I love the regenerative nature of the internet and many computer applications. Exhausted your things-to-do on a particular website? Enter new contents in the address bar and the site you were just on becomes the stuff of history.
No longer intrigued by the array of news at your fingertips, but considering coming back to it a little later? Hit command+t and a new tab presents amazingly endless possibilities for your investigative pleasure.
Run out of ideas as you outline that path of thought in Word? Command+n gives you an all new canvas onto which you can visualize your latest musings.
Better yet, use the Word Notebook palette and it can automatically organize those thoughts into an official outline format, giving you the space to sort your sub-thoughts and more. I digress.
The point is, computer programs allow you to create, delete, recreate, store, restore, redesign and just continue on a long-lasting adventure of doing and making. I like that.
And even more than I like that, I like how God gives us a similar opportunity to change things around. His word reminds us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We can go through life trying to make do with what we have, or we can search His word and His way for what we might be missing.
Only when our minds are renewed are we able to truly appreciate the life he has given us. With a renewed mind, we can see opportunity even where closed doors abound. We can hear "victory" when failure seems imminent.
When our minds are renewed, we are afforded a fresh start again and again. We can go forth with a blessed assurance that our next steps will be better than our previous ones, enriched by the new insight we have from hindsight.
That is vision. And coupled with the kind of strength acquired only by making a few mistakes and learning from them, this vision functions like the command+n I so love and need. Let's not forget to give God thanks for his amazing reNEWal.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
to bcm at cal
As we stood on Cal's campus today watching the display of cultural rhythms and passionate purveyors of Black pride, I was struck. I was struck by the bold display of our presence on that campus--one whose demographic statistics attest to a shrinking Black population. I loved seeing the different groups out there tabling, giving meandering Black students an opportunity to see that there are others who may be like them, others who've weathered the storms of Cal and come out stronger. But most of all, I was inspired by the leaders and participants of BCM.
You've come a long way, BCM. You students who carry the tremendous mantle of African-American Christian outreach on Cal's campus are carrying forth the vision, prayers and dreams of those of us who came before you. Those of us who preceded you in tenure at Cal can remember the days when all we had in the way of outreach was a weekly Bible study, one study that afforded the five or six of us who came faithfully an opportunity mostly to connect with each other. God gave us strength to endure the trials of attending one of the world's premier educational institutions--a place that lauds constant critical critique and often scoffs at the mere thought of believing in something/one you cannot scientifically or theoretically prove.
Still, we did what God asked us to do; we sought Him, served Him and committed our time and talents to the work of campus ministry. And more than anything, I believe that God set it in our hearts to pray. That time in BCM @Cal's history was one in which God tested our faithfulness to ask Him for what we had need of. This time in BCM @Cal's history is one in which God is rewarding that faithfulness in a way that far exceeds any predetermined expectations we may have had for Him on the campus of our alma mater.
When I sat at that BCM table and looked out at the BCM gospel choir belting out: "I'm goin' home to live with Jesus! Fare thee well, Fare thee well!" my heart leaped within me. For there, on the steps of Sproul, our beautiful people displayed our culture, gratitude and faith. We, a tireless people who have endured ridicule, withstood disparagement and survived dehumanization, can stand tall, link arms, and articulate ourselves with all the intellect, passion, and flavor with which God has so blessed us. As I listened to you all belt out with fervor your love for God, you sang the melodies of those who came before you--not just alumni, but those who paved the way--our parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, and those for whom a university education existed only as a distant dream, but one which they had the faith to believe in for our sakes. All this on the steps of Sproul.
As alumni, we have come to face new challenges and discover God in brand new ways. We've had to trust him with our post-college lives, our careers, our marriages, and new families. But one thing's remained the same; God is still speaking. He steadily reveals his purpose for our lives, makes us reconsider the myth of self-sufficiency and always preserves our hope. There, on the steps of Sproul, his hope was alive in you.
Keep serving.
You've come a long way, BCM. You students who carry the tremendous mantle of African-American Christian outreach on Cal's campus are carrying forth the vision, prayers and dreams of those of us who came before you. Those of us who preceded you in tenure at Cal can remember the days when all we had in the way of outreach was a weekly Bible study, one study that afforded the five or six of us who came faithfully an opportunity mostly to connect with each other. God gave us strength to endure the trials of attending one of the world's premier educational institutions--a place that lauds constant critical critique and often scoffs at the mere thought of believing in something/one you cannot scientifically or theoretically prove.
Still, we did what God asked us to do; we sought Him, served Him and committed our time and talents to the work of campus ministry. And more than anything, I believe that God set it in our hearts to pray. That time in BCM @Cal's history was one in which God tested our faithfulness to ask Him for what we had need of. This time in BCM @Cal's history is one in which God is rewarding that faithfulness in a way that far exceeds any predetermined expectations we may have had for Him on the campus of our alma mater.
When I sat at that BCM table and looked out at the BCM gospel choir belting out: "I'm goin' home to live with Jesus! Fare thee well, Fare thee well!" my heart leaped within me. For there, on the steps of Sproul, our beautiful people displayed our culture, gratitude and faith. We, a tireless people who have endured ridicule, withstood disparagement and survived dehumanization, can stand tall, link arms, and articulate ourselves with all the intellect, passion, and flavor with which God has so blessed us. As I listened to you all belt out with fervor your love for God, you sang the melodies of those who came before you--not just alumni, but those who paved the way--our parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, and those for whom a university education existed only as a distant dream, but one which they had the faith to believe in for our sakes. All this on the steps of Sproul.
As alumni, we have come to face new challenges and discover God in brand new ways. We've had to trust him with our post-college lives, our careers, our marriages, and new families. But one thing's remained the same; God is still speaking. He steadily reveals his purpose for our lives, makes us reconsider the myth of self-sufficiency and always preserves our hope. There, on the steps of Sproul, his hope was alive in you.
Keep serving.
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