"Times they are a changin'"

Yep, the title of this blog says it all. Times change and with change comes upheaval. Even after teaching about change and how emotionally challenging it may be, I find myself in the throes of a major life change. A friend once spoke about change, advising, "Be kind to yourself. It is difficult. But, give yourself the space to make the change. You'll survive. And, when it's all done, you'll be better for it. So, celebrate the change."

So, here I am. After 20 years of service to Asbury Theological Seminary and 25 years living in that community, I have moved on. I am now the Director of Online Learning and Educational Technology at Christian Brothers University. The pain of uprooting my work life and starting again has been real and surprising. I didn't realize how much history plays into your everyday life. For instance, I developed my own shorthand way of speaking at the previous institution because we all understood what was being discussed. You take shortcuts because of the shared history. We all do that, btw. It's natural. Now, I'm having to learn a whole new language and understanding wrapped up in policies that are unfamiliar in an unfamiliar place. Don't get me wrong. I'm not sorry. This is a great place, a great institution and I'm happy and excited to be here.

All that said, over the next few weeks and months, I'm going to be posting here again. My primary focus will be to describe what has transpired since the previous post. There will be updates, lessons learned, and then getting into both policies and helps that others may find either interesting or helpful to know. The purpose of this blog remains the same: this blog is "a place to gain new ideas regarding online teaching and learning." So, stay with me. Together, this world of online learning will be seen for what it is - a viable means to gain an education.

Technology advances

Longfellow's Christmas

Here's a good Christmas story for you. Charley Longfellow, son of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, felt it was his duty to join the ongoing fight between the North and the South. So, he crept away from home in the night and made it to Washington, D.C. to the recruiting station. No one in his family knew that he had left. The commander of the unit Charley was trying to enlist in wrote to HWL (as Charley called him) for written permission for Charley to join. Permission was granted.

Charley's battle career was not without excitement. While he missed the battle of Gettysburg due to an illness, he did fight in several battles. On November 27, 1863, at the battle of Mine Run, Charley was shot through the left shoulder. The bullet travelled from his left shoulder, grazing the spine and exiting below the right shoulder. Charley was shipped back to Washington, D.C. for surgery and for recuperation.

On December 1, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was eating dinner when a telegram arrived, informing him of Charley's condition. He and his youngest son immediately left for Washington, D.C. to be with Charley, care for him, and hopefully nurse him back to health. Upon arrival to D.C., Charley was examined by surgeons who felt his recovery should be complete, although the bullet grazed his spine, rendering him at least temporarily paralyzed.

During this dreadful time, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the famous poet, looked about him and could only see heartache, disaster, unbelievable grief, and a world gone absolutely wild. Seeking to make sense of it all, Longfellow penned the words of what has become a significant Christmas song, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
and wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men! 

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound the carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn the households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"
(Words and story provided by Justin Taylor)

I think Longfellow captured the scenes well. You can almost see those cannons firing, smoke filling the air, screams of hatred and pain intermingled so that neither are distinguishable from the other. In the middle of the chaos, Longfellow wonders if peace and good-will would ever return. In fact, he wondered where God was in all of the horrific pandemonium. Look again at those last three stanzas. Longfellow chronicles death, destruction, division that is capitalized by the strength of the hatred that was prevalent around him - it "mocks the song of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

There are times today when Longfellow's lines seem to be repeating themselves. San Bernardino, Colorado Springs, Roseburg, OR, Paris, and the list goes on. The beheadings, burning, horrific images that flash across our television and computer screens. The New York Daily News proclaims, "God Isn't Fixing This" after the San Bernardino shootings. While I believe they were mocking Christianity, there is some truth to that statement. God isn't fixing this. You might even agree with Longfellow, "There is no peace on earth for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good-will to men."

But let me make the same declaration where Longfellow ended his poem. I firmly believe God is not surprised by what's happening. He is fully aware. His lack of intervention does not mean that He is not aware and that He is not able. One day, He will intervene. In that day, we shall know Him for what He can do. The Psalmist proclaimed, "He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth, he breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; he burns the chariot in the fire. 'Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.' The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold." (Psalm 46:9-11, NASB)

Perhaps Longfellow had Psalm 46 in mind when he wrote the last stanza.

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men."

Friends, God is not dead nor asleep. The wrong shall fail and the right prevail. During this Christmas time, let's not lose sight of our Redeemer, our Lord and our King of all kings.

A Mighty Fortress

Did you know that just a few Sundays ago was Reformation Sunday? Yes, I'm sure you did. That was the Sunday before All Hallows Eve, better known as Halloween. Reformation Sunday is in celebration of Martin Luther's nailing the 95 Theses to the Wittenburg church door. You'll remember Luther was protesting the sale of "indulgences" meant to free the newly departed from purgatory to be released to Heaven. Of course, Luther was right - no one has the ability to forgive sins except God, Himself.

Can you imagine the trepidation Martin Luther felt, the struggles he endured, in writing and then posting those 95 Theses. He had to know this was not going to sit well with the Church fathers. Life was immediately going to get interesting. Talk about throwing the gauntlet down; he was announcing to the Church and to the world at large what he thought was wrong with the Church and how it should be fixed.

I was recently privileged to attend a theological educators conference in Turkey. I must admit, I was a little apprehensive. We were a long way from any of the trouble that's been happening over there, but still my mind found a way to conjure up some of the worst images imaginable of "what could happen" while we were there. I'm not the only one. In a Facebook post, one of the conference attendees from that region tried to calm concern by stating that the troubled areas were really quite far away. He concluded, "Looking forward to our time together even if we share a sense of fear and anxiety we are then feeling united with many of our sisters and brothers in many parts of this troubled world." Wow, thanks for the encouragement. Nothing like throwing fuel on the fire!

The truth is that terrorists are just people who traffic in terrorism. Their whole intent is to produce fear. Sounds like another's view, right? Satan wants to make us afraid. He specializes in it. Just to be clear: I believe there is a devil, Lucifer. He has his own minions whose job it is to work to damn each of us, to dissuade us from following after God. He will do all in his power to drive us from God. If that means making us afraid, he'll do so. He's a master at fear. He is a terrorist, the chief of all terrorists. Fear works.

You may not be stepping into a physically unsafe place, but you may be fearful of your circumstances. You may even be telling yourself that you just can't do the task laid out before you. "What if I fail?" "What if I just can't get my head around that task?" "If I fail, I'm washed out. I'm useless. I can't do what God has called me to."

I don't know what Martin Luther experienced by way of fear. However, if you read one of his best known and beloved hymns, you have to wonder. Listen to these words:

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
our helper he amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
his craft and power are great, and armed with cruel hate,
on earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing,
were not the right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is he;
Lord Sabaoth, his name, from age to age the same,
and he must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God hath willed his truth to triumph through us.
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
his rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure;
one little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
the Spirit and the gifts are ours, thru him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
the body they may kill; God's truth abideth still;
his kingdom is forever.
(from Hymnsite.)

Friends, whatever battle you are facing, whatever fear is rising, we are the children of THE great King. We can trust Him. We know this, that "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8: 37-38 NASB)

He's in the boat

I've been a believer for a very long time. Over these 40 plus years, I have experienced many great things and some not so great. I can look back over my life and see God's hand at work in my life. I can see many blessings and many wonderful things that have come my way. God is truly good ... all the time! In spite of this, there are times when it seemed like I was all alone, like I was waging the war all by myself. Eventually, the battle concludes and I discover I'm not alone, that God was there but I didn't sense His presence during the battle itself.

Have you ever felt that way? Perhaps you do right now, like this thing of serving God is an uphill climb and that you're pulling the weight on your own. You might even be praying, "God, I need your help. Just a little help, that's all. Can't you see I'm struggling here? Please?" You feel no answer. You continue to struggle. You may even be feeling "it" slip away, like you're losing the battle.

Not long ago, I was privileged to hear Dr. Javier Sierra preach. His sermon was about the time when Jesus calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee. (It's found in Matthew 8, Mark 4 and Luke 8.) Dr. Sierra did a masterful job of preaching about the calming of the storm. However, I must confess, I got a little derailed by his introduction and I'm still enjoying it. My imagination is somewhat active, so I can picture the scene. It goes something like this:

Jesus has been teaching for quite some time. He's tired, as is the rest of the disciples. "Let's go to the other side of the sea. We can rest over there. Actually, we can rest on the way." Everyone is agreeable. I imagine they don't just pick a boat, that they probably choose one of their own. Again, my overactive imagination picks Peter's boat. Peter says to himself and perhaps a few others, "He's in my boat. He picked MY boat. Jesus is in my boat." Great "victory" and bragging rights, you know?!

So, they set out across the sea. Jesus, quite tired, goes to the back of the boat to get out of everyone's way so he can just relax and promptly falls fast asleep. In the middle of the sea, a storm arises. That's not uncommon, but this time feels frantic. The seasoned sailors try to manage it on their own. Orders are shouted to pull in the sail, bail out the boat, hang onto the lines, "All hands on deck". Yet, Jesus is asleep in the boat. He's there. He's powerful. He can do great things and has so many times already in the past. Yet, he's back there sleeping. What's up with that? Can't he sense that they are in trouble - desperate trouble? Finally, someone stumbles back to him and wakes him up. "Jesus! Hey, Jesus! Wake up, for crying out loud. We're in trouble. Don't you care that we're seconds from disaster. We're losing. Come on, help us!" Jesus stands up, rebukes the storm, and then turns to his disciples and says, "Why are you so afraid? Where's your faith?"

Ah, much can be said about this. I want to leave it at this one point. Jesus is in the boat, but he's asleep. Have you ever felt like He was in the boat, but asleep? Yep, you have him, but what good does it do you? He's there, but the storm is still threatening to run you over. What good does believing in him do? Well, at least you'll die trying, right? Then, Jesus says to you, "Why are you so afraid? Where's your faith?" What do you mean, where's my faith? I have you in the boat, don't I? I'm doing what I'm supposed to, right? How come I still have the storm?

The scripture doesn't really explain Jesus' remarks here. Was he telling them they should have called him sooner? Was he saying that they didn't exercise their faith and rebuke the storm themselves? Was he saying they should have relaxed because, when He's in the boat, they have nothing to fear?

Honestly, I don't have the answer. It could be one of these, all of these, or none of them. But, sometimes I feel like I'm doing my part but Jesus is asleep. What's up with that? "Hey, Jesus, wake up here! Can't you see that I'm struggling?" He's in the boat but it doesn't look like he's an active participant in my life at the moment. What am I to do in those times? In spite of the slight rebuke, I think the story holds the key. We are to go to Him for help. Keep asking Him to intervene. Sometimes, he'll rebuke the storm and all will be well. Other times, He'll give us the strength to endure. Still other times, he'll work miracles through us. In the end, we just need to turn to him in full trust.

Does it feel like Jesus is in your boat and yet he's asleep, seemingly unaware of your situation? Hang on. Trust Him. Believe in and on Him. Allow Him to work in you, for you, and through you. I wish I could say that, unequivocally, your storm will cease. It doesn't work that way. I can't predict that. What I can tell you is your trust will not be misplaced. Eventually, the struggle will cease and you will come out on the other side a better person, a deeper Christian than you were before.

Remain ...