I finished my Doctor of Ministry dissertation proposal on founding Blueridge Ranch with much fear and trembling. One of the things I like so much about Biblical Life College & Seminary (BLCS) is the doctoral programs’ freedom and flexibility — and one of the things that makes me nervous is the doctoral programs’ freedom and flexibility! I hope to hear by the beginning of next week if they have accepted the proposal, which outlines the founding of Blueridge Ranch Retreats. I will keep you all posted. In the meantime, I am aware that I must resist the temptation to be so focused on the dissertation that I forget to focus…

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:4) Natural talents are gifts that are born with us. They include such things as artistic, musical and mathematical talents, or talents for public speaking, dancing, construction, or athletics. Skills such as these will always come more naturally to those who are talented, though they are possible for people who lack inborn talent in a certain area to develop some basic skills in that area. Spiritual gifts are sets of supernatural skills that God gives Christians for the sake of witnessing in the world, and strengthening each other and the church as the Body of Christ. Natural talents…

I ran across this great passage in the summer newsletter from St. Andrews Abbey. The essay was written by Brother Ben Harrison of the Missionaries of Charity. Though I agree whole-heartedly that we must do our part, there is much more at (in?) play than we humans can understand or control. An unlimited number of variables seems to be in operation. God is working flamboyantly and with gusto, as he always has, building, demolishing, planting, and uprooting. Often we prefer not to blame God for the violent and cataclysmic shifts and shudders of geologic or human history, but both Old and New Testaments show him working both his wonders and…