Last semester, a student in my advanced writing course asked me a strange question. This was an older student in his late twenties who, by the time he walked into my classroom, had already served as a soldier in Afghanistan and in his free time had traveled to places like Finland and Zimbabwe. His strange […]
Built by wealthy philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1901, the Sandusky library was the first of three Carnegie libraries in Ohio. Today its motto reads, “giving all people opportunities to enrich their lives;” surely this library has passed this legacy on for more than 100 years. We all desire to leave some kind of legacy. To […]
“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants….” Isaac Newton /*! elementor – v3.6.6 – 08-06-2022 */ .elementor-heading-title{padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title[class*=elementor-size-]>a{color:inherit;font-size:inherit;line-height:inherit}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-small{font-size:15px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-medium{font-size:19px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-large{font-size:29px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-xl{font-size:39px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-xxl{font-size:59px} JM and BB Early in my career I met two men who had tremendous influence on me as a professor and as a Christian. Both […]
After many years of knowing God, I have a dirty little secret. I’m nowhere near the fisherman I thought I’d be by this time. I’m a guy who loves to catch fish, but I’m not like a friend of mine who has mastered the art of landing a fly on the water in such a […]
Even as new Assistant Professors, down deep inside, we know that we will not be here forever. An abundance of Scripture affirms the brevity of life, and a career of 30 years passes quickly. As profs we have the privilege, and the weighty responsibility, of training the next generation. Students from our classes will be […]
One of the things that we may all find challenging as Christian faculty is discovering the believers in our orbit of relationships on campus. For me, knowing other Christ-following faculty and students has always been a great encouragement. Recently, we hit upon the “Live it Out UCF” strategy in one of our Christian faculty planning […]
In my experience, a Christian student is incredibly encouraged just by the presence of Christian faculty. But perhaps even more, he or she is encouraged by hearing things said in class that tie Christian knowledge to course content. Hearing knowledge inherent in Judeo-Christianity awakens them. It awakens others as well, because such truth is attractive. […]
Sitting across the desk from me, one of my students was crying. In her seventh year of the combined-degree VMD-PhD program that I direct at the University of Pennsylvania, she had just broken up with her boyfriend—the final straw in an extremely stressful year. Such scenes are not unusual. Our eight-year program is incredibly challenging. […]
There is no external reality. Life is what we perceive it to be. That was Tom’s expressed perspective. There was so much to like about him: his enthusiasm for the subjects he taught; his very dry, but ever present sense of humor; his approachability and forbearance in answering rather stupid questions that I would ask […]
This morning I was extremely busy. A student in my current discipleship group unexpectedly stopped by my office. I almost told him that I couldn’t talk right now. Fortunately, the Spirit reminded me that my life is about making disciples. I dropped what I was doing and we chatted for about 45 minutes. I really […]
