. They will have three Saturday night services (rather than two) and four Sunday morning services (rather than three).

Any thoughts on these options?

I'm kind of glad I'm not having to make that call. In campus ministry, our last service was on Dec. 11 and our next one will be on Jan. 15!

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From David P. Gushee's article, Our Missing Moral Compass, in the November issue of Christianity Today:

"If one labors in the vineyards of most sectors of American evangelical life, it does not take long before one notices that staggering moral sloppiness that frequently characterizes us. It's not just that Christians are sinners, too, and that we mess up like everyone else does. Of course that is true.

The problem goes deeper, to the way in which we have understood the very structure and meaning of the Christian experience. For many of us, Christianity is primarily a faith, that is, a body of beliefs to which we assent. Or it is primarily an experience, that is, a repertoire of inspiring, encouraging, or even ecstatic states entered into through worship and prayer. Or it is an event, that is, a one-time moment of conversion in which we 'walk the aisle,' profess our faith publicly, and join the church, guaranteeing ourselves a heavenly mansion when we die.

But it seems important to see Christianity in all its dimensions.... We are indeed morally sloppy, and I think it is because we have embraced truncated versions of the Christian faith that have trained us to be this way.... Christianity is more than an event, an experience, or a set of beliefs. It is a way of life characterized by moral seriousness and the quest for holiness."

Catching up with a few random thoughts along the way ...

I've never understood people who aren't excited about getting the mail every day. There are those strange individuals who can go days at a time and not check their mail. At our house, Gina and I fight over who gets to see the mail first! If I'm out of town, one of the things I always ask when I call home is, "Was there anything exciting in the mail?" This excitement doubles during this time of year as Christmas cards arrive from around the country. We love to read the Christmas letters and see what is happening in the lives of friends we haven't seen in years. We love to see the pictures of families and kids and feel old as former students build their own homes and raise their own families. I promise you - we "ooo" and "ahh" over every picture.

Of course, we have been doing this so long that some of these families are getting pretty grown up. Some of those involved with ConC years ago now have kids in college. Del and Rebecca have a son at the UofA and a daughter playing basketball at Harber High here in Springdale. Chip and Suzanne have a son at the Air Force Academy. This fall I watched Jim and Jo's son play high school football on the same team as Roger's two sons. Jan and PD's son is a basketball player at Harber and Phil and Leslie's daughter is a multi-sport star in Siloam Springs. We have got to watch Dwayne and Michelle's girls dance at a football game and compete in gymnastics. Even though some of these were in ConC 20 years ago or more, we still feel like we are a part of their lives.

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Venus Flytrap turned 61 yesterday. That's hard for me to believe. Now - how many of you can tell me who Venus Flytrap is???

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I have friends who have strong feelings about "postmodernism". Some feel that it is all hype and all the talk about it is wasted energy. Others feel that it is a very accurate description of the direction our world is heading. But I do know that the US is more and more a "post-Christian" society - a society that, for the most part, has heard the Gospel and largely rejected it.

In the November issue of Christianity Today, Philip Yancey has one of his typically thought-provoking pieces about this post-Christian world in which we live. In it, he writes this:

"Reflecting on our conversation, I remembered a remark by (C.S.) Lewis, who drew a distinction between communicating with a society that hears the gospel for the first time and one that has embraced it and then largely rejected it. A person must court a virgin differently than a divorc'ee, said Lewis. One welcomes the charming words; the other needs a demonstration of love to overcome inbuilt skepticism."

That resonates with how I see our world and, particularly, how I see the university campus. Most students I meet are not strangers to the gospel. They have heard it. They know who Jesus is. Most have spent a good portion of their lives going to church. But they have found Christianity lacking. Whether it be the hypocrisy of Christians or other issues, they have made a choice not to take it seriously.

What a world like this needs to see is authentic Christianity being lived out - the kind of Christianity that Jesus describes in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats. Not just smooth words or slick presentations, but a demonstration of service, sacrifice, incarnational living, and practical love.

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Along that line, I would encourage you to read an op/ed piece written by Nicholas Kristof in the Dec. 11 issue of the NY Times. It will challenge a lot of what is going on among Christians at this time of year. Some of you probably won't like it at all. Some will love it. But if you can avoid reading politics into it, it is very challenging. Unfortunately, you may have to pay to get to it. If so, let me know and I'll fill you in.

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One thing I remember about the home that I grew up in was that we always received several newspapers. My dad loved them. We took the Ft. Scott Tribune, the Pittsburg Morning-Sun, two Kansas City papers (a morning paper and an evening paper), and the weekly Marmaton Valley paper. In fact, one of my earliest jobs was writing sports for the Ft. Scott Tribune and the Marmaton Valley paper. But that love of newspapers rubbed off on me. We get two papers at the house every day and, at one time, I took the NY Times here at home. But with the internet, I daily read portions of the KC Star, the Washington Post, the Dallas Morning News, USA Today, and the NY Times. Most are free, but I do "subscribe" to the NY Times to get more access to their paper.

It's Dead Day at the UofA. Classes ended for the semester yesterday. Final exams begin tomorrow.

Last night was our annual Candlelight Christmas service. Jake typically puts it together for us and he always does a great job. Last night was no exception: He and Trevor played guitars "unplugged", five students shared from the Christmas story, communion. Afterwards, at least 20 of us made our annual walk up to the square to see the Christmas lights. It was a very special time - a good way to end the semester. Of course, there was the year that our worship minister decided that we needed to do a "stomp" Christmas service, using trash cans, lids, etc. as musical (?) instruments ...

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Dead Day also has its traditions. This morning we delivered Christmas presents to a day care that works with at-risk children from dysfunctional homes. We had 30-40 students combine to buy about $1000 worth of gifts for the 22 kids there. Over the past few years, we have also asked the fraternity next door to us to purchase gifts for the siblings of these kids. So they spend another $2000 for the 50 or so siblings.

This evening was our annual Guys' Dead Day at Monte Ne. Guys from ConC go to the Monte Ne Inn for an all-you-can-eat chicken dinner. Of course, there are the requisite "records" that go with this event. To set a Monte Ne record, one has to first eat a complete meal. The you can go for a record. Some records include:

Thomas Dougan - 14 pieces of chicken
Carl Wiltse - 1 shaker of salt and 1 shaker of pepper
Don Helt - 1 fly, 1 vomit
Lance Hall - 5 1/2 loaves of bread, 86 crackers

Tonight, Lance set his third Monte Ne record with a huge, heaping serving bowl of mashed potatoes.

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Last weekend was the end of the high school football season. I got to spend most of Friday and Saturday in Little Rock with the Springdale team. On Friday, we took some of the seniors to play with kids at the Arkansas Children's Hospital. On Saturday night, they defeated West Memphis 54-20 to win the state title and finish the season 14-0. In between, there was a lot of good time with the team and the coaches - eating meals, watching football, and talking.

Currently, SHS is ranked #2 in the country in the poll Sports Illustrated posts and #5 in USA Today's poll. The teams ahead of them in both poll all have at least one more game to play, so it is possible for SHS to get to #1 in the SI poll and anywhere from #2-4 in USA Today.

And it keeps getting better: the SHS quarterback, Mitch Mustain, was named as the Gatorade National High School Player of the year. Mitch is a great QB, but I'm not even sure he was the best player on the team.

Finally, I came back from the game in LR with a black eye. One of the players has been harassing me about my age all season. So I told him that I didn't want to hurt him during the season, but that after the championship game, he and I would wrestle on the 50 yard line of War Memorial stadium. So we did. I pinned him in about 3 seconds, but his shoulder pads scraped my eye as I threw him to the ground.

Saturday night and I'm resting up from the Thanksgiving holiday - scared to get close to a scale! We went to Ft. Scott for the holiday and had a great time there. We were at my Mom's on Thursday with my brother and his family and my grandmother. On Friday, we were at Gina's folks with her sisters and their families. We are blessed to have families that we enjoy being around (I know those who don't) and to have them close enough that we can get home for holidays (or other needs) without too much hassle. Other things that I'm thankful for ...

* A wonderful wife who makes me a better man

* Two great daughters who are smart, hard-working young women of great character and Christian commitment

* That leaves only fall one time a year (after spending today raking them up)

* A staff that I enjoy working with

* People who believe in ConC and what we do and sacrificially give and pray to make it possible

* The end of the semester is only eight class days away!

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I'm watching a really good movie as I write this. It's called Lightening in a Bottle and it is basically a concert celebrating 100 years of the Blues. It features all the blues artists you may know (BB King, Buddy Guy, Mavis Staples) and many that you probably don't - as well as artists like John Fogarty, Bonnie Raitt, and Steven Tyler. It also talks a little about the history of the blues. The music and musicianship is incredible. If you are a music fan - whether or not you are a blues fan - you really should watch this movie!

Last week Jake, Kristin, Jen, and I went to Dallas for the Ivy Jungle Conference - a conference geared for those doing campus ministry. This was the tenth one and I have attended nine of them. They tend to be up and down quality-wise, and this year's was on the lower end. None of the plenary speakers were outstanding (not even Tony Evans, who seemed almost distracted as he spoke - which, with fire alarms going off was very possible). The workshops I attended were OK, but didn't really break any new ground.

But we had a good time together. We did come back to Arkansas with new nicknames. We ate at a restaurant that featured coasters with lists on them. One coaster had lists of "popular" male and female nicknames (I'm not sure with whom they were popular), so I had everyone choose a nickname for themselves (or we would choose one for them)! Jen chose "Duchess", Kristin chose "Lexi", Jake chose "T-Bone" (though we thought he would be a better "Scooter"), and I chose "Dozer." That will go along with my other nicknames - "Big Dawg" and "Chief". In fact, I have made it an office policy this year that everyone on staff has to call me "Chief." Jake stubbornly refuses to do so!

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Today I went to Little Rock. While there, I had lunch with David McFatrich - a ConC student from years gone by. We had a great visit and he shared with me what God has been placing on his heart. After lunch, we ran by his house so I could see Sonya and their kids - especially the newest, Sammy, whom they brought home from China last month. I performed Dave and Sonya's wedding twelve years ago (the only wedding I have ever done in a mall). It is always such an encouragement to see what God continues to do in the lives of the students that have gone through ConC in the years gone by - to see their walk with the Lord, their families, their ministries.

Tonight was our 24th annual ConC Thanksgiving Banquet. Our first was in 1982 and consisted of a handful of students in the living room of our 900 square foot apartment. Tonight was basically a two hour feeding frenzy with well over 200 students taking part. We no longer try to do a program of any kind. Someone will say an opening prayer and then we have at it. Mostly, it is a great time for our kids and a great open door for new people. Students bring friends from their dorms, from their teams, from other countries for a good, home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner without a lot of "religious" stuff thrown at them. But relationships are begun and people get in the building and get to know who we are - that we aren't scary religious fanatics. Over the years, the Thanksgiving Banquet has been the first step for many, many students who became leaders in our ministry or later gave their lives to Christ. It is a lot of work and we will spend most of the day tomorrow cleaning, but it is also a highlight of the year.

Of course, none of it would be possible without the wonderful and generous and tireless work of the people of Oak Manor Christian Church here in Fayetteville. For the past 24 years, they have supplied and prepared all of the food for our banquet - the turkey and ham and potatoes and gravy and stuffing and corn and green beans and homemade bread and cakes and pies and more. It is quite an undertaking for a congregation of fifty people! But they love ConC and they love our students and they pull out the stops every year for us. Karen Hendrix organized it all, but everyone in the church pitches in to make it work. And thanks, too, to Andrew Lekwa and the folks at Butterball for donating enough turkey breasts to feed 250!

Catching up on some disconnected thoughts along the way...

One of the books I am currently reading is Reflecting The Glory by N.T. Wright. Wright is a very insightful theologian from Great Britain. In a recent chapter, he discussed the worship seen in chapters four and five of Revelation:

"The truth of this vision is that what goes on in the heavenly realm is the counterpart of the worship going on in the earthly realm.... Heaven and earth are not separate in the sense of heaven being solely in the future and earth in the present, or heaven being ten miles up in the air and earth being down here where we live. Heaven and earth are the two dimensions of God's whole reality.... These living creatures represent the world of creation as a whole, and that world of creation is also worshipping God. We are invited, then, to see in this glorious picture not just some human beings choosing to worship God, but the whole creation - the animals, the trees, the rivers, the sea, the sky - also worshipping by being truly themselves. When the penguins are sliding over the ice, when the trees are putting forth their green shoots in the spring, when clouds pass across the sky, they are being themselves to the glory of God.... The church, the people of God, understands that God is the creator, understands that as such he is a glorious God, full of extraordinary ideas and inventive imagination. We just have to think for two minutes about the world of creation and imagine the same God creating a giraffe and creating a strawberry, the same God creating a waterfall and creating the look of delight on a new-born baby's face. God is full of extraordinary riches, and while the rest of creation worships God by simply being as it is, human beings are designed to draw out the praises of creation and, by understanding, to express that praise to God, giving God intelligent worship."

There are a lot of wonderful insights in that passage, but what struck me is that worship of God is going on continually at many different levels. It is continually taking place before His throne in heaven. It is continually going on as creation is "truly being itself." It is going on world-wide by those of us who know what it means to be redeemed and forgiven and freed. And when we, who are able to give God both intelligent and emotional worship - "in spirit and in truth" - enter into worship, we are jumping in to what is continually going on. The worship of God doesn't start at 11:00 on Sunday morning or 7:30 on Tuesday night. And worship doesn't end when our service is over. Worship is going on continually and we can be a part of what creation and the angels - and other believers - are doing at any time and in any place.

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Time for a monthly football update:

The Razorbacks finally won a game this weekend, beating Ole Miss in Oxford, 28-17. So we are not 3-5 over all and 1-5 in conference play. KT told me the other day that we lead the nation in true freshmen who have played this season, while there are only 4 or 5 seniors who see significant action. We have freshmen starting at QB and RB and on the defensive line and at linebacker. There is improvement happening. The main frustration on this fan's part is that the team was allowed to get to a point where it was necessary to play so many freshmen. It seems to me that a college team should always be junior and senior dominated. But maybe I'm unrealistic.

The Big Dawgs (my fantasy team) will be leading the league in scoring after this weekend. But we will still be only fourth in the league. I have too many under-achievers as running backs. I need to find some way to motivate them! Maybe we'll peak for the playoffs.

Finally, the SHS Bulldogs are 11-0 after winning their first playoff game 44-8. The have imposed the "mercy rule" (leading by at least 35 points) on every team they have played this season, including the number one teams from Louisiana and Oklahoma. In most cases they have reached that point before halftime. They are currently ranked number one in Arkansas and anywhere from number three to number nine in the country.

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Last Saturday I traveled down to Conway, AR to be meet referee for an NCAA Div. III regional cross country meet. Refereeing a cross country meet is usually pretty uneventful, and this meet was no exception. The interesting part was doing a Div. III meet when I usually do Div. I meets. Div. I is the "big schools" - Arkansas, Texas, Kansas, Tennessee, etc. Div. III are those schools who don't offer athletic scholarships. Of the 30 teams at the meet, I had actually heard of about 10 of them! We had teams such as Mary Baldwin U. and Mary Washington U. and Eastern Mennonite U. and Christopher Newport College.

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Today is my 47th birthday. It has been a nice, uneventful day. Gina and I and the girls went out to dinner last night. One of the things I have noticed today is the variety of ways that people have to wish you "Happy Birthday" anymore. I have received emails and e-cards and voicemails and verbal greetings and old-fashioned birthday cards. I have also had birthday greetings posted to my Facebook wall! That's a new one for me. If you're not familiar with Facebook, it is the most popular craze on college (and now high school) campuses right now. It is basically a social network that only those with a college email address can access. Ask your college-aged friends about it sometime.

I heard this report as I was scanning radio stations on my way home last night. Since I often "claim this rule" I thought I would share it with you. So this is courtesy of the John Tesh Show!

Do you use the "5-second rule"?
You know, if food falls on the floor and you pick it up within 5 seconds, it's safe to eat. Well, it really depends on the floor.

Here's what researchers at the University of Illinois found out:

The first person to implement the rule was Genghis Khan. But his standards were really low - as far as he was concerned, anything was safe to eat if you picked it up within 12 hours.

They also discovered that women are more likely than men to eat food that falls on the floor.

And cookies and candy are more likely to be picked up and eaten than a piece of broccoli.

So, they tested the "5-second rule" on various university floors. In elevators, libraries, cafeterias, and in front of the vending machines. And the floors were so bacteria-free, they tested them twice. They weren't sure whether the cleanliness was due to dry conditions, or an awesome custodial staff. But food dropped on those floors was safe to eat after 5 seconds. Then they tried the test again.... This time in a lab. They contaminated the floor with bacteria, and dropped cookies and gummy bears on it. In every case, bacteria was transferred to the food within 5 seconds or less.

So, what's the bottom line? Since you can't tell if your floor is bacteria-free, the basic rule of thumb is: If you drop it, toss it.

Credit goes to Mike Cope for pointing me towards this article by Tom Smith in Relevant magazine. Mike is a minister in Abilene, TX whose blog I read on a regular basis. Though I have met his brother and niece, I have never met Mike. But his blog is often insightful and thought-provoking.

Tom Smith's article starts like this:

I love experiments. A few years ago I wore my Jabez T-shirt in Colorado Springs. It said, "I prayed the prayer of Jabez for thirty days and the only thing I got was this lousy shirt." The reactions I got were truly amazing. Some people were furious while others thanked me.

A few weeks ago I embarked on another one of my ventures. The laboratory I chose was the local Christian bookstores in Johannesburg, South Africa. The experiment was really simple; I would browse the store in search of books on helping the poor and fighting AIDS. After I saw a million, "Here's how to use Jesus to make you more successful" titles, I would then ask the sales clerk or manager if they stock books about helping the hurting and helpless.

The first store's clerk looked confused when I asked the question, and the manager intervened and said, "If you find a book on the subject you should immediately buy it."

Two days later I took my science to a bookstore in another mall. I walked in with one of my seventeen year old friends, who happened to be someone who was on the receiving end of apartheid. I asked the clerk if they had books on poverty or AIDS. Nothing could have prepared me for the answer she gave me.

"No sir, this is a religious bookstore. I think you should try the secular bookstore around the corner." In utter shock I asked her if she didn't think that helping the poor or sick had anything to do with religion. I only got a blank stare. Now it's easy to harp on this poor girl but to tell you the truth, if you asked my the same question a few years ago, I probably would have had the same confused look, and I'm a pastor! I often wonder why I never made the link between my relationship with Christ and my responsibility towards the people who suffer and are poor.

To read the rest of the article, go here.

Most of our nation paid attention last week to the passing of Rosa Parks - a woman of courage and conviction who took a stand (or a seat) that helped to change our nation for the better. It seems that today's world lacks much of that kind of courage and conviction.

We celebrate those who are "brave" enough to jump out of planes or do other daring deeds, but we are lacking those who are willing to stand alone for the things that they believe in. I know of many athletes who are not scared to do back flips on a four-inch beam or fling themselves 19-feet in the air on the end of a fiberglass pole but who aren't willing to stand alone with their convictions. It is easier and safer to go along with the crowd, to compromise, to give-in.

I tried to emphasize to the SHS guys last week that real courage - the kind of courage that lasts a lifetime and makes a difference - is shown by standing for what is true and right and by not giving in to the crowd. Whether it be in regard to sexual purity, drinking, areas of religious conviction, etc., we need men and women of courage and conviction to influence our world for God and to leave a legacy of changed lives.

One of the saddest passages in the Bible is in John 12. As the enemies of Jesus gather to plan how they might kill him, John gives us this insight:

“Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.” John 12:42-43

How often do we allow ourselves to sit in that same place?

In the "It's About Time" department, it was announced today that Razorback track coach John McDonnell has been named to the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame. For those of you not familiar with Coach McDonnell, he is the most successful coach of any sport in NCAA history. His teams have won 41 NCAA national team championships. Dozens of his athletes have won national championships and competed in the Olympic games. He has proven himself to be a master of developing the under-developed and under-rated athlete. Many of his national champions and Olympians first came to Arkansas from other schools (where they struggled) or without scholarships. He has the ability to recruit the right kind of athletes and prepare them to perform at their best in the most important meets. He is also a very humble and personable man. For more on John and this award, check out this article.

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A little over a year ago, I was sitting in the stands at the Springdale High football stadium, waiting for the Fayetteville/Springdale game to start. Sitting next to me was an older gentleman who, obviously, wasn't from the area. He had come from Kansas to watch his grandson in the band (and SHS has a great band), so he was quizzing me about the teams. As we chatted about the game and about Kansas, I somehow discovered that the gentleman next to me was Wes Santee. There probably weren't a handful of people in that stadium (or reading this blog) who knew Wes Santee. But I did. In the 1950's, he, John Landy, and Roger Bannister were literally racing to see who would be the first man to run a four minute mile. Growing up in Kansas, I was very familiar with the legendary Kansas Jayhawk distance runners - Glenn Cunningham, Wes Santee, Billy Mills, and Jim Ryun. So I was thrilled to be sitting with Wes Santee! A few weeks later, he sent me an autographed copy of The Perfect Mile - a book about those three runners and their efforts to run four minutes. (It really is a good book!)

Why do I mention that? Wes Santee is being inducted into the Track and Field Hall of Fame with Coach McDonnell.

We're teaching a series on "Spiritual Disciplines" at our Tuesday night meetings. For those not familiar with the phrase "spiritual disciplines," it basically refers to those things that we can do to put ourselves in a position for God to transform our lives. The most common ones are things like prayer, fasting, Bible reading and meditation, etc. (Of course, you can also do these things and never be changed at all. We have to approach them desiring and willing to be changed - expectantly desiring to encounter God in them.)

Most of the spiritual disciplines are diametrically opposed to way our world works and the way that most of us live much of the time. Tonight we talked about solitude and silence. The more I think about these, the more I think it they are foundational to really encountering God. As you read through the gospels, you see that they were a regular part of Jesus' life. God tells us in Psalm 46 to "be still and know that I am God."

And yet they are so foreign to our times. We live in a world full of words and noise and busy-ness and hurry. And we buy into it. The first thing that many of us do when we get in the car or walk in the house is turn on the radio or television. Silence makes us nervous. The idea of solitude frightens us. Yet we miss so much from not slowing down, quieting down, and listening to God.

"There is hardly ever a complete silence in our soul. God is whispering to us well-nigh incessantly. Whenever the sounds of the world die out in the soul, or sink low, when we hear these whisperings of God. He is always whispering to us, only we do not always hear, because of the noise, hurry, and distraction which life causes as it rushes on." Frederick Faber

Henri Nouwen calls solitude "the furnace of transformation."

What do we do about this? How do we find more time for silence and solitude?

Maybe the easiest way is in little, practical steps. Don't turn on the car radio. Don't turn on the television. Take advantage of the opportunities for "little solitudes" during the course of your day. Find a quiet place - a library, a park - where you can listen for the "incessant whispering" of God. Plan some solitude into your schedule on a regular basis - an afternoon a month, a couple of days a year.

I know I need more solitude and silence for my spiritual health and transformation. My guess is that so do many others. It goes against the norm of our culture. But it is what is needed for God's work in our lives.

Saturday was a good day for me all the way around. First of all, it was Gina's birthday. We aren't really be "celebration" people - we don't do parties and such for our birthdays. So Saturday was pretty much like any other day for us, but we did get to spend it together (though it was a full day). We got to sleep in and go to a late breakfast at our favorite breakfast place - Susan's (eggs, bacon, and french toast). Then to a wedding at one of the parks in Fayetteville. Then to the gym, where Erin and Stacy were working at a gymnastics meet and a chance to see them and visit with some more friends, then to dinner (pizza and salad at Tim's) and then home. It was a good day together. And I am so blessed to have Gina in my life. She is so giving and so patient with my schedule and my flaws. And she's not getting older (well, OK, I guess she is getting older), but she is definitely getting better.

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Yesterday's wedding was a fun one for a lot of reasons. I've known the couple since they were each freshmen at the University of Arkansas. It was held in a park on a beautifully sunny fall day in Arkansas. The park was full of current students and former students and others that I have known through ministry here. The service was relaxed and fun. When I asked the couple if they had a token of their love, Trevor pulled out a Pez dispenser and gave a piece of Pez candy to Laura and himself. (And then he got the ring.)

One of the blessings of the kind of ministry that I am in is that I get to do a lot of weddings. I have done them in parks and libraries and hospitals and jails. I have done them for high school classmates, jail inmates, former teachers, cousins and nieces, and lots of students and former students. There were probably four or five couples at the wedding yesterday whose weddings I had performed previously and at least one engaged couple whose wedding I'll perform next May. Most have been extremely joyous. One I even performed with my suit pants torn clear down the back! It's a joyous time to watch two people whom you know and love - and whose commitment to Christ and each other you know and admire - "leave their father and mother and cleave to their spouse and become one."

It dawned on my yesterday that Gina and I hit a small milestone this week. This week has been Parent-Teacher Conference week in the Springdale Schools. Of course, that makes for a long, hard week for Gina! But I realized on Thursday that this was the first year since 1988 that we haven't attended conferences as parents of a student!

We always made it a point to go to conferences (and most open houses) and meet all of the girls' teachers. It was never because there was a problem. Erin and Stacy are both great students and great girls. Every teacher spoke highly of them. But more than anything, it let both the girls and the teachers know that we were interested in what was going on in their lives. We wanted to know who was teaching them and what we could do to help. If the girls had a problem with a teacher (and that happens occasionally), we had at least some relationship with the teacher so that it was easier to approach them and find a solution.

They don't have parent-teacher conferences at the university. I guess that's OK. But maybe I should go around and find each of the girls' professors and schedule my own little conference with them ...

Tonight was our annual "Ask Mike Night" at Christ on Campus. I don't really remember how long we have been doing this, but it is always a lot of fun and stretching to me. And our students seem to enjoy it. The way it works is this:

1. Students are given blank 3x5 cards when they come in. They are asked to write down any questions they might have - on any subject. We get questions on everything from religion and the Bible to politics to relationships to things you wouldn't believe.

2. During the service, the cards are gathered, put into a basket, and mixed up.

3. When my turn comes, I pull questions out of the basket and answer them. I have to answer the questions in the order I draw them, I have to answer them right then, and my answer can't be longer than three minutes.

The questions this year included:

* What about people in other religions who have no access to Christianity? Are they lost?

* Should Christian married couples engage in sexual practices that are illegal in their state?

* Do you think most people who call themselves Christians in the US will go to heaven or hell?

* What did Jesus mean when he said he would leave the Holy Spirit as a counselor?

* How much free will does God give us?

* How do we distinguish God's voice from all of the other voices around us?

As you can tell, it is always challenging! It's my goal to work through these questions, and others, over the next few weeks (or months) on the "Ask Mike" part of this blog. And by clicking on "Ask Mike" anyone can send a question to me anonymously via email.

This afternoon I was sitting at the hospital, waiting with a family while their daughter (one of our former students) was undergoing surgery. As we sat there, I talked with Jenise's aunt, who expressed a conern that her son, a student at a university in another state, was enjoying too much of the party life.

After being on a university campus for over 23 years, I know all too well the number of students who fall prey to that. A recent survey on campus showed that half of the students here have done "binge drinking" (more than five drinks in a sitting) in the past month. Our 2:00 AM Grill on Friday nights often puts us in conversations with students who have been partying too hard.

Last night, we saw it again. As we were having our small group leaders' meeting (10:00 pm on Sunday nights), there was an accident across the street. The picture shows you what happened. When I asked the driver how he got his Jeep in that situation, he was too drunk or high to remember.

This is a great time of year to be living in Northwest Arkansas.

The temperatures are great. The highs are around 60 degrees and tonight, for the high school football game, it was in the low 50's/upper 40's. Ideal!

The leaves are starting to turn. I drove to Ft. Smith and back today and it was just a beautiful trip.

The Yankees aren't in the World Series.

If the Razorbacks were a good team, things really would be grand.

But it still has to be better than most any place else!