Thoughts Along the Way: 11.06

Thursday, November 9

Last week was a good week. It's just too bad that I've just now had time to blog about it!

* Our daughter, Erin, passed her Nursing Board Exam and is now a licensed RN! Next step, finding a job.

* We have hired Jim Miller to be our campus minister at the University of Arkansas, Ft. Smith. Jim has been a friend of ours for almost 30 years: one of my college roommates, a groomsman in our wedding, and I was best man in his. Many of you will remember that Jim's wife, Cheryl, passed away in September. He is ready to get back in ministry and excited about campus ministry. He has spent the last three weekends with us and has had a chance to see a lot of different facets of it - from the inner-city trip (see below) to the 2:00AM Grill to our worship services to mentoring students and more. We are excited to have him in Ft. Smith (he'll start at the first of January). I believe that he will do great in campus ministry - he has the personality and giftings for it - and it will take a load off of me. I've been down there one or two days a week for most of this semester.

* We sent a group of about 36 down to Dallas for a weekend of ministry in the inner-city. They had a great (and safe) trip. These kinds of trips begin to open the eyes of our students to the needs in our world and the reality that they can help do something about them. Case in point: Erin (see above) wants to work as an RN in an inner-city hospital or clinic.

* Through a strange set of circumstances, I have been in contact with a couple of high school classmates - guys that I probably haven't seen or heard from in 20 years! It seems that one of them sits in the desk right behind one of our alumni in Dallas.

* ESPN Game Day will be here in Fayetteville on Saturday for the Arkansas-Tennessee game. They are saying that this may be the hardest ticket to get in the history of Razorback football. And I have one! Thanks, Brian!

Wednesday, November 1

Last weekend we celebrated Gina's 50th birthday. It was a great weekend. First, her teacher friends decorated her room on Friday with ducks and gave her a plethora (I don't get to use that word very often) of duck cards and gifts. (I would post a picture of her in her duck hat, glasses, necklace, and watch but I would be in so much trouble.) Then, on Saturday night, we had a surprise dinner party for her with about 35 folks - family, church friends, school friends, college students, family friends. It was a wonderful evening. I think her 50th birthday celebration was special - even with her older sisters' harassing her all week.

And she deserves all the attention and appreciation. She is a such a great mother to our daughters, wife to me, teacher to her students, and friend to so many. She gives and gives.

And she's still a hot little mama!

*************************

We've been doing a series on Tuesdays at ConC to try and help students to think "Christianly" about our culture and the issues of our day. We've talked about such things as justice, affluence, sexuality, etc. This week the topic was "What does it mean to be pro-life?"

For most of us, we think of "pro-life" in terms of one issue - abortion. But a consistent "ethic of life" should influence our thinking about life at all points. Every life is valuable because each of us have been created in the image of God. Each person is intrinsically valuable because of that and not because of what they can produce or contribute. When you begin to apply that value of life consistently across the board, it applies to so many issues: poverty, capital punishment, war, euthanasia, stem cell research, living wages, health care, and more. Unfortunately, many politicians who are "pro-life" never get beyond abortion and fail to address the broader implications of a consistent pro-life ethic. And many of us who are Christians are the same. It seems that, historically, those of us who are conservative in our faith have been the slowest to address life-ethic issues.

Trying to think through these issues with our students has been a stretching experience. It makes me look at the current political issues and races differently.

************************

Speaking of pro-life, here are a couple of interesting articles.

The first if from ABC News regarding a court case in Virginia. The second is from The Times (of London) regarding some technological advances and some of the reactions to them.

************************

"People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated."
D.A. Carson


Thoughts Along the Way Thoughts on the interaction of God, people, truth, and our world		Michael Armstrong For over 24 years, I have been working in student ministry at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Working with college students has given me an opportunity to look at the spiritual life from many different angles. This site gives me the chance to reflect on those angles in a little more depth. Because of the nature of this blog, these thoughts may not always reflect those of my directors, students, staff, or family!
Thursday, November 9 Last week was a good week. It's just too bad that I've just now had time to blog about it! * Our daughter, Erin, passed her Nursing Board Exam and is now a licensed RN! Next step, finding a job. * We have hired Jim Miller to be our campus minister at the University of Arkansas, Ft. Smith. Jim has been a friend of ours for almost 30 years: one of my college roommates, a groomsman in our wedding, and I was best man in his. Many of you will remember that Jim's wife, Cheryl, passed away in September. He is ready to get back in ministry and excited about campus ministry. He has spent the last three weekends with us and has had a chance to see a lot of different facets of it - from the inner-city trip (see below) to the 2:00AM Grill to our worship services to mentoring students and more. We are excited to have him in Ft. Smith (he'll start at the first of January). I believe that he will do great in campus ministry - he has the personality and giftings for it - and it will take a load off of me. I've been down there one or two days a week for most of this semester. * We sent a group of about 36 down to Dallas for a weekend of ministry in the inner-city. They had a great (and safe) trip. These kinds of trips begin to open the eyes of our students to the needs in our world and the reality that they can help do something about them. Case in point: Erin (see above) wants to work as an RN in an inner-city hospital or clinic. * Through a strange set of circumstances, I have been in contact with a couple of high school classmates - guys that I probably haven't seen or heard from in 20 years! It seems that one of them sits in the desk right behind one of our alumni in Dallas. * ESPN Game Day will be here in Fayetteville on Saturday for the Arkansas-Tennessee game. They are saying that this may be the hardest ticket to get in the history of Razorback football. And I have one! Thanks, Brian! posted by Michael T \| 11/09/2006 12:16:00 AM \| 0 comments Wednesday, November 1 Last weekend we celebrated Gina's 50th birthday. It was a great weekend. First, her teacher friends decorated her room on Friday with ducks and gave her a plethora (I don't get to use that word very often) of duck cards and gifts. (I would post a picture of her in her duck hat, glasses, necklace, and watch but I would be in so much trouble.) Then, on Saturday night, we had a surprise dinner party for her with about 35 folks - family, church friends, school friends, college students, family friends. It was a wonderful evening. I think her 50th birthday celebration was special - even with her older sisters' harassing her all week. And she deserves all the attention and appreciation. She is a such a great mother to our daughters, wife to me, teacher to her students, and friend to so many. She gives and gives. And she's still a hot little mama! *********************** We've been doing a series on Tuesdays at ConC to try and help students to think "Christianly" about our culture and the issues of our day. We've talked about such things as justice, affluence, sexuality, etc. This week the topic was "What does it mean to be pro-life?" For most of us, we think of "pro-life" in terms of one issue - abortion. But a consistent "ethic of life" should influence our thinking about life at all points. Every life is valuable because each of us have been created in the image of God. Each person is intrinsically valuable because of that and not because of what they can produce or contribute. When you begin to apply that value of life consistently across the board, it applies to so many issues: poverty, capital punishment, war, euthanasia, stem cell research, living wages, health care, and more. Unfortunately, many politicians who are "pro-life" never get beyond abortion and fail to address the broader implications of a consistent pro-life ethic. And many of us who are Christians are the same. It seems that, historically, those of us who are conservative in our faith have been the slowest to address life-ethic issues. Trying to think through these issues with our students has been a stretching experience. It makes me look at the current political issues and races differently. ******************** Speaking of pro-life, here are a couple of interesting articles. The first if from ABC News regarding a court case in Virginia. The second is from The Times (of London) regarding some technological advances and some of the reactions to them. ********************** "People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated." D.A. Carson posted by Michael T \| 11/01/2006 11:17:00 PM \| 0 comments	Christ on Campus AR Track Officials Woot! Last week was a good week. It's just too bad that ... Last weekend we celebrated Gina's 50th birthday. I... Some earlier link problems have been corrected. So... Maybe you saw this in the news: "Mark Downs, a li... I haven't had a chance to post since the horrifyin... My "baby" daughter turns 20 today. That starts to ... This is my 25th year of working with college stude... Cheryl Miller "took her first breath of heaven's a... September 11. People more articulate than I am ha... For twenty-seven years, I have basked in the knowl... 04.05 05.05 06.05 07.05 08.05 09.05 10.05 11.05 12.05 01.06 02.06 03.06 08.06 09.06 10.06 11.06 Current Posts