GroshLink

In case you haven't already, take a few minutes to reflect upon Albert Mohler's "One Word of Truth Will Outweigh the Whole World" -- The Death of Alexander Solzhenitsyn) and Chuck Colson's (w/Anne Morse) Jeremiah at Harvard: Three decades after Solzhenitsyn's speech, where do we find ourselves?).  Their pieces are a good reminder of Solzhenitsyn's prophetic word to democracy which stands true today in America and Russia.

A few years ago InterVarsity held a Graduate and Faculty Ministry Winter Retreat at Roxbury Camp, Roxbury, PA.  Today, I return with some members of Elizabethtown and Manheim Brethren in Christ congregations for Roxbury Holiness Camp Meeting's Missions Day.  I'm looking forward to meeting a number of missionaries, hearing their stories, and being encouraged regarding in pressing on with the Gospel mission. 

Historical Note:  Roxbury Holiness Camp Meeting is an annual gathering birthed in 1935 when revival meetings were held in an old dance hall.  The Camp Meeting birthed Roxbury Camp.

Remember the Christianity Today article Unchained Faith: Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, and John Bunyan [click here for my post of an excerpt regarding Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881)]. With Alexander Solzhenitsyn's (1918-2008) passing I am reminded of the article as I read Solzhenitsyn, Literary Giant Who Defied Soviets, Dies at 89 (NY Times), Editorial Observer:  Solzhenitsyn in Search of the Russia That Always Eluded Him (NY Times), and Albert Mohler's "One Word of Truth Will Outweigh the Whole World" -- The Death of Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

Have you read the Christianity Today (CT) classic Parents and Prodigals: As my daughter leaves for college, packing up her belongings, she is still a stranger to me (came across it this morning in a CT email)?  Here's a quote:

Despite the manuals, the self-help guides, the democratizing or tyrannizing of the family, despite even our most sincere efforts at searching the Scriptures and the mind of God in prayer, we fail. Every day, children from Christian families with the best sort of spiritual and moral instruction and example run away from home, become alcoholics, get or are gotten pregnant, become addicted to drugs, wreck cars, cheat in school, break windows, commit suicide. Like cancer, it strikes indiscriminately. Being a Christian offers no immunity from family tragedy. ...

I look at my daughter, who is several inches taller than I am now. My years of sheltering her are over. I sometimes quake with gratitude that she has, beyond dreaming, turned out to be strong, intelligent, and beautiful, knowing that her being so is a matter of grace and not my doing. I am also grateful that her heart has grown large enough to shelter others, perhaps even her provoking parents, when that time comes. But most of all I look forward to that time beyond time when the both of us "will be set free from bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God," together, as sisters.

That Lily Joy is living up to her name.  She is so smiley and good natured!  What a good baby!  She really likes to look at our faces and smiles easily.  She remains fairly predictable and easily soothed.  The past few nights I was able to lay her down in her crib awake (an hour after feeding her) and she drifted off to sleep with nary a peep.  Wow!  She'll typically sleep for about 5 hours, eat, and then sleep for another 3-4 hours.  She's usually pretty sleepy throughout the morning and is awake the most in the evenings.

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Many times I'm asked what I do and why I do it, i.e. my work with  Emerging Scholars and Faculty as part of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.  The short answer is that I'm responding to the call of God, one which came to me as a student and continues with me to this day.  If you'd ask me to flesh it out a little further, I'd share something similar to Dick Staub's recent post The Intellectual & Spiritual Task at Hand & The Next Generation, (Note:  Don't miss his Get Up Off Your Knees: Preaching the U2 Catalog, Beth Maynard Podcast).