I was being rather cynical the other day and didn’t even recognize my poor attitude at the time. My cynicism was in regard to the book list for one of my classes. I found that, of the six books I was required to buy for the course, one was written by the professor himself and another was edited by him. So my brain immediately goes here: “Must be nice to teach a class and require your students to buy your book. Puts a little extra cash in your pocket, I guess.” But why go negative automatically when I know absolutely…

My school’s fall break started at 3:00 today. We have all of next week off. (Incredibly, this signals the school year as a quarter finished.) Sarah’s school is on the same calendar and Melissa is taking the week off from her job with Clarity. Tomorrow morning Melissa, Sarah, and I are expecting three visitors from three different college campuses … and our family of six will be reunited. This weekend we plan to celebrate Samuel’s birthday late and Melissa’s birthday early. Dinner at the Japanese Steakhouse. Some home-cooking. Hopefully a trip to an apple orchard.  Early next week I will…

Speaking of Paul’s second letter to Timothy… Paul sure does circle around to the subject of suffering a lot, doesn’t he? Chapter 1, verse 8b: “Join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.” Verses 11 and 12a: “Of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am.” He gives a specific example of his suffering in verse 15: “You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.” (And more examples in chapter 4.)  In chapter…

Here’s an example of a Scripture passage that got reframed for me just this week: 2 Timothy 3:1-5 1 “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.” First, I have always read “last days” as “final days before Jesus’s return”. BUT it occurred to me: this is Paul writing to Timothy.  Was Paul under the impression that Jesus was returning so soon that Timothy needed a warning about what was coming with the “last days”?  That doesn’t seem likely to me, so I looked around at a couple of commentaries and found that while many have…

How often does the Spirit reframe a familiar Scripture passage for you? And when I ask that, I am using “reframe” to describe the experience of opening the Bible, reading a couple of verses or an entire New Testament parable or an Old Testament story for the 100th time, and suddenly seeing it in a brand new light.  A radiant light, revealing deeper truths.  Personally, I get so excited when this happens. It is one of the things that fascinates me about the Bible and confirms it as being “God-breathed and … useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in…

The curriculum I use with my 8th graders sometimes offers famous quotes as prompts for thinking and writing. The other day Ralph Waldo Emerson was on tap with this bit of advice: “Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” The prompt asked “Do you agree or disagree? Explain why or why not.” My students 100% agreed. Emerson’s words do appeal powerfully to American ears. But I’m not sure what I think. As I embark on pursuing a new degree, I am reading books by contemporary and ancient sages…

I haven’t used this space recently to pat myself on the back for using this space, so I will do it today as October gets underway: For nine months now, I have written something to post on this blog every day.  Admittedly, none of it would run the risk of making Shakespeare jealous, but I have shown up consistently and while I can’t speak for anyone else, I myself have greatly benefited from putting my thoughts into words on a blog. Furthermore, this daily writing practice has made me more attentive to life and the world around me, and I…

After a couple of days of intense anxiety regarding the coming workload for classes as I go back to school, the Lord sent some reassurance right there in the first text I have been reading for my course, Sacramental Spirituality and Disciple-Making Leadership.  On page 169 of You Are What You Love, James K. A. Smith quotes an ancient prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas called Ante Studium (A Prayer Before Study): Pour forth a ray of Your brightnessinto the darkened places of my mind;disperse from my soulthe twofold darknessinto which I was born: sin and ignorance. You make eloquent the tongues…

The reality of making a commitment to pursue a doctorate while working full time as an 8th grade teacher has officially set in. All it took was getting a good look at the syllabus for one of my two classes which stretch over the next six months: Yikes! The other class hasn’t posted a syllabus or a reading list yet, so I am anticipating this is likely just half of what’s around the corner.  Upon reflection I had to laugh: I know that if the workload had looked too easy, I would have been even more unhappy. If I’m going to…