Social Imaginary

I am reading a book by James K. A. Smith entitled "Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation". Part of what he is discussing in this section is what causes us act and make decisions the way that we do. He states that "what we think about is just the tip of the iceberg and cannot fully or adequately account for how or why we make our way in the world. There's something else and and something more rumbling beneath the cognitive that drives much of our action and behavior." He calls this "Social Imaginary". Another author, Charles Taylor, defines this as "the way ordinary people 'imagine' their social surroundings, which is not expressed in theoretical terms, but is carried in images, stories and legends."

More from Smith:

A social imaginary is not how we think about the world, but how we imagine the world before we ever think about it; hence the social imaginary is made up of the stuff that funds the imagination -- stories, myths, pictures, narritives. Furthermore, such stories are always already communal and traditioned. There are no private stories: every narrative draws upon tellings that have been handed down (traditio). So the imaginary is social in two ways: on the one hand, it is a social phenomenon received from and shared with others; on the other hand, it is a vision of and for social life -- a vision of what counts as human flourishing, what counts as meaningful relationships, what counts as "good" families, and so forth.

So, that being said, the logical question is: How are we helping our children form their "social imaginary"? What stories, narratives, etc are we sharing to create this? We have been given our children for a short time and it is critical for us to help them build this "vision of what counts as human flourishing, what counts as meaningful relationships, what counts as "good" families, and so forth."

More words from Dallas Willard...

From Revolution of Character:

Concretely, we live in the kingdom of God by intending to obey the example and teachings of Jesus. This is the form that trust in him takes. It does not take the form of merely believing things about him, however true they may be. Indeed, no one can actually believe the truth about him without intending to obey him. It is a mental impossibility. To think otherwise is to indulge a widespread illusion that now smothers spiritual formation among professing Christians.

The idea that you can trust Christ for the hereafter but have no intention to obey him now is an illusion generated by a widespread unbelieving "Christian culture." In fact, you can no more trust Jesus and not intend to obey him than you can trust your doctor and not intend to follow his or her advice. If you don't intend to follow the advice, you simply don't trust the person.

Why don't we change?

I was on my way home from small group Sunday night thinking about the fact that making a change in just about anything is difficult. Careers, city in which you live, friends, schools, behaviors….whatever it is, change is not easy. I remember several years back hearing something like the following: “people are not willing to make change until the pain of their current situation outweighs the perceived pain of the change” – this was related to the sales process. I believe this relates to change in general.

In this case, I was thinking about change in behaviors. If you want to lose weight, you need to change your diet and put some effort into working out – or as I have been know to say “close your mouth and get on the treadmill.” If you want be more productive at work, you need to make some change to the little behaviors such as time management. But what about changes of a spiritual nature? What if we want to live the life that we are told about in John 10:10 – “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Do we continue going on living life as we always have expecting to magically have our life “to the full”? There’s a saying that “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing you’ve always done but expecting different results”. It is going to take change.

Why was I thinking about change coming back from small group? Because we are going through Francis Chan’s “Crazy Love” and he calls us to read and the DO something about it. So when the tough question is asked “how is your life different as a result of reading this chapter” – the common answer is, “it’s not”. Why is this?? Pride? Laziness? Fear? Self-sufficiency? Comfort?

Prayer: legalism, duty, life

This is from a blog that I read regularly (http://theologica.blogspot.com) ....

John Piper:

But the hard truth is that most Christians don’t pray very much. They pray at meals—unless they’re still stuck in the adolescent stage of calling good habits legalism. They whisper prayers before tough meetings. They say something brief as they crawl into bed. But very few set aside set times to pray alone—and fewer still think it is worth it to meet with others to pray. And we wonder why our faith is weak. And our hope is feeble. And our passion for Christ is small.

And meanwhile the devil is whispering all over this room: “The pastor is getting legalistic now. He’s starting to use guilt now. He’s getting out the law now.” To which I say, “To hell with the devil and all of his destructive lies. Be free!” Is it true that intentional, regular, disciplined, earnest, Christ-dependent, God-glorifying, joyful prayer is a duty? . . . Is it a discipline?

You can call it that.

• It’s a duty the way it’s the duty of a scuba diver to put on his air tank before he goes underwater.
• It’s a duty the way pilots listen to air traffic controllers.
  
• It’s a duty the way soldiers in combat clean their rifles and load their guns.
  
• It’s a duty the way hungry people eat food.
  
• It’s a duty the way thirsty people drink water.
  
• It’s a duty the way a deaf man puts in his hearing aid.
  
• It’s a duty the way a diabetic takes his insulin.
  
• It’s a duty the way Pooh Bear looks for honey.
  
• It’s a duty the way pirates look for gold.

I hate the devil, and the way he is killing some of you by persuading you it is legalistic to be as regular in your prayers as you are in your eating and sleeping and Internet use. Do you not see what a sucker he his making out of you? He is laughing up his sleeve at how easy it is to deceive Christians about the importance of prayer.

God has given us means of grace. If we do not use them to their fullest advantage, our complaints against him will not stick. If we don’t eat, we starve. If we don’t drink, we get dehydrated. If we don’t exercise a muscle, it atrophies. If we don’t breathe, we suffocate. And just as there are physical means of life, there spiritual are means of grace. Resist the lies of the devil in 2009, and get a bigger breakthrough in prayer than you’ve ever had.

Jesus as "The Way"

I just started reading "The Jesus Way, a conversation on the ways that Jesus is the way" by Eugene Peterson. Just in the introduction, I found this quote:

Here is a text, words spoken by Jesus, that keeps this in clear focus: "I am the way , and the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). The Jesus way wedded to the Jesus truth brings about the Jesus life. We can't proclaim the Jesus truth but then do it any old way we like. Nor can we follow the Jesus way without speaking the Jesus truth.

But Jesus as the truth gets far more attention than Jesus as the way. Jesus as the way is the most frequently evaded metaphor among the Christians with whom I have worked for fifty years as a North American pastor. In the text that Jesus sets before us so clearly and definitively, the way comes first. We cannot skip the way of Jesus in our hurry to get the truth of Jesus as he is worshiped and proclaimed. The way of Jesus is the way that we practice and come to understand the truth of Jesus, living Jesus in our homes and workplaces, with our friends and family.

living it out...

I'm wrestling with the words of Soren Kierkegaard....

The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church's prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.

walking

I was struck once again by the words of 1 John 2:6

"whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked."

do i really do this?

prayer

I have been known to tell some people that prayer is something that I am terrible at. It seems weird to think of someone that has been a follower of Jesus since he was seven years old to have a bad prayer life….but it’s true. Most days I am lucky to have spent some time talking with God a little before my head hits the pillow. I think it has to do with the fact that I never made it part of my “routine”. I have my Bible sitting on my desk to make sure that I see it first thing when I wake up. This is a physical reminder to read the word. I have medicine that I take daily --- I have to set it next to the coffee maker to make sure that I take it, otherwise I will forget. I have my son tell me to put on my seatbelt when we are in the car because I never made it a habit --- he is my reminder. I walk into the house after being on the road and put my keys, wallet, and phone in my office so I do not lose them…..this is my routine. Unfortunately, I never had any habit or routine when it came to a prayer life. Honestly, I don’t know if I have ever been taught or told how to pray or make it a habit. It is something that is just assumed or expected that you do as a follower of Jesus. That’s all well and good, so how am I supposed to “pray without ceasing” as I am told by Paul?

One day, a month or so ago, I was working as I often do at a local bookstore. They provide free internet and I purchase cinnamon tea from them in return. I decided to take a stroll through the book store and a book caught my eye --- “In Constant Prayer” by Robert Benson. Knowing that I have issues with being able to pray like I’d like to, I decided to purchase the book to see what I could get out of it. Conviction. That’s what I got out of it. This book is about the use of liturgical prayer in our daily lives. Taking time to pray at several hours of the day like the fathers of our Church (big “C”) did back two thousand years ago. This practice actually started way before them and goes on today --- except for the protestant church that seems to have done away with it a few hundred years back.

In this book, “In Constant Prayer” a quote caught my eye. It is rather lengthy, but worth it. Note: at one point, the author speaks about the “Daily Office” which is reference to praying certain liturgical prayers. The quote is as follows:

“We make grocery lists and honey-do lists. We set our alarm clocks, and we program our TiVos. We have automatic deposit and automatic draft, and we make sure we are planning for that glorious day when our children grow up and go off to college or go off to somewhere else (anywhere, if need be). If we are going to move, we do our homework before we buy a house; if we are going to travel, we sort through Priceline; if we are working toward some big event at the holidays, we put a checklist on the refrigerator. We would not dream of trying to do anything in our lives that really matters to us, where it is large or small, without making a list or two or twenty-seven, and checking it twice a day.

I have noticed a curious phenomenon. One of the few things that we are reluctant to make lists about and do research about and have a row of boxes to tick off about are the things that have to do with our spiritual lives. I don’t know why that is.

We say that our spiritual life is important to us. Sometimes we will even go so far as to say that it is the part of our lives that is the most important to us. We also say, at least we say about everything else that matters to us, that if we do not writ it down, we will forget to do it. We say that if we are going to make sure something is done and done well, we need to make a plan so nothing gets missed and nothing gets forgotten.

The place we are least likely to make such a plan is when it comes to our spiritual lives. We would not dream o f being this way about anything else.

Then we go back to a retreat or some such event a year later and realize we are being drawn to the same things again, and so we make the same promises again to God and to ourselves. Then we go home and do not make a plan again, and we look up one day and realize that we have moved no further along again.

We are unwilling, it sometimes seems to me, to leave anything in our lives to chance except the way that we live out our lives in communion with the One who gave us life in he first place. It seems odd to me.

I have spent enough time over the years writing and talking and retreating and studying and teaching, dare I say it, about and around and over and through and inside and out of the practice of the daily office to know at least this much: to pray the office is to anchor your life of prayer somewhere between the daily and the divine.”

Well, if it wasn’t enough for the Spirit to convict me of my lack of prayer life, Robert Benson sure did. I haven’t yet finished the book, but I do plan on purchasing a “daily prayer” book and making it a part of my life. I hope to make prayer as daily as my coffee, medicine or other routines that I have.

be hospitable...

I was reading an article this morning that was quite challenging. The article focused on the practice of showing hospitality --- not just "entertaining". Check out a quote from it below and tell me what you think.

In earlier issues of the Missional Journal I have discussed the need for us to speak the good news and embody it. In a culture of alienation, hospitality becomes a powerful means of incarnating the truth that God in Christ has welcomed us. Christine Pohl, in what is arguably the best book on the topic, writes: “In hospitality, the stranger is welcomed into a safe, personal, and comfortable place, a place of respect and acceptance and friendship. Even if only briefly, the stranger is included in a life-giving and life-sustaining network of relations. Such welcome involves attentive listening and a mutual sharing of lives and life stories. It requires an openness of heart, a willingness to make one’s life visible to others, and a generosity of time and resources” (Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition [Eerdmans, 1999], p. 13).

Particularly important for modeling the gospel is hospitality directed to those living on the margins—the poor, the handicapped, the infirm, the immigrant. Jesus actually warns against throwing parties for friends, family, or rich neighbors. Such hospitality may have more the character of commercial exchange than of gift. Instead he counsels inviting those who cannot themselves repay. In this, he says, “you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:14).

I will be the first to admit that such hospitality is a challenge to western Christians. Most of us have little contact with people on the margins. We are often too concerned with our own safety and security to provide a safe place for others.

The busyness of life also diverts most of us from effective missional engagement. The practice of hospitality is quickly experienced as an intrusion: “It requires one to stop a busy, demanding routine for a period of time and focus attention on the stranger for the sake of the stranger. . . . It is an act that forces us to confront how our lives are driven by agenda and by demands that push away any relational encounter with another” (Alan Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk, The Missional Leader [Jossey-Bass, 2006], p. 157).

The Missional Congregation: Practicing Hospitality
	by David Dunbar

an insightful poem...

I've been doing a fair amount of reading, thinking and praying lately. In my reading, I came across the below poem. It really struck me as insightful. What do you think?

When my brothers were too young to be wise

When my brothers were too young to be wise
But too old to name things creatively,
They invented a game called:
Let’s take turns jumping off Tom’s roof
And throw the cat after the person who jumped.

At least they took turns…

Later, when my brothers were too young to be wise
But old enough to put their scientific knowledge to use,
They played a game called:
Let’s pour gas over this giant pile of weeds
And then light it on fire.

At least the doctor said
That their eyebrows will grow back…

Later, when my brother was old enough to be depressed
But too young to know how to cope,
He would play a game called:
Let’s go to Tom’s house and do a lot of drugs
And drink all his step-dad’s beer.
At least there was that one English teacher
Who asked if something was wrong…
But what could you say?
We are so poorly equipped to deal with these troubles,
And there are so few doctors of the soul these days…
What is there to do?
I know some people who fight it all their lives,
Kicking against the goads till they bleed to death.
Others, like Dad, ignore it,
Thinking that hard work, sunshine, and
The passing of time will resolve it.
Still others, like Mom, ostracize and cast blame
By leaving condemnatory, evangelical polemics taped
To your bathroom mirror.

But now my brothers and I are old enough
To begin to be wise,
Yet still young enough to climb the cold roof
To talk and to smoke.
So I will play a new game with you called:
Let’s get together and bear one another’s burdens.
At least I will not laugh at your pain,
I will not try to fix your problems,
I will not ignore your suffering
Or condemn you with my piety…
I will simply lie here next to you in the cold
While we breathe our smoky prayers to God.

-- Raeben Nolan

turning around...

"To repent means to turn around, to stop what you're doing and do the opposite. To repent means that even though you used to assume one thing was true, you now know it's wrong -- all wrong -- and you will now believe and act upon something totally different. Repent is a good, strong word, full of hope and new beginnings. In the context of Jesus' kingdom, repent is an invitation to another world, another life, a way of being that was supposed to be all along and can be now......
.....Repentance means that we choose to agree only with God's perspective. That He alone is God and He alone understands the blatant ways in which our own hearts deceive us. Evil that we will never notice exists in us and around us.... To repent is to say to God: "I'm blind. I don't see, but I want to. Please show me Your heart in everything."

Quoted from "This Beautiful Mess" by Rick McKinley

Finally....

The time has finally come and the process is over. Alena is ours and we are back home. We honestly wondered if we would ever get to this point. It has been a 1.5 year journey.

The trip to Russia, the ten day stay, and the return trip went very smoothly. We hit a couple of speed bumps along the way, but God made sure it didn't delay the process. Our agency (ABC Adoption out of Kansas) has two representatives in Russia that are very special ladies. Natasha and Nadya took fantastic care of us and treated us like their own children. We will forever be grateful to them. There are many stories from the trip that I am sure I will write about in future posts.

Now on to Alena. We couldn't have asked for a better child. Alena is a true gift from God. She has a very pleasant demeanor and rarely cries. When i say rarely cries, i really mean rarely cries.....on the 20 hour trip back from Moscow, she cried a total of about 30 seconds --- then we figured out that she had to go to the bathroom. She is adjusting well to the new home and boys already. The boys really love her and enjoy entertaining her.

It's good to be back and we look forward to what God has in store for us as she grows. Thanks for all of your prayers along the process, God did make the path smooth.

up and down...

tonight i went to see my dad. it was late, about 8:45 or so when i showed up. he was in his room laying in bed messing with the tv channels. i walked in and his face absolutely lit up. he was so happy to see me....this made me feel really, really good.

he wanted to go for a walk as we normally do and so we went downstairs and outside. we sat outside on the bench and talked for about an hour.

dad was so happy to see me until he finally realized that i wasn't taking him home tonight. once he realized this he was quiet and solemn. he told me he just wants to go home to fort wayne. i reassured him that i do not want him to stay there any longer that he has to, but we have to wait for the doctor to say it is ok. he told me that this makes him depressed. he feels helpless and alone.

this makes me sad.

i am not sure what it is, but i think tonight i just realized how much my dad means to me and how much i hate to see him in this condition. i know it sounds weird that i just realized this, but it just really hit me tonight. i miss my dad.

prayer...

I have found a fantastic daily prayer to get my day started off right. It is from "Victory of the Darkness" by Neil Anderson:

Dear Heavenly Father, I honor you as my sovereign Lord. I acknowledge that you are always present with me. You are the only all-powerful and all-wise God. You are kind and loving in all your ways. I love you, and I thank you that I am united with Christ and spiritually alive in him. I choose not to love the world, and I crucify my flesh and all its passions. I thank you for the life that I now have in Christ, and I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit that I may live my life free from sin. I declare my dependence upon you , and I take my stand against Satan and all his lying ways. I choose to believe the truth, and I refuse to be discouraged. You are the God of all hope, and I am confident that you will meet my needs as I seek to live according to your Word. I express with confidence that I can live a responsible life through Christ who strengthens me. I now take my stand against Satan and command him and all his evil spirits to depart from me. I put on the whole armor of God. I submit my body as a living sacrifice and renew my mind by the living Word of God in order that I may prove that the will of God is good, acceptable, and perfect. I ask these things in the precious name of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

I find this to be a great reminder and level set for the day....

time and generosity...

Quoted from "The Rest of God" by Mark Buchanan:

Generous people have more time. That's the irony: those who sanctify time and who give time away -- who treat time as gift and not possession --- have time in abundance. Contrariwise, those who guard every minute, resent every interruption, ration every moment, never have enough. They're always late, always behind, always scrambling, always driven. There is, of course, a place for wise management of our days and weeks and years. But management can quickly turn into rigidity. We hold time so tight we crush it, like a flower closed in the fist. We thought we were protecting it, but all we did was destroy it.

i can't help but think of Jesus when i read this quote. he was very often interrupted and lived with the mindset that "people matter". i want to be more like this.

emails and cell phones and IMs, oh my!

i am a very large user and abuser of technology. i love the convenience that comes with being reached anywhere, being able to reach anyone all the time, being able to just shoot off a message to convey a thought or idea. i use email, cell phones, and IMs each and every day.

with all of the convenience and availability comes a cost however. i am becoming increasingly aware of the fact that these good things, like anything else in life, can become abused and overused. i have often been proud to call myself a "man of moderation". i like to keep things balanced and not too extreme. if i am not careful, the very good things in life can become bad things just due to excess use and misuse.

one problem with the constant use of the technologies mentioned here is the "always on" mentality. as i become more aware that God calls us to live in rhythms that he has set forth (i.e. work six days, rest one) i realize that i am never really "off". i always have my computer and/or cell phone in very close proximity -- likely on my lap. this is not God's design.

one other issue that is very dangerous is the lack of full human interaction. we are told by experts that somewhere around 90-95% of our communication is non-verbal. if this is the case, we have the propensity to be misunderstood by our electronic messages. there are absolutely huge benefits to being able to communicate electronically, however, there are certain situations that may not be appropriate. i am convinced that God designed us to connect at deeper levels than we do. part of the reason that we do not is we are relying on 5-10% of our communication process that he has given us --- using electronic methods to communicate rather than face to face.

so, don't be concerned if you try to reach me sometime (likely a Sunday) and i don't answer my cell phone and don't respond to your email. also, if you hear me say "let's get together over coffee", you'll understand that i am trying to work with God's help to apply what he is laying on my heart.

Our Russian Princess

Alena Katerina Svetlana Maley

We've just returned from "trip one" of a two trip process to adopt our daughter. She is a precious 17 month old girl from Ivanovo, Russia. We will be making a second trip to in May to bring her home. We are very excited that God has allowed us the privilege of going through this process. The fact that it mirrors the process of us being able to become adopted children of God is amazing. This is shown in the verses:

Rom 8:15-17
(15) So you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God's very own children, adopted into his family--calling him "Father, dear Father."
(16) For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God's children.
(17) And since we are his children, we will share his treasures--for everything God gives to his Son, Christ, is ours, too. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.


The trip to Russia was a good experience. We look forward to being able to bring her home and make her part of our family. We appreciate your prayers and support.

Time...

Time is something often talked/quoted about; “Look how time flies”, “Time is just standing still”, “I’m just killing time”, “time is of the essence”, etc, etc, etc….i’m sure you can come up with more. I’m always blown away how it is human nature to look back in the past and wish we would have “spent” our time differently in situations. Often I find myself doing this….sometimes it is deeply disappointing. I may look back at a day and wish that I spent more time cherishing the moments with my wife and children. I may look back at the week and wish I would have spent some of my work time more appropriately. I may wish I would have taken the time to work out or play basketball. Most often, however, it goes back to wishing we had spent more quality and quantity time with the ones we love.

Most people that take the time to read here likely know what is going on with my dad. He has had an accident and has been in a coma for the last 12 days. Things have been pretty stressful because it has been an emotional roller coaster through the whole process. If you want more details about what is going on, go HERE.

As I think back over the last couple of months, I recall several times that I really stopped to enjoy my dad’s time and company. He often likes to show off his knife collection and decided to do so for the 5^th or so time to me. At first I remember thinking, “I’ve already seen all of these, what is he thinking”; however, there was another voice that said, “enjoy your time with him”. Boy, I’m glad I listened to the second voice. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to him tell me about his Case, Sheffield, Buck, etc, etc, etc… I recall another conversation that I was able to have with dad on the way to the hospice center where my grandfather had passed away. It was a 30 minute ride each way, and I remember thinking how sweet of a time it was. He told me about how proud he is of each of us kids and how he loves my kids (his grandkids) to death. He was just beaming when he spoke of my kids. This makes me happy. He told me that he knows that he hasn’t done all the right things in his life, but he really loves the Lord. I am thrilled that I got this “time” with my dad.

Time is a funny thing. We use it up like it is unlimited. Unfortunately, it is not. There is a limit to the time we are given and every week that goes by, we have spent 168 hours doing something…..was it worth while? If the thing that God has always wanted most is “relationship”, did I spend my time building it with him and others? With dad in the place that he is right now, I sure do think a lot more about time – and the lack thereof. I just hope that this isn’t a temporary reflection that I lose sight of after all of the drama.

about me..

So, it looks like blog tagging is making it's way around. I have been tagged by my brother-in-law mike crawford so i have to write five things that you probably don't know about me. This will likely be difficult since there are probably only two people in the world that actually read my blog and they know much about me. Anyway, here goes:

1) I had a nose job in college. Yes, it's true, extreme makeover style. Actually, my college roommate, dave hoffman, broke my nose during an intramural basketball game.....I had to have surgery, so they made me a new man :)

2) I once had a dog named peaches when i was a very young child. my dad thought it was possessed so he had it put to sleep...that had to do some long term damage to me.

3) Lynnette (my wife) and I will have been together for 20 years this September 17th. i think that i am finally starting to understand her...barely (no fault of hers, i'm just dense)

4) I once got in trouble (grounded for a month) in high school for putting a brown paper bag of dog poop on a girls porch and lighting it on fire. the idea was to have the people stomp out the fire and get their feet dirty....great plan eh? anyway, evidently, i was seen leaving the crime scene and was called by the parents of this girl at my home....needless to say, my parents weren't too excited...

5) I got to go to Korea for work once....for 2 days....I got to go to Brazil for work once....for 2 days....If i could do it over again, i'd push the issue and get a couple of extra days because the travel time to each of those places was longer than the stay.


Well, that's enough about me. Hope you learned something. You can now go check out the following guys, as they have been tagged:

Josh Longbrake

Kelly Byrd

thinking back..

I received a flier in the mail today that had pictures of a student from Blackhawk Christian School (my old school)that passed away in 1992 of leukemia. His name was Greg Hindle and his passing had a pretty profound effect on the school. The flier was a reminder of the "Gregory E. Hindle Memorial Endowment Fund". I was glad to get it as i didn't even know it existed.

One of the pictures in this flier showed Greg sitting in a bathtub at school (fully clothed of course). Those of you that read this that are from BCS in the "old days" remember the significance of the bathtub. For those that aren't aware, one of our teachers -- Tom Cashen -- had an old bathtub in his room. We as students were allowed to sit in it occasionally as he read books from C.S. Lewis to us.

Tom had a profound effect on me an many other students.

He consistently encouraged us to LIVE OUT what we believed, not just believe it.

He would do things like come into class with his robe, slippers, messed up hair and coffee while acting out how he wakes up in the morning and opens the Bible. This visual still sticks with me today --- i have also taken on the habit of rising early to open the Word largely do to this.

Tom figured out long ago how to connect with kids and "LIVE OUT" his faith in the workplace. He used to be the driver's education leader and used that as a forum to connect with kids in the car. He still connects with kids today -- not in BCS -- but in the public school system. He has been a great encouragement to me and I hope to be the same to others.