jump by efrem smith

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The story that was the springboard (excuse the pun!) for Efrem Smith’s Jump is that of the impala. God designed impalas with extraordinary jumping ability, able to leap 13 feet straight up from a stationary position. Jumping forward? Yep, they can do 30 feet. However, at the zoo he visited, Smith saw that the impalas were contained by nothing more than a three-foot tall wall. Adult impalas typically refuse to jump any height if they can’t see where they are going to land. Smith’s point is that impalas won’t jump in faith, and often neither will we.

It’s a message worth reflecting on, with the twist of being couched in arguments for multiethnic diversity in the church. It isn’t a perfect book, but it’s one I’m glad I read.

I do worry, though, that someone anxious to make a jump of their own choosing could read this and walk away feeling affirmed. I saw this happen to a few different friends who quit Teach For America before the end of their two-year commitments: they wanted to leave, so they interpreted anything they read or heard about change to be a message from God or gods or fate. Were they really listening to God or just assuming that God must agree with their will? I can’t answer that because I don’t know their hearts.

I do know mine, though, and I know I’ve tried to force my will on God in the past (hint: it doesn’t work). So if you read this, remember that it all needs to be God-led and –saturated; He should be the springboard for each jump and the determiner of the landing. I don’t think Smith would disagree with that, but I do see places in which someone could misinterpret his encouragement to jump.

Thanks to the folks at The B&B Media Group for providing this book for my review. They didn't ask for a positive review, just an honest one.

Since we keep getting snow (er, wintery stuff)... (part 3)A Mid-December Snow

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Here's the last batch of December snow pictures, these from the December 16th(ish?) snow.

(Don't be expecting pictures of the ice, though. After I nearly killed myself slipping and sliding to get the newspaper on Monday morning, I had little desire to go out there again with or without a camera.)






This snow stuff has been fun, but I'm craving beach weather at this point!

Bad title, good book: How to Stay Christian in College

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I hate the title of this book.

I wouldn’t have picked it if I hadn’t already been familiar with the author, J. Budziszewski. Not only is he a good writer, he knows the college context well, as a professor of government and philosophy at University of Texas for the past 20+ years.

I hate the title because I hate the insinuation that college is a place that turns Christians into pagans, that those who are firm in their faith when they head off to college ought to be concerned about whether or not they can stay Christian. Ugh. What a low bar. Concern about how to continue to grow? Now that makes more sense. But I guess How to Grow as a Christian in College doesn’t have the same ring as How to Stay Christian in College.

The content, though, is the best I’ve seen as a gift book (well, if you can call it one; it’s thicker than most gift books) for those nearing high school graduation. Actually, I think it would be good for younger high schoolers too. It’s a primer to help students know what they believe, stand firm in what they believe, and prepare for challenges. Hitting on topics like worldviews and campus myths (many of which apply to most high schools as well) and coping strategies for change, Budziszewski doesn’t dive as deep into each topic as a mature Christian might like but he does handle each well, albeit superficially at times.

I think this could be a good one for parents to consider reading with their sons and daughters as they enter high school or at some point during those four years.

Disclaimer: NavPress provided a copy of this book for my review, but they didn't ask for anything other than my honest opinion.

Thoughtful nugget: Oddly comfortable, deeply wrong

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The society we in the West inhabit is a strange place. We are oddly comfortable with truths that, on reflection, are deeply dissonant and even disturbing. For example, we seem quite comfortable with the knowledge that up to twenty thousand children die every day from preventable diseases…We develop policies and practices that welcome people with disabilities into our communities, offering them rights and responsibilities, and at precisely the same time we develop forms of genetic technology designed to prevent them from entering society in the first place.

If Vanier is correct that in France within the next few years there will be no children born with Down syndrome because they will all have been aborted, then something is deeply wrong with our society. As my friend John, who has Down Syndrome, puts it, “That doesn’t make us feel very welcome, does it?” 
John Stinson in the introduction to Living Gently in a Violent World, p. 11-12