Christ@Center@Huntington Not@Top

Huntington University has taken on a new ideology this year.  Christ@Center is a thought brought up by the president of Wheaton College to help the colleges in the CCCU find ways to help their students understand better what it means to have Christ at the center of their education.  Part of this makes me cringe, mainly because it feels like overkill.  I think Huntington has done a great job at helping those who are interested in knowing about how Christ can be the center of their liberal arts education.

So my question is this: Is this a push to get those who are not interested in making Christ the center of their education to change their view?  If so, I don't think it's going to work.  It's like trying to get a penguin to fly.  Not happening.

This campaign is not@the top of my priority list this semester.  I'm more concerned about what I can learn in Capstone about being an educated Christian after college.  Leaving a legacy at Huntington University is not my goal.  I'm simply living in a way that gets me out of here on schedule, which happens to be 86 days.

Sacred Marriage

Jess and I are getting ready to start the book Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas.  I've only heard good things about this book from many people (including the cashier at Barnes & Noble).  I'm really excited about starting this book.  I think it's going to be really stretching to our preconceptions about marriage.

deep breaths and knee problems

Another update in my life:  I have hurt my knee doing something unbeknownst to myself.  It's ached since October, but has been hurting pretty badly since Sunday.  When I walk up stairs, there is a popping/squishing sound around my kneecap.  It's not fun.  It's a lot of RICE for me right now.

On to deep breaths:

Pope John Paul II was recorded has having liked to say that Christianity had been given two lungs, one Eastern and one Western, and that for too long the church has been breathing only out of her Western lung (The Gospel According to Starbucks, p. 52).  When anyone brings up the idea of mysticism in Christianity, the Church becomes defensive and drills into the ground that our faith should be a thinking faith, not one based on emotion or experience.  Can we not reconcile the two?  Can our faith be one that is both logical and mystic?  I do not think or feel that the two are mutually exclusive.  What would this look like to balance the two?

Personally, I would like to pick up some of the works of Eastern Christian thinkers.  Some of you reading this may not even know that Christianity has both East and West branches.  It would be worth your while to find out more about the Eastern church and begin to reconcile our differences with them.

in the absence of persecution

Do we, as Christians, lose something when we are not persecuted for our faith?

As I read Matthew 5 this morning, I have to ask this question.  I feel that when we are not persecuted (and I mean more than ridiculed), we can lose sight of what being a Christian is all about.  To me, we lose sense of the rest of the Beatitudes.  In a world where we are the majority, we lose sense of being poor in spirit or meek.  Sometimes it can be so bad that we can lose our sense of mercy in all things.

Persecution has existed for millennia.  But why did we stop becoming the persecuted (which refines our faith) and pick up the sword of the persecutor?

playing in the lumber yard

Finally, I have a job!  I'm a Lumber Associate at Lowe's Home Improvement.  It's a good job.  I'll probably have orientation and training next week and be working about 10 hours a week throughout February.  If you leave near the Fort Wayne area and are looking to do some remodeling (mostly including lumber), make sure to stop by Lowe's.

I'm really thankful that I was able to get a job.  God sure had me hanging by a wire (at least, I was pretty frazzled mentally).  I'm glad to be a working man again.  I feel as though I can contribute to society now.