Meet my friend Bob. He is, to use one of his favorite phrases, totally bitchin’.
Another byproduct of engagement is that all of the canned answers to complex questions seem to melt away. I think that’s because we see ourselves in the context of something larger that is unfolding; and the details aren’t distractions, they are ladder rungs that we can pull ourselves up on. We remember because we are no longer observers. I think that Jesus had in mind that we would not just be “believers”, but “participants”. Not because it’s hip, but because it’s accurate. He wanted people that got to the “do” part of faith; not because He wanted activity, but because He wanted our faith to matter to us.
A couple years ago I was part of a small ministry team of about fifteen people at SPU. We were blessed (I don’t use that word lightly) to have Bob come and talk with us at one of our staff meetings, and I guess I’ll just say that he knocked our socks off with his boundless enthusiasm and words of encouragement. I was impressed enough that he spent 2 hours late on a Monday night hanging out with a bunch of college kids, but then a couple weeks later I got a handwritten postcard from him in my campus mailbox. He took time out of his very busy schedule (Bob is, among other things, a member of the Ugandan consulate, or something like that) to write me a personal word of encouragement, for which I was incredibly grateful. You should check out his stuff.
He’s going on the blogroll for sure.
Of City Streets and Falling Leaves 