Seasons Of The Soul
December 8, 2010 by Steve Pogue
Filed under Bible study, Prayer, Recent MMMs
John Marson Dunaway
French & Interdisciplinary Studies
Mercer University
[Dec 19, 2010] –
During the long last weeks of fall semester, I sometimes get a bit bogged down by all the papers to be graded and committee work to be completed … not to mention the rejection notices one often receives from submissions of scholarly work or grant applications.
Sometimes my devotional life too gets similarly caught in the dryness of routine and I’m not sure where to turn for inspiration. Should I start rereading the Psalms? Get a new devotional book? Change my habits of prayer?
Our Redemption Draws Nigh
We are told in Scripture to lift up our heads, to look up, for our redemption is drawing nigh. That is certainly the heart of the Advent message. One of the things about Advent and Christmas that I love the most is that it renews my expectancy about God’s active, albeit hidden participation in my own life and in events all around me.
I’m grateful for the change of seasons that brings me cozy warmth or refreshing coolness, the rebirth of nature in spring, the blazing color of fall, and even the special beauty of the gray bare woods in winter. How much more grateful I am for the “seasons of the soul,” as Christian poet Allen Tate called them: that the dry, arid days of humdrum routine are always followed by the promise of renewal (“Christ in you, the hope of glory”). It’s a reflection of God’s promise of eternal glory with Him that Advent comes in “the bleak midwinter.”
He Is Still At Work
When we’re burdened with the busy-work of grading, committee work, or research, we can remind ourselves that the Holy Spirit is still at work in every aspect of our lives, even in these circumstances of the teaching life. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
Lift up your heads, o ye academic gates, that the King of Glory may come in!
Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel!
(c) 2010 John Marson Dunaway Photo copyright flickr user lambertwm
John Marson Dunaway
Professor, French & Interdisciplinary Studies
Mercer University
During the long last weeks of fall semester, I sometimes get a bit bogged down by all the papers to be graded and committee work to be completed … not to mention the rejection notices one often receives from submissions of scholarly work or grant applications.
Sometimes my devotional life too gets similarly caught in the dryness of routine and I’m not sure where to turn for inspiration. Should I start rereading the Psalms? Get a new devotional book? Change my habits of prayer?
We are told in Scripture to lift up our heads, to look up, for our redemption is drawing nigh. That is certainly the heart of the Advent message. One of the things about Advent and Christmas that I love the most is that it renews my expectancy about God’s active, hidden participation in my own life and in events all around me.
I’m grateful for the change of seasons that brings me cozy warmth or refreshing coolness, the rebirth of nature in spring, the blazing color of fall, and even the special beauty of the gray bare woods in winter. How much more grateful am I for the “seasons of the soul,” as Christian poet Allen Tate called them: that the dry, arid days of humdrum routine are always followed by the promise of renewal (“Christ in you, the hope of glory”). It’s a reflection of God’s promise of eternal glory with Him that Advent comes in “the bleak midwinter.”
When we’re burdened with the busy-work of grading, committee work, or research, we can remind ourselves that the Holy Spirit is still at work in every aspect of our lives, even in these circumstances of the teaching life. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
Lift up your heads, o ye academic gates, that the King of Glory may come in!
Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel!
Heroes
September 1, 2010 by Steve Pogue
Filed under Caring About Colleagues, Prayer, Recent MMMs, Sharing Your Faith
Phillip A. Bishop,
Exercise Physiology
University of Alabama
[Sept. 12, 2010]–
“We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up…discovering we have the strength to stare it down.” Eleanor Roosevelt
Last year I knew that I would be going to the International Congress on Sport, Physical Education and Health in Costa Rica. As is my habit, I let the local Campus Crusade staff know I was coming, in case there was anything I could do to help the ministry. Sometimes when I travel, this means having a cup of coffee with a small group of believers who need encouragement; other times it’s speaking to large groups.
Carlos Tenorio, Crusade’s national director, contacted Cinthia, a Christian professor, and encouraged her to figure out some way for me to be useful. He suggested arranging an evening meeting with a few professors. Shortly after arriving in San Jose, I learned I was, instead, scheduled to present a paper in a workshop titled, “The role of God in the exercise profession, one professor’s experience.”
Disconcerted
Immediately I was a bit disconcerted to hear that in a secular conference on physical education, I was scheduled to give a spiritual talk! What would come of this?
I reported for my morning workshop expecting to have a handful of sheepish participants. Actually there was only one person present. While we set up the computer and projector, a few more filtered in. However, by the time the talk was actually rolling, there were people sitting outside the door because all the seats in the room were filled.
The audience was enthusiastic and the interest was amazingly high – a rebuke to my own lack of faith. We heard later that only a few people attended the other workshops. One of the participants wrote that, “This workshop was an answer to prayer because I was seeking spiritual encouragement.” A young student, who had his own radio program, taped an interview.
Determined To Obey
Later on, I asked Cinthia why she felt she could schedule a spiritual talk at a secular Congreso. She stated quite simply and directly, “I felt the Holy Spirit telling me to do it, so I did.” She went on to say that she had raised the eyebrows of some of her colleagues when she added this spiritual workshop to the schedule, but that she had heard from God and was determined to obey.
From a previous trip to South America I had one of my testimonies in Spanish that dealt with science and Christianity. As I often do, I forgot to hand them out during my workshop.
The Congreso ended and each participant was given a packet with a completion certificate and other items. I saw a fellow who had been in my workshop and offered him a copy of my Spanish testimony. He said he already had one. Confused, I discovered that Cinthia had duplicated enough copies for every Congreso participant to have one.
Who would have done that? Cinthia is a busy professor like all of us; it would have been easier – safer –to focus only on her work. She was willing to ask God what to do, to listen, and then to do what HE said, even if it never put her in the spotlight. In my book, she’s a hero.
© 2010 Phillip A Bishop