a short history of "Christian Expressions"

Google Reader and iGoogle combined have saved me. My mind-numbing “job” dulls my brain. I get stupider every day. Consider this: I attended school for 22 straight years (Primary School, Junior High, High School, College [5 years], and Seminary [4 years]). Then, all of a sudden I graduate, and it stops. No more class, no more homework, no papers, no more scoping the cute girls at the beginning of the semester, and no more thinking. Now, I do the same thing every day. Day in, day out. I have learned my job so well that I don’t have to think. Yes, I make mistakes, but it’s because I’m not thinking. Thinking is not part of my job description. I just do. Click, Click, Click… ad infinitum.

School is life-giving because it continuously prods the mind. School is the presence and presentation of ideas. Ideas are like sparks and students are like tinder. Sparks continuously fly, sooner or later a spark catches and you are on fire with discovery. But fires go out unless they are fueled. So you read, discuss, interact with the ideas to fuel the fire. Being ablaze with learning’s fire is worth every potential loss of years due to stress.

Nonetheless, I have found a way to ease the stupid-fying. Read blogs. I read several blogs. I am confronted with ideas every time I sign on to my iGoogle account. But more than simply reading random people “out there” my favorite part of it all is reading the blogs listed on my “Christian Expressions” portion of my blog. These are real people. People I know. People I learn from: thinking, feeling, doing people. Each of these guys is meaningful in various ways which I will highlight.

have a penny?

My roommate and long-time fellow fundy friend. Never satisfied, always extreme, Garrett is the height of passion and desire. Whatever he does, he does it with all his might, but only for 2 weeks. Aspiring professor/teacher, currently employed by Apple. Garrett somehow never ceases to amaze me. Good at everything, great at nothing. Very talented guitarist. Only-child. We know each other because we know where we came from… Fundamentalism. Surprisingly thoughtful, always logical even if he’s wrong, his logic is right. Has learned to let things go.

 

If I were a bell, I’d ring

Also my roommate, Tim. Computer nerd, math genius, NT studies guy, USC alumni. Mostly quiet, loves Lost, loyal, Tim, at one point, won a contest for taking “pi” to almost one hundred decimal points from memory. He’s doing his thesis on the Gospel of Thomas. Hopefully he’ll be engaged by 2050. Geez, Tim.

 

Smithers

Long time college buddy. Married to Amy, a small town Kansas girl. Type A, aspiring health care administrator / social justice advocate, talented musician, generous but not always tactful. Ryan at one point swore an oath to follow me wherever I go and work for me. I’m still holding him to it. Sorry, Amy. He’s the guy who gets things done. He can talk for 2 solid hours without taking a breath. Amazing. He’s yin, I’m yang. Weird.

 

Renown

Fellow PCC grad, Gordon-Conwell grad, currently ministering in Charlotte, NC. I only have one word to describe him. PIMP. Ha. Heart bigger than this world, Spiritual-leader, eccentric, full of life and energy, hopeful, simply raw. Unfortunately we didn’t get to know each other very well at college because he was always goo-goo eyed over his then girlfriend, now wife Crystal. Sickening... utterly sickening. I have grown to love this guy over the past year or so for his big-as-Texas heart for Jesus, for his genuineness, for his radiant love. Patrick is where faith meets action. Apparently Patrick and I wouldn’t agree on some things (What? I don’t know), but we both see eye to eye on what matters most. Jesus Fame.

 

one foot in

UNC alumni, Seminary buddy who couldn’t hack the DTS Th.M. and instead opted out and transferred to Yale Divinity to earn a useless M. Div. Matt is a serious NT Backgrounds Nerd, specifically Roman and Greek backgrounds. Why Matt, why? Did his internship under the late great Darryl Bock. Careful, light-hearted, seriously minded scholar material. Health food freak. Neat freak. Die-hard UNC Tar-heals basketball fan. Matt red-lines when the Tar-heals lose. I think he was a trainer for the team at one point.

 

JesusCreed

Scot McKnight, whom I don’t know personally, has become one my favorites. Level-headed, clearly Christian, knows-what-matters, challenging, provocative, scholarly, open-minded, interactive, relational, conversational, never-judgmental, always-compelling. I would like to meet him someday. Maybe even study under him. He teaches at North Park University in Illinois. Read Blue-Parakeet.