Man or Rabbit

If life is discovered on another planet, what implications might it have for our faith? This discussion, prompted by the recent exploration of Mars, kept us up until the wee hours of the morning. Part metaphysical, part theological, and more than a little humorous, the dialogue spurred by this questions is the reason we love working with college students. What other group of people would end a Bible discussion of Genesis with this query - and then stay up until 1 a.m. debating its potential significance (or lack of)?

Our favorite day of the week this summer was Tuesday. I would spend the afternoon cooking for an indeterminate number of both carnivorous and herbivorous students (not an easy feat). They would begin to trickle in around dinnertime, while Liam provided the evening’s entertainment with his eating antics. (A smiling baby with oatmeal in his hair never fails to be amusing.:)

Then, after Jeff or Norman coaxed everyone away from the ping pong table, dessert, or the baby, we discussed the past week’s study of the Old Testament, using Norman’s book Left of Matthew, a survey of OT themes.  Jeff and I continue to be amazed by how much we learn through studying the Bible with students who have such a wonderful variety of life experiences and perspectives. They are so good at getting us out of our “box” and helping us think about God and faith in news ways!

And then. . . after the formal study was done, that’s when the aliens, and the gender roles, and the social justice issues, and the random meaningless discussions that somehow build relationships despite their banality, came out.  And the games of Settlers (of which Jeff only managed to win one;). Somehow, through all of this, God grew community between the students in ways that we haven’t seen before. We’re excited how these relationships will be a springboard for increased community within the larger group this coming year!

Revelation 21:1-4

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.  And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared  as a bride adorned for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (ESV)

Is God a concept or reality to you?  Here’s a free sermon by Tim Keller that’ll help you answer that question.

In order for us to work full-time with students, God uses many people, and churches, to provide for the needs of our family and the ministry at the U of I.  We’re here because people have joined us in our mission to reach, disciple and equip college students to become lifelong laborers for Christ.  However, we are still in the process of building a team of ministry partners so that we can be here full-time, for the long-term.

So, fundraising is a large part of what we’re doing this summer. Our goal is to raise an additional $2,000 per month by the end of the summer.  Every $20 monthly commitment brings us 1% closer to that goal, and we will continually update this site to reflect our progress!  Since we’re just getting started, we’ve currently raised 0% of the $2,000.

Please pray for us as we email, call and meet with new (and old) contacts who may want to partner with us.  If you desire to help reach college students with the Gospel and are interested in helping us reach our goal, please email us at jeff@navimpact.com.  We’d be happy to send you more information and answer any questions you may have about our ministry and how you can get involved.

Today through Thursday I’m attending a conference called STEWARDship Workshop. Here’s a short description from the conference website:

The STEWARDship Workshop is a collaborative effort involving church leaders, scientists, ethicists, and scholars of religion. We are joining together to achieve a deeper understanding of the most pressing environmental issues in all of their dimensions (scientific, social, religious, ethical, etc.).

I’ll be sure to write more regarding the conference in the coming days.  In the meantime here’s a list of some of the lectures I’ll hear.

• Ken Cuffey (Professor of Biblical Studies, Urbana Theological Seminary), “An Eco-Theology of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible”
• George Fisher (Professor Emeritus of Geology, Johns Hopkins University), “Biblical and Ecological Paths to Human Flourishing”
• Ken Cuffey (Professor of Biblical Studies, Urbana Theological Seminary), “An Eco-theology of the New Testament”
• Todd Daly (Assistant Professor of Theology and Ethics, Urbana Theological Seminary), “An Incarnational View of Nature”
• Don Wuebbles (Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, U of I), “Potential Impacts of Climate Change on the Midwest”

Brian Regan. Funny and true.

Around the 1st of every month, I visit www.christianaudio.com to see what their free audiobook of the month is.  For June, it’s John Bunyan’s, The Pilgrim’s Progress.  Be sure to enter JUN2008 at checkout to get the download for free.

I recently finished Tim Keller’s latest book, The Reason For God. Many of you know that I was extremely excited about this book. I was so excited, that I feared it may not live up to all my anticipation. Now that I’m finally finished with it (it took me way longer to read than it should have), I’m happy to say that it lived up to all my excitement. I hope to write a more detailed review of it in the future but for now here’s a link to the book.

www.thereasonforgod.com

The site also contains some free talks that parallel the concepts in the book. These are also well worth your time.

Lately it seems like we’re constantly hearing about more deaths caused by Earthquakes, Cyclones and Tornadoes.  This morning I read that China is trying to evacuate 80,000 people who are being threatened by a flood.  Closer to home there was another tornado that killed six people in Iowa.  As followers of Christ, how should we react?  John Piper posted a helpful article answering that question with Biblical insight.