God's plan and summer camp

God is on a rescue plan to reconcile and restore his creation through Jesus Christ. God’s plan is pushed forward when broken creatures are made whole in Christ. Jesus, in turn, tasks his followers to spread this message of hope to the world.

It seems crazy that the God of the universe would use broken and fallible people to carry out his work. God shows his power in using his redeemed people to image him to the broken world around them– the church is the agency of God’s Kingdom.

So how does a summer camp fit into the plan of God?

Summer camp can be a valuable tool to help aid churches and push forward the mission of God.

If you’ve ever taken a retreat, you know how rich that time can be. While accomplishing his missionon earth, Jesus often retreated for times of solitude and prayer. A good retreat can bring perspective, focus, clarity, and connection with God.

In the same way, summer camp provides a change in environment that is pregnant with possibilities for the Spirit of God to work.

In an age of over-stimulation, instant gratification, information overload, and distractions vying for our every attention– it’s amazing we give any room for God’s voice.

Summer camp offers a break in routine. For a few short days at camp students leave behind cell phones, Internet, television, gaming, friends, everyday activity, influences, and other environmental factors. This cultural fast often creates a space for students to listen to God speak.

The core of a good camp is a gospel environment where life in Jesus is authentically preached, witnessed, and lived. The structure of the camp day often lends itself to this end with chapel messages, devotions, and times that inspire students, engage thinking and worldview, address heart issues, and provide practical tools to navigate through life as a follower of Christ.

Of course, it wouldn’t be camp without the fun, games, excitement, campfires, cabins, meals, traditions, activities, and all of those little things that make up the memories of summer camp.

With all of her bells and whistles, it is the quality of counselors and staff that make or break a summer camp. A good camp is filled with staff that love Jesus and have put their lives on hold for a summer to speak into the lives of students who are a step or two behind them in life stage. These life-on-life relationships often connect scripture with real life and model what it means to live for Jesus.

Philosophically, a poorly designed Christian camp will function outside of the church and create only an individual and emotional experience. A good camp will recognize that God’s plan is carried out through his people, as the church, and will work to support the church and connect students to local church bodies.
Time and time again, God uses the environment, people, and experiences of summer camp to draw students to himself and change lives for an eternity. Real Kingdom impact is seen as summer camps proclaim Jesus and partner with churches to accomplish God’s mission in his world for his Kingdom’s sake.

A Devotional Thought on Prayer

So I'm sitting outside of a Coffee Bean in Downtown Palm Springs today reading and praying through Matthew chapter 6.

Just before Jesus gives his followers a framework in how to pray (Matthew 6:9-13) he warns them to not practice their righteous acts before men, but before God who sees in secret and rewards in secret. Jesus also warns his disciples not to heap up empty words towards God without intentionality.

The reason why we're not to heap up empty words made me stop and think.

Jesus says in verse 8, "...for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."

If our Father knows what we need before we ask him, then it's not for the sake of information that we pray. It's not for the Father's sake that we pray. We pray for our connectedness with the Father and our life participation in him- for aligning our heart to his heart, our thoughts to his thoughts, our will/desire/motives/etc to his.

We pray to make our life open and available for God's work- both in, through, and around us.

"Pray then like this:
'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.'"

RWANDAN FORGIVENESS

Everyone loves a good story of reconciliation... especially when the situation is so out of control that any hope of forgiveness and restored relationship between the two parties is out of the question.

The 2004 movie Hotel Rwanda starring Don Cheadle chronicled the horrific events of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide and one man's attempt to save as many of his countrymen as he could. Tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi people of Rwanda had boiled to the point of break. In the course of 100 days an estimated 800,000 Tutsis were slaughtered by the Hutus. Sick... sad... desperate... broken.

How in the world could there ever be any hope of future reconciliation between these two peoples?

The following video is an amazing story of reconciliation that shows the power of the gospel, the character of God in his people, and the peace that Jesus brings.

True forgiveness and restoration is modeled after the forgiveness that God is so eager to bring his creation.

Watch the full episode. See more Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

Goad for America - Episode 1 - Kids and Jobs

My college roommate, Jeremy Goad, is running for President 2012... he's got some good points.

John Stott: 1921-2011

John Stott passed away today at age 90.

The author of over 50 books was born in London, ordained in the Anglican church in 1945, and ministered at All Souls Church from his ordination until his death.
What a faithful man.

Stott is now in the presence of the One he served for so many years.

What an incredible example of what God can do with a life made available and sold out to Jesus Christ!

Click on the links below to reference John Stott articles in the following publications:
-NEW YORK TIMES
-CHRISTIANITY TODAY

Thieves & Liars

I came across this band earlier this summer (thanks Greg) & I was impressed.

My head turned when I heard they were a Christian rock band.

They sound like classic AC/DC. It's just good rock n roll. Littered with tatts & enough long hair to choke a donkey, these guys are definitely in the wrong era and they flat out ROCK!!

But you don't have to take my word for it...
(said in my best LeVar Burton impression)


Take a listen:

LOVE WINS: a thought towards method/venue appropriateness

I really enjoyed Love Wins. Did I agree with everything? No. Did it make me think? Yes. And that, I think, was Rob Bell's goal.

The aftermath of Rob Bell’s Love Wins has left a wake of blogs, articles, and books soon-to-be published. Most of these writings attack Bell’s theological views on heaven and hell.

Some of them rightly question him on his treatment of scripture (The most glaring transgression in my mind is the misapplication of OT reconciliation/restoration passages to say that ALL people/nations will be restored to right relationship with God. When the context of these passages most clearly fall in line with God’s eternal plan for the people of God- now those in Jesus [cf. Genesis 12:3; Galatians 3:14, 28-29]). Others rip him apart and attack a view that would probably seem foreign even to Bell.

I’m upset and saddened by those who fall into this second category- mostly because of their misrepresentation of Bell’s views. I’ll admit, nailing down Bell’s thoughts on heaven and hell is a little like nailing Jello to the wall. There are few places in the book where you can get a concrete glimpse into where he lands. However, a fair treatment of Bell must be upheld regardless (And if you haven’t read his book, you can’t talk). Here is the litmus test: if Rob Bell were to read what you said he believes, would he agree? Sadly, with many of these articles I don't think he would.

So what am I adding to this discussion? In this blog, I will steer clear of conjecture and thoughts on Bell’s theological convictions on heaven and hell and speak towards his method and platform. While so much is being written about Rob Bell, I'd rather talk about my last visit to the chiropractor.

My neck was really tweaked. I looked sideways at my chiropractor with a half smile. He turned me around and quickly yanked my neck well beyond what was natural and normal (Is this even safe?!). I was immediately back to balanced. In order to re-align your neck, a chiropractor will extend your neck far past the natural range in order to get you back to center. If the chiropractor simply rotated my neck to normal, it would have quickly returned to jacked up. The over-extension forced my neck to rest normal once again.

This experience sheds light on what I believe Rob Bell is attempting to do with our thinking on heaven and hell. In his intentional line of questioning, he’s taking us well beyond what we’re comfortable with in order to bring us back to what he believes to be a more balanced position.

There are two ways to change someone's thinking. One, you can plead and tell them where they ought to be and hope they change their thinking more towards your view. Or two, you can get them thinking so far beyond their current position that they move closer to the view you actually want them to hold than they would have with method one.

If ever you want $40,000 (I don’t know when this would apply), you’re more likely to get the full $40K if you ask for $80,000. In the stretching and questioning of Love Wins, Bell is more likely to get drastic results in changed thinking on heaven and hell. However, this leads to a very important question…

Is it right for Bell to use this method in his bestseller?

While I respect Rob Bell, appreciate his heart, admire what he’s trying to do, and am grateful for some/many of his observations in his book (Especially his thoughts against an unhealthy divorce of heaven in the earthly realm and more towards a marriage/recognition of heaven in the earthly realm [read The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis or Jesus in the gospels.. ie- Matthew 6:10])- I believe his careless chiropractic method is reckless in his chosen medium.

Maybe his book is completely appropriate and effective for those in his church, the people he knows, and for his culture; but the same values don’t transfer when printed for mass media. The things Bell brings up would be great for a classroom setting or for shepherding someone through issues when you can walk with a person week in and week out as they wrestle through the questions. But when he tosses a grenade out to the general public without follow-up or instructions and says, “Here, fiddle around with it… you’ll figure it out” -it crosses over to the realm of carelessness.

And that’s what he’s done. Bell has introduced many ideas to be wrestled through without a guardian. Who will shepherd those going through his New York Times bestseller? Frankly, it shocks me that the chosen platform for this method comes from a man that plays the role of pastor. Isn’t careful shepherding and follow up the very thing that scripture calls church leadership to do (Titus 1:9)? What sorts of views and heresy will the masses form about Christianity with the platform Bell used?

Fortunately, neither the gates of Hell nor even Rob Bell can crush Jesus’ church (Matthew 16:18). But it doesn’t mean that a teacher like Rob Bell can be as careless as he wants (James 3:1).

What's in your brain?

A couple of months ago I ran across an LA Times article with a classic title:

"Man discovers a knife blade lodged in his head. It happens."

Apparently, some guy in China lived several years with a knife blade unknowingly lodged in his skull. I'm sure the final diagnosis made sense of his frequent headaches and occasional bleeding from the mouth and ears.

The story starts with the line, "If you have stabbing pains in the head, maybe it's because you were stabbed in the head."

We'll file this one under unusual and AWESOME.

Click here to read the FULL STORY.

Double Twilight ALL THE WAY!!

I was sitting at a sports bar in the Sacramento airport when Christina Aguilera botched the lyrics to the National Anthem.

In all fairness, the Star Spangled Banner is probably one of the hardest songs to sing. Just picking the right key to finish the song without embarrasment is enough of a task, let alone singing in "a capella" nakedness in front of millions of people (169.2 million according to Nielsen Television Ratings).

It wasn't until the 4th line that the singing pop star tripped over her words. Superbowl XLV was just starting to crown as the Announcer spoke,
"And now, to honor America: 5 time grammy award winner, Christina Aguilera..."

Aguilera began strong,
"O say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight
what so proudly we watched at the twilight's last gleaming?"

Miss Aguilera forgot the line about the ramparts gallantly streaming and instead sang of proudly watching the twilight's last gleaming... again.

I laughed out loud and quickly realized no one around me was laughing. You'd think California's State Capitol would be a good place to find people that know our Nation's anthem.. apparently not. Someone did, however, manage to shoot me a death-stare for laughing during the anthem.

I should have given Christina more credit for continuing on and belting out the notes she did in the latter part of the song. She clearly showed character and was seemingly "saucing it up" to make up for her earlier mistake.

Instead, I immediately changed my facebook status: "national anthem lyrics re-written.. thank you christina aguilera"

Forgiveable? Yes. Lord knows I've felt like the horse's patoot many times before. But if it were me, I'd like to think those lyrics would be etched in my brain before singing. There are lots of things you can't control: wind.. rain.. storms.. pigeon's crapping on you (just ask Kings of Leon), but memorizing lyrics is something you can.

I bet those lyrics are burned in her brain now... but hindsight is, well, you know.

Check out her performance below:

January 28, 1986

"There's a teacher just like me on that Space Shuttle!"

We sat in awe on the floor of our 1st grade classroom watching the space shuttle launch. I tried to wrap my little 6 year old brain around the fact that a teacher just like ours was heading towards the stars.

Our teacher assured us this was a privilege. She had managed to obtain one of the few school televisions to be rolled into our classroom for the viewing.

Christa McAuliffe, a high school social studies teacher from New Hampshire, had won the "First Teacher in Space" competition. She was to be the first of several every day American citizens NASA would strategically take into space.




Nothing would prepare us for what we were about to see. 73 seconds into flight, the shuttle exploded before our eyes. The 7 crew members of STS-51-L would never be seen again.


Our teacher couldn't answer the questions we asked of her...
"What happened?"
"Is she okay?"
We didn't know how to translate tears and silence.

President Reagan appeared on National Television later that day to speak to me,

"And I want to say something to the school children of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's take-off. I know it's hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance at expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the faint-hearted, it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future and we'll continue to follow."
-Ronald Reagan

The entirety of his speech can be viewed below:



Today marks the 25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster. Oddly enough, I now live in the same town I did 25 years ago & I keep having flash backs to that January school day. I'm still processing what happened. My heart goes out to all of the family and friends of the crew.

the DIGITAL Story of the Nativity

The Nativity Story set to Modern Technology... enjoy:

the RUNNING journals

"Hey look! There's a man running!"

I've reached the age where it's awkward to run by an elementary school during recess.

I could hear their little 1st grade inner-monologues playing, "Stranger!" "Stranger danger!!"

And I can't blame them... I'm thinking the same thing thanks to Detective John Kimble.

And I'm not exactly sure how to solve this problem, so for now I think I'll just contemplate a new jogging route.

subway violin

The following is an article I recently read that piqued my interest...

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approximately. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:

The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:

A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:

A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes:

The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour:

He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.



This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.

The questions raised:

*In a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?

*Do we stop to appreciate it?

*Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made…

How many other things are we missing?


see the REFERENCED ARTICLE here

On Parenting

The Four Phases of Parenthood
Your role changes as your child grows. What’s yours right now?
by Bob Hostetler


It came as a shock. In the course of telling a story to my friend Jon, I mentioned that I had gone into my son's room to wake him up. Jon interrupted me.

"How old is Aaron?"

We both knew very well how old he was, but I told him. "Sixteen," I said.

"Why are you still getting him up in the morning?"

I had no answer. I felt like a bald man who's just been asked why he carries a comb in his pocket. Somehow, in the busyness of parenting two teenagers, I had held on to a habit that made sense when my children were preschoolers but now was far from appropriate.

That's when I decided to give more careful attention to the different phases of parenthood and to acknowledge areas where I'd lagged behind in parenting my daughter, Aubrey, and my son, Aaron. In doing so, I not only introduced a little more sanity to my life, but also prepared them — and me — for their fast-approaching independence.

Phase One: Commander
In the first years of a child's life, a parent does everything for him. The parent functions as a benevolent dictator, telling the child who to listen to, what to eat, when to go to bed, how to perform a task.


In this phase of parenthood, the task of the loving parent is to encourage a child's growth from discipline to self-discipline. As paraphrased in The Message, "A refusal to correct is a refusal to love; love your children by disciplining them" (Proverbs 13:24).

During my children's early years, I repeatedly used the parenting phrases "Yes, because . . . " or "No, because . . . " I not only dictated my children's actions, but also took pains to explain the reasons a certain thing was prescribed or prohibited.


Phase Two: Coach
I used Aubrey and Aaron's summer break to teach them about work and wages — interviewing, hiring and even occasionally firing them from jobs around the house and garden. The idea was not only to teach but also to encourage their growth from direction to self-direction, giving them more responsibility with each new job.

I often tried to help clarify — rather than dictate — my children's choices for them. I found myself repeatedly using the phrase, "Would you rather do this . . . or that?" Obviously, I never tempted them to choose something wrong or foolish; the phrase was simply a tool to help them gain experience in making their own decisions. For example, I might ask, "Would you rather leave now for church and have time to talk to your friends, or leave a little later and go straight to your class?"



Phase Three: Counselor
If you haven't yet experienced it, you will soon: The day dawns for every parent when he or she is no longer the driving influence in a child's life.

The task of the loving parent is to encourage a child's growth from dependence to independence; it is especially important in this phase of parenthood. This is the phase — usually in the teen years — when a child can reasonably be expected to understand what is right, just and fair.

Too many of us continue to parent our teenagers in much the same way we parented them as toddlers or grade-schoolers. When our kids begin to strain against the reins, like a horse that's eager to run, we pull back hard — as though it's wrong for them to seek independence. But that's exactly the purpose of the teen years. In fact, we should encourage that drive for independence and channel it in the right direction.

The operative phrase during these years is, "That's a decision you can make." When my children came to me for permission, I would often quiz them about what decision they would make if I gave them that freedom. I encouraged them to take responsibility in decision making, and they responded. I offered suggestions and warned them about the potential consequences of poor decisions, but I tried to leave the decision up to them as often as possible.

Of course, the risk I took was that my children would make poor choices, and sometimes they did. But little by little, they became capable of finding the right course.

Phase Four: Consultant
No words adequately describe the jumble of emotions a parent experiences driving away from a child's freshman college dorm. It's frightening on so many levels. But it's less frightening if the parent has successfully navigated the first three phases.

The task of parenting isn't done at this stage; it is no longer one of proactive involvement but of patient availability. Like Solomon, who told his son, "Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart" (Proverbs 27:11), the parent in this phase must hope, pray and wait.

Each phase has its own challenges, but phase four can be the most difficult because it requires letting go. For nearly two decades, the parent has been the child's commander, coach or counselor, but trying to prolong any of those roles will invite resistance and perhaps even resentment.

As I did in the other phases, I found a phrase that has helped my interactions with my children: "Let me know if I can help." It allowed me to affirm my availability while respecting my children's independence.

You'll find that the phases of parenthood aren't entirely measurable or scientific. The phases overlap each other; one phase begins long before the previous phase passes completely. And different children will demand differing degrees of flexibility in moving from one phase to the next.

But overall, I found that just a little attention to my current (and coming) phases produced a healthy perspective on my task as parent.

This article first appeared in the June, 2007 issue of Focus on the Family magazine. Copyright © 2007 Bob Hostetler. All rights reserved.

say hello to Eternity Bible College

About a month ago, John Piper's "desiringGod" blog featured a pretty cool write-up on Eternity Bible College. Click on the previous hyperlink to see what they said!











Also, Eternity Bible College is now offering Online Courses. Just another way to show our commitment to reproduce effective disciples of Jesus Christ. Check out the video below & pass along the good word:

Online Classes at Eternity Bible College from Eternity Bible College on Vimeo.

Click on the following hyperlink to learn more about...

ETERNITY BIBLE COLLEGE!

"LET THE BOY BE YOUR DOG!!"

If any of you have seen the 1993 SNL skit "the Hurlihy boy," you'll know it's a ridiculous sketch where Chris Farley backs each of Adam Sandler's outrageous requests. If Sandler wants to watch your house while you're gone, Farley will vouch for what a great job he would do and how you are crazy if you don't just let him watch your house. In one climactic moment, Sandler makes that claim that he'd like to BE your dog. Farley pulls the boy aside and asks if he has thought through his request. After a brief dialogue, Farley says he's got to back Sandler in this and begins to fanatically support Sandler in his desire to be your dog which ends in the comment, "...he just wants to be loved."

My father recently wrote an article that was published in Answers in Genesis. In true Hurlihy Boy spirit, I'm backing my dad's play & providing you with the link below:



A Proposed Bible-Science Perspective on Global Warming - Answers in Genesis

the cellular leash

I sat at the Habit waiting for a guy I had made lunch plans with- he never showed.


We made plans to meet at 12:30PM, but here it was well after that and I hadn't heard from him. I guess it wasn't entirely his fault- I left my cell phone at my house in the morning. How was he to get a hold of me?

People ate, people left, and I began to feel foolish for sitting there waiting without a word.

What did we do 15 years ago?

The dude I was meeting wouldn't know.. he was only a toddler then. He doesn't remember calling house lines to catch people if your plans changed. If that didn't work, you'd have to call the numbers of all known associates: friends, work place, other places they may frequent. As a last resort, if none of that worked, you would call the restaurant to have them tell the person you were meeting that you were late or not coming.

Other than that, you pretty much just had to make plans to be somewhere at a certain time & a certain place and trust that they would be there. You got to where you were supposed to be, sat tight, kept your eyes open, and hoped they remembered and would show up. What a different world we lived in before cell phones!

At 12:56PM I ordered food and marveled at the way things used to be.

How did we survive before cell phones?

How often do we get upset if we can't get a hold of someone immediately?
"Where are they? Why aren't they answering?!" or better yet, "Ooh! It went straight to voicemail! They're IGNORING ME!!"

We get upset if someone isn't tending to their phone.

But think about it...
How often do we check our phones?
How often do we interrupt a conversation for the phone?
How often do we interrupt a task for the phone?
How often are we checking our phone when we are with people?
How often are we talking on the phone when we could be interacting with people around us?
...calls, texts, emails, facebook updates, etc.

I recently had 4 days away from my phone & I have to tell you... it was phenomenal. The software on my phone fried and the phone was rendered useless.

-For a day and a half I stressed out and wondered what was going on in the world: Who is trying to get a hold of me? What's going on? Is the world still turning on its axis?

-I started to loosen up at the end of the 2nd day and I began to realize a few things: 1) I wasn't as important as I thought. 2) Things were going to be okay. And, 3) The world is still turning.

-By the 3rd day I was in pure bliss. I was stress-free and wondered how I ever owned a cell phone.

-Half way through the 4th day, my phone was nearly fixed & I began to lament the coming return of my cell phone.

(Strangely enough, this cycle is much like my prayer life: I loath the first few minutes, thoroughly enjoy the middle section, and lament over the last few moments & the end of my time and return to reality)

I came out of this 4 day cellular vacation with a clear head & a few crucial reminders. I'm not sure if chucking our phones is the right response, but certainly healthy boundaries are in order. Boundaries that allow real & vital life to take place with people we know, people we come in contact with, the tasks & duties of the day, & most importantly with our Creator.

There are blocks of time where I simply will not answer or check my phone. After that block of time I will check messages, get back to those I need to, etc. If there is a task at hand, a person you need to be with, a time when you want to commune with the Lord, or for whatever reason you need to engage in the moment: turning off the phone, silencing your phone, or leaving your phone behind for a time is an easy way to be faithful to the relationships, people, and tasks that need to be nourished.

I'm not saying that I nail the boundary thing all of the time. In fact, often times I am the worst offender of the electronic leash. Just ask my Valentine date this year: there was a good 10 minute period where I twiddled my thumbs away & talked on the phone instead of engaging my beautiful date. Needless to say, we haven't really spoken in 2 months.

It's really a question of who rules who...
& life is just too darn important to be ruled by your cell phone.

the glory of the upper lip dream machine

I tried to pull off a 1980's dirty stash for all but 20 minutes. I got as far as the aft of the ship with my 26-button white Mexican shirt & caught the back-end of an Acapulco sunset.



There is a strange comaraderie among men with straight-up stashes. That 20 minutes of awkwardness was worth every ounce of the head-nod I received from a man in his 50's sporting one glorious stash. It was a nod of knowing, a nod of recognition, acknowledgement, & pride. He was also comforting me & telling me to keep going, it gets better. I'm sure it does Mr. Stash man.



In the end, the dirty stash in all of it's glory had to be shaved- but not before experiencing one sweet Acapulcan sunset in an Authentic Mexican T.

i am second

if you haven't heard of iamsecond.com, it's worth checking out...



iamsecond is a website dedicated to the search for significance in life. on the website you will find video interviews of people from all walks of life sharing the story of how they overcame life's struggles to find peace and hope in the midst of a painful and unforgiving world.

"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble. But take heart; I have overcome the world." -Jesus (John 16:33)

class of 2013 mindset list

Beloit, WI- Each year since 1998 Beloit College has published a mindset list of the incoming freshman class. These lists are interesting as they observe the cultural elements that have shaped and influenced each changing generation. Check out the following link to see the BELIOT mindset list for the class of 2013.