Reading
Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot—
Yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.
— Isaiah 11:1
InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Network
Pyongyang Metro, courtesy of David Eerdmans, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MetroPyongyang.jpg
“What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.” 1 Corinthians 3:5-8 (NASB)
[Read more…] about Learning to wait on God in North Korea (Scholar’s Compass)
Editor’s Note: Yesterday, Heather Ardrey, InterVarsity Graduate & Faculty Ministry (GFM), shared some of her response to the events of Boston Marathon 2013. Today Michael, another colleague with GFM who also teaches in Boston, provides additional insight with a focus on international students. As you have stories, reflections, and/or prayer requests to share about the extraordinary circumstances in Boston last week, please post in the comments section below and/or email ESN. Whatever your circumstances, feelings, research, thoughts, and assignments, please join me in offering this new week to the LORD in earnest prayer. ~ Thomas B. Grosh IV
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Early last Friday morning, at the beginning on my long drive in to Boston, I received a text from the university where I teach English to international students, informing me that school was closed (as was subsequently, much of the city) so I turned around and headed back home. A little later, I learned that one of my teaching colleagues and her family had to leave their home in Watertown, because two bullets from the early morning shootout between police and the two bombing suspects had come through the wall of their children’s bedroom, thus making their home a designated “crime sceneâ€. Thankfully, they are all safe, but you can imagine how upsetting this must have been (and likely still is) for them.
In the daylong media coverage of the developing situation, ABC news cited a FB post from the older brother of the two suspects from a few years ago, “not a single American friend,” along with expressed concerns about a lack of values here in America. Commentators have framed these sentiments as possibly linked to the radicalization process typical of extremists . . .
By way of contrast, one of the women killed in Monday’s bomb blast was an international graduate student from China, who had been taking part in the InterVarsity international fellowship at her university. God knows where she was on the path of responding to the gospel, but evidently, in combination with the community she experienced, it was striking a chord within her heart.
President Obama did a good job, I believe in his address at the interfaith memorial service on Thursday in portraying Boston as a “state of grace” that welcomed immigrants and international students, and spoke of the positive value and benefits that come from their sojourn and residence here, not only for the nation, but for the world.
As we move forward from the events of last week, I would ask you to pray in particular for international students — in Boston, at schools throughout New England, and in the rest of the country:
The focus of our weekly IV grad/international fellowship here in Amherst on Friday night was God’s faithfulness in the midst of the reality of evil in our present world. May we all continue our work with confidence in God’s goodness, power and love, and be renewed in our commitment to extend His welcome and invitation to those we meet from both near and far, who have yet to experience His grace and peace.
Michael
Editor’s Note: Although the Emerging Scholars Network (ESN) is for the most part a “virtual community,” we are comprised of very real people bearing the image of God day in and day out. The below account is the personal story of InterVarsity Graduate & Faculty Ministry staff member Heather Ardrey living in the midst of extraordinary circumstances in Boston last week. Part of Heather’s story, This Shouldn’t Happen Anywhere, was previously posted on The Well’s blog (4/19/2013).
In addition to the below post, may you find encouragement in This Shouldn’t Happen Anywhere, Reflections on the Boston Marathon Tragedy (Amy Hauptman. InterVarsity-USA Blog. 4/17/2013), and a growing number of materials posted on ESN’s Facebook wall (including the loss of Lingzi Lu and the Run for Joy at Augustana College). As you have stories, reflections, and/or prayer requests to share about the extraordinary circumstances in Boston last week, please post in the comments section below and/or email ESN. Whatever your circumstances, feelings, research, thoughts, and assignments, please join me in offering this new week to the LORD in earnest prayer. ~ Thomas B. Grosh IV
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MARATHON MONDAY
The day of the Marathon was an exciting one (April 15, 2013). I have never seen a marathon, let alone the BOSTON Marathon. If you’ve never been to Boston on Marathon Monday – you should know, this is a Big Deal around here. I didn’t realize what a big a deal it is; it feels like the entire city is involved in some way. All 26 miles are lined by people in the neighboring communities, cheering on the runners. My husband’s uncle and cousin from Idaho were in town staying with us, so they could live out their dream of running the race. I have a friend who usually stakes out ground near Mile 21, so we decided to join their party to cheer on the racers.
We packed up our family to watch the race and enjoy a picnic lunch while we watched. We missed getting to see our cousin in the crowds of runners, but some of us were able to stay and watch our uncle pass. I left the festivities around 1 to let our youngest get a nap, and the rest of our family was home by 2:30.
We opted not to watch the race coverage, but were following our uncle’s progress on the computer. Around 2:50, we watched his little running man cross the finish line and stop running. I laid down for a nap, not yet knowing what had already happened. [Read more…] about Responding to the events of Boston Marathon 2013
How do you deal with waiting? Are there things that you find especially hard to wait for?
My car wouldn’t start. I’m sitting in the grocery store parking lot, wanting to get home with the groceries I had just purchased, but when I turn the key, all I got was a clicking sound. So I called  a car service, and they said they’d send somebody. The only problem – it would be an hour before they arrived. An hour?!? I had to sit in my car and wait for them to arrive. An hour hour never felt so long.
Waiting – we really don’t like to wait. We have microwave ovens to cook our food in minutes; we haveâ€on demand†movies so we can watch the movie right now; every fast food restaurant has a drive-thru window so the food is even faster. There’s instant breakfast, and instant coffee, and instant rice, instant milk, instant noodles, instant potatoes. Snail mail has been replaced by instant messaging.
Photo credit: Tripp via Flickr
It’s not that these things are necessarily bad. Sometimes they might be a great good. Every parent has cause to rejoice over the many products that are quick and easy to prepare for a hungry baby! But when we have no choice but to wait, we are ill-prepared for it. Most of the really good things in life require waiting. Every parent must wait those nine long months before a son or daughter is born. It takes four (long!) years to earn a college diploma. The big trip you planned – you have to wait until next summer before you board the plane. Wait you must!
As Christian disciples, the goods we wait for – character, answers to prayer, a word from God, the salvation of friends and family, the very return of our Lord Jesus – sublime goods – often require waiting a lifetime.
Advent is a season where we can practice, even for a short while, waiting. And a slightly different word will help us with waiting: watch. When we put watch together with wait, we begin to see that waiting is not a passive thing. When we watch as we wait, we do those things that make us ready for whatever comes our way.
So – how to watch well? [Read more…] about Advent: Watching and Waiting