Spiritual Formation

Imagine a kindergartener looking solemnly at a plate of broccoli. Now imagine hearing a father’s instructing voice, “In our family, we do things we don’t like.”

It never would have occurred to my parents to select readings for our family story time that reflected the Christian year. They were unfamiliar with it, as was I for many years. For example, in my senior year of college, my literary-minded apartment-mate proposed throwing a Twelfth Night party à la Shakespeare.

What comes to mind when you hear missions or missionary? Does it conjure up images of rural living in straw huts in underdeveloped Africa? Is it a life devoid of all knowledge of American pop culture, technology, and internet? I’m a missionary, and I live in Madison, WI.

My wife and I once received a glass chicken as a gift. Inside, you could place colorful soaps for decoration. We made the best use we could of our gift, displaying her ornamentally on the toilet tank in our bathroom, but she eventually succumbed to the Goodwill box.

Friday, October 21, was World Student Day, an annual event where thousands of students in the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students celebrated the work of God in their lives and prayed for one another and their campuses.

Stuff. It’s everywhere. And we love it. Consumerism! The Musical is a hilarious critique of the culture we live in.  In this musical, consumerism is the air we breathe, the song we sing, the dance we dance.

“A NEW command I give you: love one another.  As I have loved you so you must love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

I grew up in church, faithfully attended youth group, and was pretty serious about my faith throughout high school. So when I came to college, I knew I had a choice to make.

One of my favorite things to do during the summer, besides lie by the pool, is to go on a Retreat of Silence (ROS).

It’s been three years since my life was radically awakened. Three years since I got on a plane for twenty-four hours and got off in a completely different world. Three years since an Ethiopian coin was slammed down in front of me and an unforgettable phrase uttered...