Fun & Funding (not mutually exclusive!)

So in our mad efforts to make the most of our summer financial opportunities since wrapping up J-term classes, we spent a couple weeks mid-July dogsitting in the town ten minutes up the river. It’s a good thing that Noel already knows this dog up close and personally from my acquaintance with his family, because he’s named Mozart, which might have led me to expect a dog that weighed less than my husband. It would have taken a name like Wagner or Tchaikovsky to start giving me a sense of the ginormity of this dog. As it was, we fortunately knew ahead of time that Moe is a hefty guy. His tongue is as long as my arm and runs like a faucet, and he overheats pretty quickly, so much of our quality time was confined to the kitchen where the drool puddles could be easily mopped up. He’s been trained to keep his, um, messes, in one small part of the yard, a worthwhile investment of training time and expense, for sure. Indeed, he’s been well-trained overall and can’t help that his front and his back don’t always coordinate.

This picture does not do Mozart's magnitude justice.

Our other work time is spent barista-ing at Starbucks and lifeguarding at the YMCA outdoor pool (under the cloud of the nuclear power plant!). (Noel is now known throughout western PA for her water-treading skills, an event she won at the YMCA lifeguarding competition - woooo, that's my wife! -G.) Even though we’re working a lot, we get some fun in the neighborhood with our peeps here and there:

Scott plays tennis. Which means he plays badminton too. Look out, Greg!

Our agent has asked us to make an appearance via Skype in the Chicagoland area on Wednesday, August 31 at 7 pm in Wheaton. Thanks to those of you setting this prayer time up as we launch into Year 2. If you want more info on that gathering, email us.

PT500

Whoooooaaaa.... we're halfway there                              

WHOOOOAAAA-OH!

livin on a prayer!

Not only great in the Rockband experience between readings and assignments, but no greater singing prophet of the 80s than bon jovi could've given us this gem of truth. Halfway through the semester and we're looking to be in good shape. We're still hunting for and of course praying for balance in the force of our lives: schoolwork, workwork, playtime and praytime.

To focus on the schoolwork, this week we highlight Spiritual Formation with Martha Giltinan. A quick aside concerning Martha (as it is inevitable): We were warned about her more than any other professor as someone who is difficult to follow and “a little over-the-top”. She's a Drama Queen Empress and “little over-the-top” is far too insufficient, however, she has offered some of the richest in-class experiences we've had in some time and she approaches the material from such a sense of pastoral conviction that this class is one of the highlights of the week. She doesn't strike me as one who would offer benefits for brown-nosing, so I'm very comfortable lauding her... I'm also comfortable going on record as saying that when I first heard her launch into soliloquy I thought she sounded like a cross between Bullwinkle J Moose and Billy Sunday (what higher praise is there for a first impression?)

Spiritual Formation classes I've (Greg) had in the past have been very basic, “let's read some Dallas Willard” and learn about spiritual disciplines and talk about all those things we want to do for our growth in the Lord but certainly don't have time to do. Good stuff, but always the same stuff. I don't believe we've cracked open any Dallas Willard yet, but the disciplines and the quest for virtue hasn't changed all that much... now we're just reading everyone who likely influenced the Willard. This is great news! We don't have to try and be inventive or creative about fasting, lectio divina, Sabbath rest, the practice of the presence of God, etc because learning how to grow in Christ-likeness and abiding with God through the continual and active presence of the Spirit isn't new either... the people of God have been getting it wrong (and getting it right) for centuries!!! Blessed be the Name!

So, from this class we've learned to envelop ourselves in the great cloud of witnesses that we might learn a lesson or two and go and do likewise, trusting that God will draw us close and conform us to the image of his Son as we walk on that way of becoming like Jesus (status viatoris for the Pieper fans out there). We're going to forget to read our Bibles somedays and we're gonna forget about the blessing of fasting and just be cranky; but all glory to Him who loves us and calls us His own and nurtures us with His Spirit that sometimes we will get it right (whatever that means in this crazy world of spiritual formation) and we will mature and grow in the knowledge and love of the Lord. Since I opened with a hymn, I figure it's good to close with one as well: