A Sojourner’s Thoughts

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Leaving a Legacy

We spent the last couple of days in Grand Rapids, MN, a place we called home for more than 10 years. It was a fun time, building a house, helping build a church (Grand Rapids Alliance Church), adding to our family, and growing in the Lord. I often wonder what impact I may have had in my time there. I was given a glimpse of the legacy, the mark that I had left on the church we were a part of for so many years. The mark I left that is still going strong today is a Monday morning mens prayer breakfast. It came to be after an elder’s retreat in a deer shack in the woods. I was prompted to pray and invite others into this time also. Pastor Randy believes that all the great things that have happened at the church (and there are a lot) is a result of this group of faithful men praying on Monday mornings. Some 15 years later (11 since we have left) there are still a dozen or so men who still get together and pray and God is still at work in this church, reaching Northern Minnesota for God.

I often wonder where my passion for prayer has gone. I often engage in conversational prayer and pondering prayer, but I seem to have lost that desire to pray for those specific things for my church, my work, etc. I need to pray that God my reenergize this area of my life.
Its funny I had been pondering on this the last few weeks and now God has presented me with an answer from a very unexpected place. But a place where this passion once was very strong.
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Pondering, Passion, and Procrastination

It has almost been a month since I last blogged. It’s not that I have been off-line, but I think the title says it all. I have been pondering a lot. The Trinity, Divine community, educational technology, online learning environments, online community. Work, personal, and doctoral studies seem to be melding together into some sort of synergistic pondering. I will start on one subject that then shifts to a different topic linked together by a common thread. As I talk to people about what I am studying I am getting a lot of positive response from a variety of different people in a number of different fields. At times I wonder what I am doing or perhaps why I am doing it, but then I get encouragement from an unlikely source and I am reenergized to push forward.

That is the pondering and passion parts of the title, but what about procrastination? That is why there haven’t been any postings since the end of April. In part I haven’t made the time to post, in part I haven’t taken the time to refine my ponderings into some sort of coherent idea to post. As I think about it, this blog will continue to be my ponderings on God, life, doctoral studies, etc. and I will be starting a new blog at http://educationaltechnology-bethel.wetpaint.com to continue on in my work related ponderings. Some of my ponderings may be cross posted some certainly won’t.
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What’s in an adjective? or My Identity Crisis

OK, so this is the last time I do an energy drink late in the afternoon. I go to bed thinking about this question with regards to the term Christian or sometimes people in general. What does it mean to be an Evangelical Christian as opposed to a Born-again Christian or simple a Christian? What does it mean to be a Baptist or Lutheran or CMA or Methodist? Am I a liberal or conservative? Do I lean right or left or am I a centrist? I oppose abortion but am uncertain about stem cell research. I think global warming is real but that government imposes itself into to many areas of our life or society.

I am a Christ-follower, someone who loves God with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength. I try to love others with an equal passion. I am compelled to minister to those in our society who do not have a voice due to their life circumstances. I am prepared to tell others of the hope that I have if I am asked. Finally, as I am out doing life, I come along side others to help them become more like Christ, to live transformed life through the power of the Holy Spirit and the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Am I a liberal or conservative (political labels), Evangelical or Main Line or Religious Right (religious labels), Baptist, CMA, Lutheran (denominational labels)? I don’t think that I wan to have an adjective added to a description of who I am in Christ, rather I simply want to be describe as on who follows the teachings of Jesus and live a life that brings glory and honor to God.