Living life with steps of faith

It has been a while since I've lived life in the indirect discourse. Ministry to me, over the past several years, has been an active profession that has occurred directly in manner of speech and interaction with others. It has been a while since I've thought about the indirect discourse of our lives, the ministry that occurs whether we want it to or not. Tonight I realized, rather remembered what a testimony our daily lives are to the gospel message that we hold so dear. Whether we like it or not our lives reflect our theology and our theology creates a message that others see and observe. Some will not like this theology, it may make them uncomfortable and thus they will create space between persons, whereas others might find this theology curious and draw nearer in order to find out what makes the theology tick and if there are any loop-holes in it. Others may choose to ignore it and just maintain that relationship of regular acquaintances, whereas others may align with ...

I'm sitting in my room praying and thinking, "After the resurrection did the disciples pray to Jesus?" Just imagine this with me for a moment. You have spent the past 2 - 3 years of your life following this intriguing man around, your feet are calloused, your memory is overflowing with moments around the campfire or dinner table, and you've been challenged to completely shift your Jewish worldview. And then he is gone. Just as quick as he came, just as brief as the moment he walked the shoreline past your fishing boat and called out to you, he is gone. And you are left knowing you've met an incredible man who was more than a man -- a man who was somehow divine. Now there is no one around you analyzing deep fulfilled Christological theological concepts, but there are plenty of Greek voices and new philosophical ways of contemplating life's happenings, there are Jewish commentaries, and there are the conversations that have happened along the roadside. An...

Last night I read this brilliant writing of E Auerbach that describes so eloquently the distinction and powerful difference between Greek mythology and the sacred writings of the Hebrew narrative. My eyes were filled with tears as I flipped the pages of this worn-torn book called the Mimesis and noted how the God of the Bible did not see a need to clarify His identity with explicit descriptions nor need to focus on the character of His followers without first noting their relationship with Him. After reading several chapters by different authors critiquing the Genesis text as only a theological writing and not having any historical substance, the writing of Auerbach came as a breath of fresh air. He put to words what I want to claim about my willingness, ability, and desire to approach the Bible as a scholar while still fully having faith in the Divine's creation of the text and the truthfulness of the story. One of my peers, who is ahead of me in the sequence of classes, com...

Hmmm. Wouldn't life be convenient if we could just plan it out to go exactly how we would like? But, as it has probably been said a thousand times before, "life happens!" and it doesn't go as we would plan. Last night, after writing down my three goals for the next five years, I started to realize what my life would look like if those goals were to be accomplished in the amount of time that I expect. In our society, there seems to be a number that really represents coming of age. It is a number that represents the end of youthfulness and the time when one must really buckle down and be an adult. In youth ministry and cultural discussions it is often brought up that the more predominant United States culture does not have a specific age selected for adulthood or any special ceremony to recognize adulthood as a significant rite of passage. But, after writing my goals last night, reflecting upon them, and thinking about what I've seen in people's lives, I now mus...

I just realized today that I really only have 3 main goals for the next 5 years of my life. This may or may not seem surprising to the reader, but I find it quite surprising as a person who is very goal-oriented and driven. Plus, I know my tract history of regularly updating my list of 100 goals created back in 7th grade. So, anyway, this is where I would like to be five years from now: 1. Graduated from Divinity school with my MDiv. 2. Be a professional woman with a career that includes quality health insurance and a decent wage that allows room for some significant giving. 3. To be contentedly married and to have already had my first child. Now, when I look at that limited list of goals, I realize that they include some pretty big life changes. It is amazing to think of how much the culture and the structure of my immediate family has the potential to change over the next five years. Now that my sister is also an adult and choosing to take early steps in demonstrating her free...

It often seems that I accidentally find myself in the right places and once I realize where I am I then have to turn to God and ask, "How did I get here?" and "What plans do you have for me here?" It seems as though I have once again reached one of those places which means I will need to be more than usual on my knees in prayer seeking God's direction. This place reminds me much of my first night at a national pageant when I was asked by one of the pageant hosts what was my reason for being at the pageant, to which I was not able to give a reply. I remember going into my room and shutting the door and realizing where I was and the significance of it all and then I knelt at the bed before God and sought His answer to the question of "why?" Thus I am at that place again, door closed, the reality of the place I find myself in staring me in the face and the host's questions still etched in my head, "What is your reason for being here?"

This afternoon I joined other language students in the Special Collections section of the library. We were meeting for a special 2-part seminar on ancient biblical texts. As I entered the meeting room, I was surprised to find a rolled up parchment and a large selection from a leather Torah. In front of me also lay several biblical manuscripts, one possibly worth a million dollars, all uncased, and available to touch. I was even more surprised, but quite delighted to hear our professor encourage us to touch these ancient manuscripts and feel the material from which they were made. Our professor encouraged us to consider the hands that have touched and those that produced the texts and to see the life story of each document. As I sat there listening to this expert in New Testament texts and biblical languages, I was overwhelmed with the responsibility we have to preserve Koine Greek and Biblical Hebrew. Over the past week and a half of studying Koine Greek at an intensive level, I ...